WHITEHALL — The Whitehall city council unanimously approved the scheduling of a public hearing to consider a 10-year commercial rehabilitation tax exemption for the Lake Land Getaway property on Colby Street at its regular meeting Tuesday.
The hearing will take place Tuesday, Jan. 27 during the next scheduled city council meeting. If approved, the exemption would tax the property at the $495,000 price at which new owners Jeremy and Melanie Garcia purchased it regardless of its assessed value over the course of the 10 years.
According to the resolution and to city manager Dan Tavernier during the meeting, the exemption is offered to encourage small business ownership and incentivize the rehabilitation of commercial property. Tavernier expressed that he was in favor of the exemption. State law requires a public hearing take place before the council acts on the request.
The council also approved several procedural moves. Tavernier was named as the city's street administrator, a designation necessary for the city to receive state Department of Transportation funds. Approval was also given to annual resolutions reaffirming citizens' right to protest their property tax assessment; scheduling the board of review sessions to address such protests for March 11 at 1 and 4 p.m. and March 12 at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.; and enacting the annual poverty exemption.
The council also unanimously approved mayor Tom Ziemer's appointments to various boards and commissions after the final nominations were determined during the work session earlier that day. There was no additional discussion during the council meeting, and many of the appointments were current council members, though other citizens who had submitted letters of interest were also appointed to seats.
The same appointments led to a contentious discussion among the council in 2025, when council members and members of the public questioned previous mayor Steven Salter's recommended nominations and some seats were left vacant.
By approving two requests from the White Lake Area Chamber & Visitor's Bureau, the council also finalized the dates of two 2026 festivals. The annual Feet on the Street festival will take place Sunday, June 7 on the North Mears Promenade as it has the past few years, and the revived Maritime Festival is slated to return to Whitehall Aug. 6-8 after the annual celebration had been dormant since 2012.
Per a Chamber letter to the council, the festival will begin Thursday, Aug. 6 with a kickoff party, with the main festival events taking place Aug. 7-8 at Goodrich Park in Whitehall, including live music, a beer tent, and various family-friendly activities. Council members and longtime residents Jeff Holmstrom and Tanya Cabala both expressed their excitement that the Maritime Festival is returning.
During a city manager's report, Tavernier stated that the Tax Increment Finance Authority and Local Development Finance Authority each approved the use of bonds to fund road improvements this summer. The council previously gave Tavernier authority to pursue bonds to funding the improvements. The city will use Local Community Stabilization Act funds to pay off the bonds, the funds for which Tavernier said he expects to arrive around April 1. He added that bids will soon be coming in for those projects.
Ziemer said he was excited to see that the road improvements will be done this year and asked Tavernier if it is possible to extend the sidewalk on Lake Street out to the Mill Pond Park or if there are private property-related reasons that cannot happen. Tavernier said he did not know and would check.
