Make some calls today.
Call to order a regular meeting of City Council Tuesday,
May 28th, uh,
2024 at 7:00 PM Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
I pledge allegiance, pledge allegiance
To the flag of the United States, states of America,
and to the Republic for which it stands, one
Nation under
God, indivisible, with liberty, justice for all.
Roll call Madam Secretary, president Rogan. Here.
Councilman Dwyer? Here.
Councilwoman McGee? Here. Councilman Bokey? Here.
Councilman Nunan? Here. Councilman Lty. Here.
Councilwoman Moore. We have a quorum.
Next item. Next item is for adoption
of the consent agenda. So moved.
Support Lafferty. Any discussion?
Yes, please. Oh, not the consent agenda. Sorry.
It'll be the adoption of the, uh, regular agenda. Go ahead.
Thank you. Uh, Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr.
Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes.
Mr. Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes.
Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is adoption of the agenda.
So moved with discussion
Support Lafferty.
Um, discussion Ms. Moore? Thank you.
I would like to add items 12 E,
which is, uh, settlement in the matter of 12
mound development, LLC et all versus city of Warren,
Macomb County Circuit Court case number 2 2 3 0 0 1 7 3 2.
cz, and as item 12 F,
discussion or settlement in the matter of the estate
of Koya Moore Etal versus City of Warren Etal,
United States District Court case number 4 21.
CV 1 22 67. F-K-B-C-I.
Yes. And I would like to, uh, request
to add an item under council business discussion
regarding planning commissions, bylaws.
That item will be 13.
A Madam Secretary?
Yes. I would like to add an item.
I put it in front of a couple people's, um, places.
It is an item un it's changed to an ordinance,
unauthorized entrance upon private parking area,
proposed amendments, amendments to chapter 22.
Article four, division two, section 72.
That will be item 14. N as in Nancy.
Yes. Thank you.
Any additional
Madam Chair? I'd like
to. Madam Chair. Mm-Hmm.
I'd like to ask that we separate, uh, item.
I'm sorry, what was that? 14 N
Nancy? Yep.
14 n uh, voting on the balance.
I know what that means. I'd like to vote on agenda.
Oh, you'd like to buy agenda items.
And I'd like to bifurcate Ms.
Rogan's item as an addition to the agenda.
Madam Chair. I believe the council rules allows each
member to add one item to the council agenda.
And I don't believe that we can stop
that according to the rules. I
Can look it up. Okay. I, I
will. Okay.
So I will yield with that
and, uh, refrain from the discussion
until we reach that item.
Okay. Thank you.
I think I might, yeah. Okay.
Thank you. Yep. Thank you for the reminder. Yep,
No problem.
Any further discussion? Hearing none?
I will call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes.
Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Newnan? Yes.
Ms. McGee? Yes. Robin, C as a? Yes. Motion carries.
Next item. Next item is six.
A calendar of pending matters.
Motion to receive and file with discussion.
Support. Ty. Discussion Madam Secretary? Yeah.
One second, please. Um, this,
I think there's an item we can take off the calendar.
Yeah. Um, we can take off item 12.
Um, that was dated 12 19 23.
Um, we have received some of,
I think most of that information.
Um, I would make a, um, motion that
the item that is, um, dated 12 12 20 23, which was
for the request for the clerk to update muni code
and reply to counsel.
That has not been done.
Um, it is my understanding that that is being obstructed
by the administration and the legal department.
So I would like to add onto the calendar of pending matters
that, that re that request be extended to the administration
and the city attorney's office.
Um, because, um, it is my understanding that, uh,
the clerk is seating her authority somehow to the, um,
uh, city attorney's office.
I'm not sure that that is appropriate.
She is autonomous and should just be doing her job.
And, um, I don't know why the city, um, the administration
and the attorney's offices is interfering with that.
Um, but I would like to, um, uh, add that to that request
to include the administration
and the City Attorney's office.
Anything further. So that would be my motion.
Okay. Second.
Excuse me. Was that a, a motion? Motion, yeah. Support.
Mr. Lafferty had originally made the motion without
Objection for amendments.
Support Maker of the motion is, um, yes, I do.
Proof of the amendments. Okay. Uh, Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr.
Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes.
Mr. Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is? Yes.
Motion carries. Next item,
next item seven A is approval of the minutes
of the regular meeting of May 14th, 2024.
So moved. Support Lafferty discussion.
Hearing none? I'll call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr.
Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr.
Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes.
Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is a, um, eight, a approval of the bills
of the General Revenue funds.
So moved with discussion Support Dwyer. Discussion.
Madam Secretary. Thank you.
I just have a question on check number 6 6 7 1 7 3.
This is a very small amount of $25 reimbursement, um,
to a firefighter,
but the, the, uh, it's indicated it's to a Richard Morrow.
There is a Kyle Richard Morrow in the fire
department, but there's not a Richard.
That's just a name change.
I don't know if he'll be able to still cash the check
or not, but anyway, just wanted to point that out.
That's it. Any additional discussion?
Hearing none? I'll call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr.
Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr.
Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan sees a yes.
Motion carries. Next item. Next item is eight B.
Approval of the bills of the water
and Sister Sis water and sewer system.
So moved. Support Dwyer. Discussion.
Hearing none? I'll call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr.
Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes.
Ms. McGee? Yes. Mr. Noonan? Yes. Rogan, C as a? Yes.
Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is eight C General Fund revenue report for April.
Motion to receive and file support. Lty. Any discussion?
Hearing none. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed?
Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is eight D approval of the, I'm sorry,
eight D General fund expenditure report
for April receiving a file support.
Lafferty. Any discussion?
All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries.
Next item. Next item is audience participation.
Let's see. Members of the audience would like to address,
uh, city Council this evening may do so
by filling out a form, uh, to my left, your right.
