Regular City Council Meeting Minutes, July 13, 2026

CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING July 13, 2026 The City Council met to have a Regular Council Meeting at City Hall at 6:30 p.m. 102 Butler St., Saugatuck, MI 49453. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Mayor Anderson at 6:30 p.m. Pledge of Allegiance was recited. Attendance: Present: Mayor Anderson, Mayor Pro-Tem Clark and Councilmembers Dean, Gardner, Peterson and Stanton. Absent: Muncey. Motion by Peterson, second by Gardner to excuse Muncey from the meeting. Via roll call vote, motion carried 6-0. Others Present: City Manager Cummins, Attorney Witte, Zoning Director Moore, Treasurer Bredeweg and Clerk Wolters. Mayor’s Comments: Mayor Holly Anderson noted that it was a beautiful day in Saugatuck and expressed how nice it was to see people out enjoying themselves with great weather. She praised the city’s “amazing staff”. She also described staying for a post-workshop construction tour, saying it was a “blast” and fascinating to see how the infrastructure works. She specifically mentioned viewing the structures designed to keep water away from a resident’s yard, remarking on how impressive the engineering was and calling this kind of behind-the-scenes experience one of the perks of serving in her role. City Manager Comments: City Manager Ryan Cummins opened by expanding on the Maple Street project, noting that work is progressing well and remains on schedule, with the main portion of the water main installation either completed or imminently so, and underground work targeted for completion by the end of August. He reported that stormwater infrastructure work has begun at Mason and Allegan, with additional tie-ins still to be completed at Blue Star, Allegan, and other locations. He addressed ongoing mail delivery challenges in the construction zone and described a possible backup plan using centralized mail bank boxes if access issues persist. Cummins then updated the council on efforts to bring reliable internet to Oval Beach, explaining Frontier’s fiber installation delays due to pole attachment approvals from Consumers Energy, the exploration of alternatives (including Comcast, which would require the city to pay construction costs), and the current use of Starlink and a Clover-based offline credit card system for operations at the beach. Finally, he reported that the city’s pension plans are significantly overfunded (rising from roughly 114% to 134%), and that staff is considering reducing—but not eliminating—surplus contributions to maintain a strong funding position while retaining flexibility to adjust if market conditions or actuarial assumptions change. 102 Butler St. ★

PO Box 86

★ (269) 857-2603

www.SaugatuckCity.com

Agenda Changes: None. Guest Speakers: None. Public Comment on Agenda Item Only: None. Consent Agenda: Approval of City Council Workshop Minutes – July 8, 2026. Special Event – Art Coast Food and Wine Festival. Special Event – Saugatuck Sidewalk Sales. Special Event – Mt. Baldhead Challenge. Special Event – Chili Cookoff. Motion by Dean, second by Stanton to approve the consent agenda as presented. Via roll call vote, motion carried 6-0. Approval of Accounts Payable: Motion by Stanton, second by Gardner to approve the accounts payable in the amount of $779,910.61. Via roll call, motion carried 6-0. Public Hearing: None. Unfinished Business: None. New Business: Consent Agreement for Fire Department Sewer Connection and Request to Waive Fees: Motion by Peterson, second by Gardner to approve the Saugatuck Fire District’s request to connect to the city’s sanitary sewer system via the Maple Street sanitary sewer main and waive applicable connection fees and approve the consent agreement for sanitary sewer service. Via roll call vote, motion carried 6-0. Right of Way Permit Application - 997 Elizabeth Street: Motion by Stanton, second by Peterson to deny the request based upon the review criteria established in 94.34(H). Via roll call vote, motion carried 6-0. Staff Reports, Boards, Commissions & Committees: Monthly department activity reports were provided by the City Staff, Engineer and Police Sergeant. Public Comment: None. Correspondence: None. Council Comments: Councilmember Stanton reported that the branding and logo committee met again and determined they need additional time to complete their work, noting they are refocusing and will meet again this week. She also commented on how busy town has been, reminding everyone to stay hydrated and seek shade in the hot weather, and observed that it will be an especially busy week for local businesses as the city is between the Fourth of July and Venetian festival weekends. Councilmember Dean stated that he had no additional comments for the evening. 102 Butler St. ★

