“These past two years with these four individuals has been an honor to work here,” Woods said. “These are smart, non ambitious, I mean they don’t have any political motivation. They are here to help the city which is the same motivation that I had.”

Woods thanked everyone employed by the city for all the hard work they do.

“I have to send an enormous thank you to George Lahanas,” Woods said. “He stayed with me during all the ups and the downs and would guide me through things I didn’t really know about and help me so greatly.”

Beier, who was elected at the same time as Woods, thanked her for the time served.

“I’ve really come to appreciate something about you that maybe other people don’t, but because it’s also the way that I was raised, I really appreciate you just say what you think and you say what you feel,” Beier said. “Sometimes it’s ridiculous but at least I don’t have to guess at what it is, and that is the definition of somebody that’s not a politician. That is what I appreciated so much about you.”

Councilmembers Erik Altmann and Shanna Draheim also thanked Woods for her service.

After thanking Woods for her time on council, Mayor Mark Meadows addressed the failure of the income tax proposal.

“The failure to get approval of the voters of the City of East Lansing for the income tax and property tax rollback last night means we have to go forward with the alternatives that were set out by the financial health team,” Meadows said. “Obviously we can ignore those but if we ignore those then we’re not going to be in a position in a few years to actually fund probably even half of the services that the city provides at this point in time.”

Twenty-five percent of registered voters said “no” to the income tax. The city planned to use the revenue to fund pensions, infrastructure and operations. 

Without the tax revenue, the city has to find at least $3 million, which will probably come from cuts to services, Meadows said.

At the Nov. 21 city council meeting, the city’s next steps will be discussed in depth, Meadows said.

Fraternity approved

The council approved a special use permit to allow Sigma Alpha Mu to establish a fraternity at 217 Bogue St.

The building will house up to 14 members. They are already living there, but not as a fraternity, a representative said.