Uh, just a reminder that, uh, this is for agenda items only,
and at the end of counsel is additional time
for general comments.
I do wanna remind folks, uh, Ms. Moore
and I discussed this last meeting that, uh,
and reiterate that, uh, folks who come up to the podium, uh,
who call out personally, attack name call members
of anyone on the diocese, particularly folks
who are not elected, um, Ms. Jones,
who's here today, but generally MS.
Camp, Ms. Schroeder, uh, it's just not gonna be tolerated
and it's not appropriate.
And so you'll be gaveled down and asked to take a seat and
or redirect your line of, of comments.
I would also say we're to be as respectful as possible.
We as a body attempt to be as respectful as possible
to folks in the audience.
Uh, and this goes in extension to our department heads
and other folks who are coming up here.
This is a, a, a business meeting.
And so just wanna remind people that we are
to be modeling civility whenever possible.
And while you are absolutely entitled to criticize
and, uh, have rigorous debate
with your elected officials, we ask
that you do so respectfully.
And then additionally, I just wanna remind our,
my colleagues about our rules and code of conduct,
and also for the audience to know it's, uh, 21.1.
So no city council member shall engage in name calling
or personal attacks against another city council member
or against any city, uh, addressing the city council,
any citizen addressing the city council on any subject,
which I think this body has done a fantastic job.
No city council member shall interrupt any other city
council member while he, while he
or she is speaking, only the president
of council may interrupt a citizen addressing city
council on any subject.
City council members shall discuss only the agenda item
being considered and not discuss unrelated topics.
Each city council member shall be limited to five minutes.
Uh, for discussion on each agenda item.
Each member may be granted additional time
and a particular item by a majority vote of city council.
And the city council president
shall enforce all of these rules.
So just wanted to friendly reminder to everyone, um,
both in the, the audience and up here.
Uh, four audience on agenda item is Ms. Harris.
Hi, Lori Harris. I'm glad I could be here tonight.
I wanted to talk about agenda item.
Uh, m this is about the recruiter
and, uh, what is confusing is that
the bid that you're voting on tonight was for $23,000
and then $5,000 for level two.
Um, and yet the annual amount not to exceed $75,000.
I I did feel that this, um, person, uh,
looking at her resume has mostly done pharmaceutical, uh,
being a pharmaceutical rep
and then was a personal fitness trainer.
So if you've looked at her resume, I'm wondering if that's
who we really want, uh, if we have
to take the lowest bid somehow she got that,
but I, I'm just not sure that, uh, based on
what I read on the backup.
Um, and then I want to talk about the Parks
and Rec, um, playground equipment.
That's G and H 14.
G and H, those are very impressive, very, very impressive.
But as Mr. Baker, um, has been pushing, sorry,
for, um, a DA compliance, what I noticed on both of those is
that there's an eight inch cement curb
around both entire playground.
So in terms of accessibility, there needs
to, it needs to be changed.
So there's some kind of ramp so that someone doesn't have
to step over an eight inch curb.
Um, so I think that should be an addendum to,
if you're passing that and then for, um,
I can't find it about Tom Bato.
Oh, that's the public hearing. I'm still gonna say it.
Um, well, maybe not. I'll save that for the public hearing.
Thank you.
Thank you. Any additional?
Nicole, is there any in there? No. Okay. Okay.
Uh, next item, next item is announcements 10, a resolution
of the Warren City Council, recognizing June as pride month.
Um, I will read the resolution.
Motion to approve support Lafferty.
All in favor, aye. Aye. Resolution.
Recognizing June is pride month,
whereas the Warren City Council is committed
to fostering an inclusive, diverse,
and welcoming community
for all residents, visitors, and employees.
And whereas Pride Month is a time to celebrate the history,
culture, and contributions of the L-G-B-T-Q community
and to acknowledge the ongoing struggles
and achievements in the fight
for equal rights and acceptance.
And whereas the Warren City Council acknowledges the
importance of promoting equality, dignity,
and respect for all individuals, regardless
of sexual orientation, gender identity,
or gender expression.
And whereas the Warren City Council values the diversity
of its residents and recognizes that the
LGBTQ plus community is an integral part
of our social fabric, contributing to the enrichment
and vitality of our city.
And whereas by recognizing Pride Month,
the Warren City Council aims to raise awareness,
promote inclusivity, and encourage dialogue
and understanding among all residents.
Now therefore, let it be resolved that we,
the Warren City Council, do hereby proclaim June
as Pride Month in the City of Warren,
be it further resolved.
The Warren City Council encourages all businesses,
residents, and community organizations
to join in the observance of Pride Month
to participate in events and activities,
and to work towards a future of equality
and inclusion for all.
Resolution. Adopted this 28th day of May, 2024, signed
by all members of counsel.
Um, I asked, um, uh, Ms.
Monica Papazian
and Mr. Kelly, Mr. Ryan Kelly to be here today to, um,
accept the resolution.
Um, there is a, um, uh, started by, uh, Monica and Ryan.
They have planned an event for, um, June,
and I would like to present this to them and maybe Ms.
Um, Appian
and Mr. Kelly can give a brief
description of what they're going to do.
Uh, Brian and I would just like to thank City Council, uh,
for this resolution.
Um, my goal personally is to encourage,
um, inclusivity and equity within our city.
And, uh, I think bringing this event to our city
is an incredible thing.
Uh, I hope everybody can come out.
It's gonna be on June 29th.
The parade will start at 1130,
and it will leave from Cono High School going down Common
Road into City Hall, where, um, the event will take place.
Um, we'll have, um, entertainment from noon
until six o'clock.
And, uh, it's a family friendly event.