PO Box 86

★ (269) 857-2603

www.SaugatuckCity.com

Councilmember Clark highlighted the success of the Fourth of July parade and weekend, describing it as a great event. He emphasized the importance of recognizing and thanking first responders, city staff, volunteers, and participants for their efforts in making both the parade and the entire weekend so successful, and asked that appreciation be passed along to staff, who carried much of the workload. Councilmember Gardner echoed Joe Clark’s positive remarks about the Fourth of July parade, saying it is always fun to ride on top of the truck and experience the community from that vantage point. He shared that he heard a number of comments from people along the route and relayed specific compliments he received about the post-parade activities at the gazebo, including games such as cornhole, noting that residents asked him to pass along their appreciation for those efforts. Councilmember Peterson closed with a personal note, sharing that she and her husband Ernie had just celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary. The council responded with congratulations and warm acknowledgment of this milestone. Mayor Holly Anderson thanked the staff and volunteers who help keep the city running smoothly and make community events possible, with a special mention of Ashley Siebelink and April Gundy, noting how actively they have been recruiting volunteers. She encouraged council and residents alike to support volunteer efforts—such as for the parade—and recognized how important these contributions are to the success of city events. She then moved to adjourn the meeting. Adjournment: Motion by Stanton, second by Dean to adjourn the meeting. Upon voice vote, motion carried unanimously. Mayor Anderson adjourned at 7:01 p.m. Respectfully Submitted ___________________ Jamie Wolters, City Clerk

102 Butler St. ★

PO Box 86

★ (269) 857-2603

www.SaugatuckCity.com

Post-Nourishment Morphodynamic Evolution of a Sandy Lake Michigan Beach: Oval Beach, Saugatuck, MI Francisca A. Núñez-Ferreira¹; Ethan J. Theuerkauf¹; Rachel Y. S. Lau¹ (1) Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824

Background

Results Shoreline evolution

Beach nourishment is a common management approach in the Great Lakes Region to protect coastal landscapes from the impacts of rising water levels and storms. While nourishment is effective along oceanic coasts, few studies in the Great Lakes have documented geomorphic responses to nourishment and evaluated their long-term sustainability. This study focuses on a shallow-water dredge spoil placement conducted in June of 2024, at Oval Beach, Saugatuck, MI (Lake Michigan). To address the lack of process-based nourishment research in the region, we analyze post-nourishment shoreline evolution at Oval Beach, relate it to local wave conditions, and evaluate volume change.

Volume change

Shoreline recession rates

Shoreline distance

June 2024

June 2024

July 2024

July 2024

August 2024

August 2024

September 2024

September 2024

Figure 1. Study area showing the nourishment at Oval Beach, Saugatuck, MI. The red box indicates the source location of the nourishment material; the yellow box marks the sand placement area.

Shoreline evolution analysis

Download available 3meter resolution Planet Labs satellite Imagery

Automatically extract shorelines using R-script and then manually edit them

Use DSAS to document shoreline variability and change rates

Obtain the mean and standard deviation for the shoreline change of each month

Wave relationship

Download wave data from the NOAA Holland station. Extract onshore waves and separate the waves coming from 17° to 287° and from 287° to 197°. Then identify waves larger than 1.5 meters in each group.

Normalize shoreline change data to 0 for changes within ±5 m. Identify the maximum shoreline recession and accretion.

Analyze the relationship between shoreline change and wave conditions.

Nourishment sustainability

Figure 2. Time-lapse of beach nourishment evolution at Oval Beach using Planet satellite imagery. The red box shows the initial sand deposition site, while the yellow box shows the beach state at the time of the initial RTKGPS data collection.

Methods

Figure 6. Evolution of topography at Oval Beach from October 24, 2024, to May 9, 2025. The Digital Elevation Model of Difference (DoD) shows significant erosion within the nourishment area, with sediment redistribution primarily toward the north.

October 2024

October 2024

Volume change

Collect field data using RTK-GPS on October 24th, 2024, and May 9th, 2025.

Wave relationship

Figure 3. Monthly mean shoreline recession rates. June, July, and October show more pronounced shoreline changes compared to August and September.

Process these data in Surfer software.

Generate DEMs of the topography of Oval Beach for each date and a new DEM of the difference between them to analyze volume evolution.

Figure 5. Maximum shoreline recession and accretion at a representative transect across the study area. Green arrows indicate wave directions from NW to W, while purple arrows show waves from SW to W.

Takeaway

Figure 4. Monthly mean shoreline position after nourishment. The beach width initially increased by approximately 40 meters in the central section of Oval Beach. One month after nourishment, beach width at the primary placement area decreased by 20–30 meters and remained relatively stable for the next two months. Shoreline dynamics were more variable on the distal ends of the site.

Figure 7. Shoreline recession rates from April 2023 to April 2024 (pre-nourishment) and April 2024 to April 2025 (postnourishment). Post-nourishment, the shoreline shows substantial advancement, indicating a positive response to the intervention.

(1) Shoreline position at the nourishment site remained lakeward of the pre-nourishment position several months after placement, despite several higher energy wave events. (2) Shoreline position updrift and downdrift of the initial placement was variable in the months after placement due to small-scale wave events moving material in the beach drift. (3) Positive shoreline change documented along most of the study site in the past year is attributed to the material placement and suggests at least a year of nourishment benefit *Financial assistance for this project was provided by the Michigan Coastal Management Program, Water Resources Division, EGLE, with funding through the National Coastal Zone Management Program. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendation in this manuscript are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of EGLE and NOAA. 5