The event is free, and we hope
to see everybody there. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Um, Madam Chair, uh, Madam Secretary, I,
I would, uh, remind everyone that, um,
this is not a city funded event.
Um, this, uh, wonderful group of people have planned
and, um, figured out funding, uh,
for this event, and I commend them.
Um, to go back a little bit, in
20 20, 20 21,
a group called the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, um,
rank cities for their human rights, um, standing
and Warren ranks very poorly.
And one of the reasons, um,
that we had gone forward
and, um, created an anti-discrimination ordinance,
um, was that we needed to have, um, our anti-discrimination,
um, ordinance out there for the world to see.
While it's law, it's still not on the, um, muni code.
And so, and also the diversity, equity
and con inclusion is not, um, we ended up with a score
of 16, um, the last time they did this,
that was just abysmal and embarrassing.
And I think the world needs to know
that we're better than that.
And so I am praying
and hoping that certainly by June,
that ordinance is put on the books.
So the world can see our anti-discrimination, as well
as our diversity, equity, inclusion, uh, ordinances.
Um, that will be the first step in, uh, creating a,
a better view of this city from outsiders.
Um, I commend all of you for what you're doing
and appreciate it greatly.
Thank you. Um, I have one more item in announcements.
Um, so, uh, Lieutenant Hans Seabert
and firefighter Para paramedic Colvin Taylor, um, went
to Texas to, to aid in the, um, floods.
The Michigan Task Force one was deployed to Texas
to assist in the ongoing severe flooding.
The specialized team consisting
of highly trained emergency responders, is prepared
to support local authorities in search
and rescue operations, debris removal,
and providing immediate relief to affected communities.
Along with humanitarian aid.
The flooding, which has displaced thousands
and caused extensive damage,
necessitated additional manpower
and expertise to ensure the safety
and recovery of the impacted areas.
The task force equipped with advanced tools
and technology is experienced in dealing
with natural disasters, having previously responded
to various emergencies across the United States.
The deployment to Texas underscores the importance
of interstate cooperation during such crises.
Members of the team bring a range
of skills from medical care
and technical rescues to logistics
and coordination, ensuring a comprehensive approach
to the disaster response.
As the task force integrated with local emergency services,
the efforts of our Warren Firefighters efforts ex
expedited the recovery process.
Their presence not only provided immediate aid,
but also reinforced the resilience
and solidarity among states in times of need by contributing
to the rescue operations and helping to restore normalcy.
Michigan Task Force one played a crucial role in mitigating
the long-term impacts of the Texas floods.
Without the support of the Warren Fire Department
and the citizens of Warren,
this mission would not have been a success.
Um, I want to commend those two
firefighters that went to help.
I commend everybody on the Michigan Task Force,
and, um, it just reiterates
how important the funding we provide, the fire department,
police department, other departments, our city on safety
and training and emergency preparedness,
that it not only helps us,
but it helps all over the country.
And if something happens here, we would like
to have the same response from those people
in other parts of the country.
So I'm very, very proud of the work Our fire department, uh,
does on a day-to-Day basis,
and certainly extremely proud of these, uh, lieutenant, uh,
Han Seavert and Firefighter paramedic Colvin Taylor, uh,
for the effort, um, they, uh, put forward going to, uh,
Texas and, you know, in another dangerous situation.
So thank you very much for your dedication. Thank you.
That's it for me.
Any additional announcements,
Madam President, Council Member Lap.
Thank you. I'd like to invite everyone to Cruisin 53
that will be held this Sunday, June 2nd, from 12 to 4:00 PM
There will be a classic car show,
and this is a no registration classic car show you are.
Feel free to bring your classic car for display.
The Tour De Warren will be a feature
of multiple international food vendors that will be on site.
Touch a truck for the young ones
and live music from Larry Lee
and the back in the day band from one to three,
there is no admission.
Free parking. Everyone is invited to come
and enjoy the day out with, uh,
what should be beautiful weather
and a great classic car show.
And, and, uh, lots of fun.
Uh, my classic car, my 57 Chevy
that I brought last year was run over by another car.
I guess nobody saw the little ton of truck, ton of boy that,
uh, I put down in the parking space.
It was a matchbox. It was a matchbox. I'm sorry.
But, uh, I appreciated the humor.
Somebody else didn't. Thank you.
Anything further?
Okay, next item.
Next item is 11 A, which is the public hearing,
which was tabled 2 13 20 24.
Request to approve the demolition of a house
and garage at 11 3 0 9 Ford
through the nuisance abatement program, consideration
and adoption of a resolution.
Motion to remove from the table.
Support to remove from the table.
Uh, all in favor removing the item from the table.
Aye. Aye. Um, any opposed? Okay. A motion.
Motion to approve with discussion. Thank you.
Support with discussion.
Uh, discussion. Ms. Moore. The Mr. Lafferty.
Mr. Laze, please.
Evening counsel. Um, the home,
since our last meeting has been sold,
and we have permits issued, city asserts have been issued,
a roof permit has been issued and final approved.
We have a, um, right now an interior alteration building
permit that has been issued,
and a plumbing permit also have been issued
to the new, all through the new owner.
So I believe back that last council meeting
that they were talking about selling it.
They did sell it, and the new owner
is renovating the property. Okay.
I will change my vote to a motion to deny
or remove it from the,
Just remove it. I, I will
withdraw my support
and support the motion to deny.
So, motion to deny the demolition Correct.
Given the progress that's been made reported by Mr. Lizza.
Any other additional discussion? Hearing none.
I'll call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty?
Yes. To deny Mr. Dwyer? Yes. To deny Mr. Bokey? Yes.
To deny Mr. Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes.
To deny Rogan excuse a Yes. Motion carries.
Next item. Next item is 11 B, which is a public hearing,
which is tabled 2 13 20 24.
And RETD 4 9, 20 24.
Request to approve the demolition
of a house in shed at 75 51 Prospect
through the nuisance abatement program, consideration
and adoption of resolution.
Motion to remove from the table
Support lafferty.
All in favor or remove the item from the table? Aye. Aye.
Any opposed? Item is removed from the table.
Motion to approve
Support with discussion.
Discussion Mr. Lafferty?
Thank you. Through the chair to Mr. Laze.
I, um, I believe at our last hearing, we granted time
to get city ER inspections.
Those city ER inspections.
Uh, the city ER permit was issued,
but we all went out there.
The staff went out to inspect this house on May 2nd,
and all the inspectors were locked out for that inspection.
So we can get a violation sheet on them on
from all the inspectors.
Um, I did notice that it has been rescheduled for June 5th
of, uh, next month for re for the initial inspection.
So we did not get in to get a list of violation
sheets in May.
So we still have not been inside this house,
but we were all, everyone,
all the inspectors were locked out.
May 2nd of 24 and rescheduled for June 5th.
That's where we're at with it right now.
Mr. Laa, if we table this again, uh,
to the following week, June 11th, would
that give you enough time to provide it
that you're allowed access to the home?
Would that give you enough time to process the paperwork?
Well, yeah. Right now, all five
inspectors are scheduled to go.
We all go on the same day for initial,
everyone goes on on June 5th.
So you'll have plumbing, mechanical, building, electrical,
and zoning, all inspecting that property on June 5th.
And then un understood all the violation sheets will be
created at that time, scanned into the system for review.
Alright. How much time do you need thereafter
to provide a recommendation to the spot? Yeah.
After your initial city cert inspection,
you're granted 30 days to obtain all your proper permits
that go along with these inspections.
And these are good. And the city
certs are good for six months.
Six months from, I believe our initial inspection.
We go there July.
I'm more inclined to say no.
Let's RET to July
and give the city ample time, uh,
through the chair to Ms.
Morehart.
I had an independent inspector come out.
Can you bones are good. Speak into the microphone.
I said I had an independent inspector come out
because I was scared of since I had missed that appointment.
The bones are good. And can we proceed
with the city coming out on the fifth please?
Do you have something in your hands?
I have a letter and I have the inspector's,
um, certifications.
What, through the chair to Mr. La Ms. Morehart.
So the, you have an inspection now rescheduled
to June 5th? Yes.
With the city. And I also had my own inspector come
Out. I, I understand you have
your own inspection.
I have to rely on the inspections through Mr. Zay.
I understand. Okay. Will you be Yes.
I'll available to allow the inspectors into your home? Yes,
I will. Okay. I
had tried to send an email to you guys
to let you know that I had missed it
and that I had rescheduled, but I didn't hear anything back.
Okay. So I went ahead and did this.
Alright, that's fine. As, as long
as we have your commitment that you will be available
to let the inspectors in to do their job.
So we can do our job. Yes.
Alright, then, uh,
unless there is other, other comments,
I will make a motion to table this to date certain.
July 23rd.
July 23rd. Support. Thank you.
Uh, motion to table Mr. Lafferty?
Yes. To table. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes.
To table. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Noonan? Yes.
Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes. Item is tabled above.
Next item is 11 D,
which is a public hearing request to review.
It's, I'm sorry, C 11 C.
Request to review and confirm special assessment.
Role number five 30 relating to 20,800 gross spec,
demolition of a commercial building
through the nuisance abatement process, consideration
and adoption of a resolution.
Someone from the city, uh, able to summarize the matter
Is that you, Mr.
La
It's just a special assessment.
Something going on in tax rules.
Normally this is, these buildings are both gone. Alright.
They've been de demolished.
This is, I believe, a motion
to approve the special assessment.
They placed some these properties correct?
For gross spec on out.
Thank you. So, yeah, They both, both have,
both properties have been demolished and removed.
So we're just putting the tax, yes. The demolition cost
Placed by public service on the property
to recoup the cost for the demolition.
Thank you.
I will entertain a motion.
Motion to approve. Thank
You. Support.
Was that you? Bokey? Thank you.
Any additional discussion?
Hearing none. Mr. Lafferty?
Yes. To approve Mr. Bokey? Yes. To approve Mr. Dwyer?
Yes. To approve Mr. Nunan? Yes. Uh, Ms. McGee? Yes.
Ms. Moore? Yes. Rogan sees a yes.
Motion carries. Next item 11 D,
public hearing request review and confirm specialist.
Subsequent role number 5 31 relating
to 80 81 Huff demolition of a house
and shed through the nuisance abatement process,
consideration, and adoption of a resolution.
Mr. Lizza, similar situation?
Yes, sir. Regarding 8 0 8 1 hub hub has been removed,
the home is demolished,
and I am awaiting for concrete repair from the, uh,
demo contract right now.
But the home is gone and it's gone.
And now we're done with that one.
It's, we now put through the, we put place the a r on there
to recoup the cost of the demolition.
But I am waiting for sidewalk repair from the
contractor, but the all is gone.
Thank you. I
will entertain a motion. Motion
To approve. Thank you.
Support. Any additional discussion?
Hearing none? I'll recall the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr.
Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes.
Mr. Newnan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes.
Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is E,
which is a public hearing subdivision lot split located on
the southeast corner of 12 Mile Road on Adler Drive.
12 9 80 12 Mile Road, section 14.
Osama Ook, Warren, CAV, urban Land Consultants,
PSLS 2 3 0 0 0 3.
Is there anyone from the city
who can share a bit of information on this?
Mr. Mr. Wirth? By chance
You have a chair and, uh, council.
This is a, uh, lot split, lot split.
Uh, it's a, an out lot of a subdivision at, uh,
14 mile in Adler.
Uh, three parcels are being created
and, um, the administration zoning
and all that has checked it over to make sure that, uh,
each lot meets the zoning ordinance
and meets, uh, uh, the, the laws of this city.
So That, I don't know what else to say.
I, uh, other than that, do you have any questions?
Is Mm-Hmm. Mr. Lafferty,
Thank you. Through the
chair to Mr. Wirth. Good evening, sir.
Good evening, sir. So This looks pretty standard there.
All of the other surrounding parcels are all, what,
65 are these?
Uh, 60 foot lots.
60 and 65, if I read that correctly.
They meet, I meet the ordinance.
Okay. And there's an existing structure.
And so the existing home's going to be demolished
and three residential units built on, on the site. I
Don't think the existing home is gonna be demolished, no.
Okay. So we, we don't know exactly
That will remain, I believe two other homes constructed.
Okay. And these are, these are zone residential, correct?
Yes. Okay.
Was there any, I don't see in the notes that there were any,
uh, discussions about rezoning, uh, at some future point.
So it would appear, the intent is
to build three, three homes here?
Yes. I mean it, uh, I'm not sure
what they'd rezone it to.
I mean, the house at one time, uh, was, uh, used as, uh,
professional building type of thing,
but that's not what they want to do anymore.
It's, it can either be
that PB zone I remember.
I think I remember that. Mm-Hmm.
But it's, uh, it's residential and, and that's permitted.
Okay. That's pretty standard for me. Thank you.
Thank you. Is the petitioner here?
I believe so.
Good Evening, Razu 12 9 8 0, 12 Mile Road.
Does anyone have any questions, petitioner?
No. Any questions, petitioner? Okay. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. Uh, I will open the public hearing
and then ask for audience.
Is there anyone from the audience who would like
to comment on this item?
Ms. Harris?
I, Hi.
I might not be remembering correctly,
but I was at some planning meetings
that this was discussed at.
So here's what I recall,
that there were questions about the driveways.
There was a promise that a large tree would not be removed.
Um, and I believe one of the lots was going to be
smaller, uh, than, than was typical.
So, um, maybe those questions can be answered.
Um, and it doesn't sound like Mr.
Wirth is real sure about the house that's there.
And so
before you decide, I think you need better information.
Thank you.
Anyone else from the audience?
Like to speak on the matter? Clay?
I will close the public hearing
and turn it over to counsel for action.
Motion to approve discussion.
Support Dwyer. Thank you.
Uh, discussion Council member Lafferty.
Thank you, uh, through the chair to, uh, in response
to the, the question by Ms. Harris.
Uh, in looking at the measurements, uh, there are two lots
parcels, A and B, or I'm sorry, A
and C, which are both 60 feet wide.
And then parcel B is 65 feet wide,
and all of them measure
135 feet.
I believe I'm reading that correctly.
So these are,
and they match the dimensions
of the neighboring parcel.
Uh, they actually exceed the dimensions
of the neighboring parcels by five and 10 feet respectively.
So we're, these are our three standard,
fairly standard size residential lots
for this particular area.
Um, irrespective of the, of the drive, the plan
for the existing driveway, I mean, with them all
zoned residential, the, the developer can only,
can only build a home on these three lots.
There's no plan to, we're, we're, we're splitting the lot.
We're not combining it, and there's no plan to rezone
or combine the lots.
So this really is quite standard.
Thank you. Any additional discussion?
Adam, chair? Mr. Buki,
Uh, direction for Mr.
Wirth? The property, um,
needed a zoning variance.
It was recommended. Was that obtained by the zoning board?
According To the minutes, uh,
your planning commission, it was requested
Property did not need a zoning variance.
It's zone PV two district, and it is,
and residential homes are permitted.
So there's no nothing like that.
The original plan needed a variance,
and the zoning board didn't approve it in December.
It needed a variance. So they didn't approve it.
Is that correct?
That is correct.
My only comment about the zoning board of appeals is
that they were incorrect in how they ruled
the first time around.
But the, uh, petitioner was willing to realign it
to make it, uh, uh, according to
the zoning requirements of the city.
Thank you. If I have a question,
Uh, Mr. Nunan,
Uh, yes. Uh, through
the chair to, uh, Mr. Wir.
So is there any chance this could be multi, uh, family units
or does it have to be single unit,
Uh, homes.
Single unit homes. Okay. Thank you.
Any additional?
Okay. Hearing none, I will call the question. Mr. Lafferty?
Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr.
Bokey?
No. Mr. Nunan?
Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Ms. Moore?
Yes. Ancy is a yes.
Motion carries six to one. Next item.
Next item is a public hearing proposed draft for the city
of Warren Van D**e corridor plan
and addendum to the city of Warren Master Plan,
a comprehensive initiative
for a rigorous three year study encompassing resident
and business surveys, as well as strategic engagements
with key stakeholders, including city,
county, and state officials.
By February, 2022, Beckett and Reader Inc.
Completed their preliminary study of the Van D**e Corridor.
This proposal is for a resolution to adopt
and recommend the city council,
and is an addendum to the 2021 City of Warren Master Plan,
city of Warren, Tom Bato, DDA, TIFF Director, Beckett
and Reader, Inc. Planning consultants
Support with discussion.
It's public hearing. It's public hearing. Anyone?
Oh, sorry. It's totally fine.
Anyone from the city here to summarize the matter?
Thank You, Madam Chair. I'm in attendance. Uh, Mr.
Palm won't be here this evening, so I'll do the best I can
to, uh, answer any questions that, uh, anyone, uh,
would like, uh, to,
Uh, Make to me.
I don't have a presentation.
I didn't plan anything myself,
but, uh, it's my understanding.
You, you all received the PowerPoint
and, uh, you could have looked through that.
Um, it's, it's more like a summary of the, uh,
entire document itself.
A good summary, uh, to, uh, review.
I think the pictures depict many of what could be
and can be, uh, all up
and down, uh, van D**e Avenue from Stevens to,
uh, eight Mile Road.
A lot of work's going into this.
Uh, the, uh, consultant is here to take any questions, uh,
that, uh, you may have.
Uh, they worked, uh, diligently very hard.
Uh, we were, we were hard on them, but, uh, they took it.
And, uh, we have a great, uh, document here.
I think it's a document that could, uh, change, uh,
literally change the face of the South end with, uh,
the improvements that, uh, are suggested, uh,
in the implementation strategy.
So that I, if anyone has any more questions
of me, but, uh,
Madam Chair, it was my understanding
that there would be a presentation given to the public.
That's why this was a public hearing, so
that the residents could weigh in on this.
And whether we got a packet
or not, the public has not been presented.
I think there was a, maybe a miscommunication
somewhere along the line.
Well, the consultant here is here
to give the presentation. I don't know the
Time. Oh, I'm, I'm, I'm
confused why you're here then.
Because, because I was part of this whole process. Okay.
Okay. I worked on it from the beginning to end, uh,
along with everyone else from the administration
who had any concerns with this,
who want anything great in this town. That's why I'm here.
Oh, no, no. I, You, you just came up and said that Mr.
Bato wasn't here. I did.
So, and then you said that there are consultants,
so I wasn't sure where the disconnect.
There was a disconnect, apparently.
I said I was here, uh, to do what I could to, uh,
say a few words, but that's it.
I did not have a, a presentation to give, so,
Okay. Well, maybe the consultants
will have a presentation.
Thank you.
Okay.
I will. Yeah. Feel free to come up. I'm just gonna,
hi. Can you introduce yourself?
Absolutely. Good evening Counsel.
Uh, Brian Barrick with Beckett
and Rader, uh, landscape Architects, urban Planners
and civil engineers out.
Dan, thank you.
Uh, we, perhaps there was a miscommunication with,
uh, with city staff.
Uh, we have a presentation that was in your packet, if
that is available for public viewing.
I'm happy to, I'm happy to go through it.
Uh, when, uh, Mr.
Wirth, would it be, uh, cumbersome to table it
to the next meeting so that we can get all
of this information up on the screens?
'cause I don't have a copy of the presentation.
I have it in the packet, but I don't have it
for public viewing.
Madam Chair, it was my understanding that, uh, we were,
that the consultant was told not
to bring along the, uh, PowerPoint.
'cause you already had the paper copy in front of you.
That's what happened here.
He communicated with someone, I'm not sure who,
but that's what he indicated to me.
So there was no PowerPoint that the public could,
could see and share
Under. Understood.
I would, I just would request.
So that, just for transparency, it is a huge document
and a lot of information
that if we could put it on the next agenda,
unless anyone up here opposes so
that the public gets the information as well.
Will you be available when, what, next meeting? Two.
Yep. In two, the two fifth or the one after?
That doesn't matter. What's
Your June?
That's not the second Tuesday. You're correct.
June 11th. Thank you.
June 11th or or two, you know, the next meeting
after that, if that's not a possible for you.
Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it.
So, uh, I'll add motion to table. Thank you
Madam Chair. Entertain
Madam Chair.
I would like to ask that to ensure that a, uh,
notice from city council office is sent to Mr.
Bato asking him to represent the item
and be prepared to, uh, speak to it.
Your point. So, point of order. Yes. Point of order.
Mr. Schroeder, should we go ahead
with the public hearing since it was noticed?
And let the public speak with, with whatever limited
information they have,
and then we will reset it for a public hearing next time?
It's your choice. Let's, let's, if people wanna speak,
do you think we should let them?
Because there's people that wanna speak of it?
No, I, I think we table it to the next meeting. Okay.
And then we, we notice that as
A public hearing. That's the only thing
that's people came for that.
That's okay. You do whatever you want.
Mr. Lafferty. I, I would recommend,
since this was noticed as a public hearing,
there may be members of the audience
that are here to speak on behalf.
It is no harm for us to hold the public hearing tonight.
Table the matter, our consideration of the matter.
We bring it back on the 11th of June.
We reopen the public hearing.
We just leave the public hearing open. We reopen it.
Allow anybody to speak after the presentation is done,
and then we can have our, uh, our dialogue.
Fair enough. Anyone from the audience wanna speak on this?
Thank you for letting me do this,
because I won't be here for that other meeting.
Um, I, when I read this public hearing, proposed draft
for the city of Warren Van D**e Corridor plan, an addendum
to the city of Warren Master Plan.
This proposal is for a resolution to adopt
and recommend a city council.
Oh, wait a minute. It's a three year. Where did I read that?
A three year study
for a rigorous three year study encompassing
resident business surveys.
So then I looked up, um, Beckett, oh, uh,
whatever they're Beckett.
Rader probably got the name wrong.
But I wanted to read something, um,
because I've looked at, at, I've been listening
to what's going on, especially in the TPA area.
And it's really been neglected by the city
and by economic development.
And only, um, a, a couple of
facades can be done a year.
Um, but I wanna read this to address
its stalled economic engine,
which is another city in our state.
A city chose to aggressively pursue a placemaking strategy
promoted by state of Michigan, which can be described,
described as replacing the people follow jobs, quote unquote
model with jobs, follow people, quote unquote,
under this paradigm, a community makes investments in its
citizens in the form of attractive amenities such as choice
and transportation, housing, employment,
recreation, and culture.
Rather than investing in the form of tax abatement
and resource allocation, public input is key.
We've started with better public input, I think.
And, uh, if this is a new three year study,
what are we going to learn
that we don't already know about our city
and especially, uh, from Stevens
to eight mile in the Van D**e corridor?
So I, I'm confused about this.
Um, I'm disappointed that Mr. Batos not here.
I'm very disappointed that information is not
provided for the citizens to look at
because it's kind of a big deal.
And we could walk Van D**e
and ask the business owners what they want or what they see.
And I, and I'm sure they've let the city know,
is this a new contract for three more years?
Is that what this plan is?
Or is this, this was a, um, something that was already done
before and now they're going to redo it
because it's been a couple years.
'cause that's what's happening with, uh, the DDA. Correct.
They already did one and then they're gonna add
and redo it again.
'cause it's been a few years.
How long will we do this instead
of just making a difference?
So, um, we need, we need to follow this paradigm
where the community is making an investment in the citizens.
And the housing thing that's in the budget is a great step,
uh, also to doing that.
So thank you.
Thank you. Anyone else wanna speak?
I,
Gary Watts.
So for the last five years
I've been attending the TFA meetings.
Every TFA meeting. I would approach this very cautiously.
I think, I think you for tabling it
to get the right information.
You have a tiff, a board down there that has members
that have not been reappointed.
You have people that have been denied
and their voting on items.
There's a serious problem down there
and there's been some waste of money.
And I think you really need to get a grip on it
before you spend anymore.
And I think there's a lot of things that need to be done.
You know, I, when I was on council, I talked
to those business owners, I walked that area
and talked to 'em, and they're struggling
and they're not getting what they need
on TIF A to get things done.
So I would approach this very
cautiously and make sure you get it right.
Thank you.
Good evening. Uh, I've attended many tiff a meetings,
missed one or two here and there,
and I was at almost all the presentations
that decorator did minus I think one
or two on this particular project.
And so they, the, my criticism on them was making sure
that they solicited resident input
and they showed all the mechanisms
on how they were doing that.
And when I criticized 'em for it, they went back
and, uh, reiterated like, these are some ways
that we're trying to solicit resident input.
So I think they really did put their best foot forward in
regards to, uh, soliciting resident input,
but also business owners input up and down that corridor.
I live a mile from there.
Um, I've attended most of the meetings and some of the plans
and drawings that they have, um, I think do reflect
what is beneficial to the business owners
and that community over there.
Um, I understand you have
to table it for a lot of different reasons.
And there's things of a plan that I don't love.
There's things of plan that I think are amazing.
Um, but it's not just about me.
And I think when we look at what is the south end
of Warren need to revitalize it, I think this is a great,
great step forward, uh, into accomplishing that.
Um, and I believe
that their plans are already online under some
of the previous meetings.
So you can go look at the TFA meetings
and some of their minutes and stuff to look at some
of the presentations that, uh, the TFA
and, uh, Beckett, Rader and Tom has done previous.
It's a beautiful corridor if we can get it accomplished.
Any additional commentary?
Okay. You seeking commentary
from the council at this time? No
Audience. The audience.
Right. Motion To table support to table.
Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. The table. Mr. Dwyer?
Yes. To table. Mr. Bokey? Yes. The table. Mr. Nunan?
Yes. The table. Ms. McGee? Yes.
The table Rogan C is a yes. The item is tabled.
Uh, received a text and Mr. Bato is on sick today.
We didn't hear about that.
11 G administrative hearing request for a two year extension
for a previously approved request
for public alley vacation located between Globe Avenue
and Nagel Street, approximately 100 feet south
of nine Mile Road, section 35, 12,009 Mile Road.
Matt Neo, PEV 2 1 0 0 0 1.
Anyone from the city here to summarize this item?
Mr. Wirth? Is that your item?
That's,
Uh, thank you Madam Chair.
This, uh, item was, uh, an item
that, uh, expired.
It was for red that for this, uh, vacated,
uh, public alley.
Can you speak into the microphone
a little bit more, Mr. Worth? I'm
Off away from it. Sorry
about that. It's okay. Um, okay.
So it's a public alley between Globe and Nagle.
Just a block south of nine Mile.
And, uh, it was part of a site plan approval
to expand a parking lot, uh, through there
and to, um, cut away, uh, any access the of, uh,
persons driving through there.
And so this came
before, came
before the, the, uh, counsel, counsel approved it.
Um, they have had two years to, uh,
complete it, and that's go through all the motions
that needed to, uh, get it, um,
vacated after the approval of,
uh, city council.
Uh, that, that didn't happen.
The petitioner would've to explain that, uh, that issue to,
uh, the, uh, counsel itself.
But that's why they sent a letter to you to, uh,
get an extension.
I'm not sure about how much time the person wanted
for an extension permission to, uh, try
to finish it.
Uh, if they don't get it from City Council,
uh, then certainly they'll need to go through the whole, uh,
process again.
Right, right. Through, uh,
the Planning Commission one more time and back to you.
That's exactly what would happen.
Uh, So
Thank you. Is
the petitioner here?
Let's see.
Okay, Well, I'll open the public hearing.
Is there anyone from the audience
that would like to speak on this matter?
Thank you. I'm really struggling with hearings this evening.
I appreciate everyone's patience.
Well, I'm having trouble with hearing, period. Thank you.
So, uh, okay.
So audience, I will turn it over
to counsel for action. Thank you.
Motion to approve
Support was discussion.
Discussion Ms. Moore, just as I'm curious, why would it take
so long to vacate this?
I don't understand what a holdup would be.
Isn't it just legally
Well, Isn't it just a legal process?
It is a legal process,
but, uh, uh, as I recall speaking to this gentleman, uh,
he had, uh, some financial concerns that he was working with
and, uh, it's one of those lose track of time things.
But, uh, I, I've looked at this, uh,
I'm not sure why he is not here,
but, um, I rec I recommend that, uh, he get some more time.
Minimum six months,
but I think it'd take a year if you could
give that to him. Okay.
I mean, it's, it's not, it's not hurting us in any way.
His lack of progress in this manner.
No. Nothing's changed. Yeah. Since that time.
Okay. All right. Thanks.
Any additional discussion,
Madam Chair?
Mr. Bokey? Uh, just to clarify things, are we gonna,
uh, the letter that's
to us is recommending a two year extension request,
but, uh, the petitioner indicates
that he should not take more than 12 months.
Uh, my suggestion is to every vote for the 12 months
and if he needs an extension, he come back
and ask for more time.
Uh, I'll be willing to make an amendment to that
Makers of the motion support that,
No objection to shortening the term
to 12 months or one year. I
Agree.
Thank you Mr. Newan.
Yeah, I'm, I'm reading this part.
I'm recommending that city council consider the two
year extension request.
The time period would begin on August 10th, 2023
when the first two year, uh, time period expired
and end on August 10th, 2025.
So basically if we made it the two year, I would understand
that that would be something like a little bit more than a
year that they'd have to make that
Yeah, that's, That's exactly right.
It's in the timing.
Okay. Good call. So I, I I would recommend
that we just go with what, what they said.
So the, the current motion has been amended
to be one year.
Madam Chair, if I could address
Mr. Boey,
I think what Mr.
Uh, Councilman Newman is sta stating is
that the first two year agreement ends August.
So that the additional year would be from that date
to August of the following year, not additional two years.
Understood. Great. Yep.
So does the amendment as it stands, satisfy
One year from, um, August 10th.
August. Okay. Excellent. Okay. Any other Just
That. Well,
'cause they still have some on their previous
Approval, so it's 15 months ish.
Matt Madam Chair. Yes. I, if Mr.
Poy is done rereading this, I,
and I missed the expiration year that it's,
so we're already within the expiry period.
So this is, this is trying to run this
with continuity from the date that it expired to today.
So he's almost a year late past where we're already at.
If we only do a year with your amendment, we're going
to give him another month and a half, essentially
This year,
two years back.
Mm-Hmm. But if, if there's, you know, and Mr.
Wirth, correct me if I'm wrong, if I'm, if I'm reading this
correctly, the time period will begin August 10th, 2023
when the first two time periods, the two,
two year time period expired
We're, could we, couldn't we just set a date
without saying six months or whatever? Let's just pick a,
Well, I don't know. Legally we
Have to, yeah, we don't have to do that.
Well, no, I'm, I'm not certain if we have a legal
precedent where we have to continue, we have
to officially extend the time period from the date
of the original expiration to allow this
to continue administratively.
Hmm. Because the expiration is August of 2023. Correct.
So it's for a year, almost a year to
We're backdating this, that's, that's
what this, this letter is. Can
We do that Through, through the chair to Mr. Schroeder?
So it Yeah, it Mr. Wirth, go ahead. It's
Alright. It expired
August 10th, 2023.
mm-Hmm. Right. And that's when
I felt it should begin.
You want a two year extension? Alright.
It'll begin then it's backdated.
But really in all actuality, it's less than two years.
You're gonna get, it's just I didn't think
that he needed another two full years
From today's date. And
So then to run it from that date of expiration
to the next, so then it would, um,
and August, uh, 10th, 2025,
that would be his next expiration date.
So Mr. Wirth, It's a little over a year
as Yeah. Someone has said
Essentially we're giving him a year and two months.
Yeah. With, with the two year extension.
Alright, so Adam, chair,
I'll withdraw my amendment.
Thank You. And I withdraw the support
for your amendments, sir.
So to, to be clear, we're voting on, uh, item G
as it stands, which is a two year extension, uh,
which is being backdated to the date of expiration.
And Ms. Moore? No, Mr. Laff. Mr.
Lafferty, you make that motion?
Yes. Yes. And Ms. Moore supported it.
Any other discussion? Okay, hearing none.
I'll call the question. Ms. Lafferty? Yes. Ms. Moore? Yes.
Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Mr.
Nunan? Yes. Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries.
Thank you everyone. Next item 12, A consideration
and adoption of a resolution authorizing
and agreement between the city of Warren
and McComb County Action for grass
and snow services, part of the CDBG program.
Year budget in the amount of $40,000 for low
and moderate income senior citizens
and severely disabled adults residing in the city of Warren.
So moved with discussion
Support Dwyer.
Discussion. Madam Secretary, is anyone here from CDBG?
I thought I saw you there.
Good evening. Members of council Angela
Teko from community development.
I answered. Thank you.
Um, my only question is whether the slots have been
all filled for the year.
So open enrollment for this program is handled
through the Macomb County.
Um, typically, um, open enrollment is from January
through the end of May
and then once all applications are received, they go
through them and score them.
And it really depends on
how much funding each community allocates to the program.
Um, so we have $40,000 allocated.
So typically we can help about 60 folks with this program.
So we get $40,000 worth
of money coming back to Warren.
So community development is allocated the $40,000.
The county has a contractor who performs those services
for folks and then, um,
we reimburse the county for those services.
Understand. Okay. Thank you. So 60 people you said?
Right? 60 households.
Okay. And um, can you explain
what severely disabled means?
So this is the scoring from the county,
but um, so basically
what we're saying is if there's no one in the household
who can perform those services. Okay.
Thank you. Thank you very much. You're welcome.
Any additional discussion? Sure. Mr. Newton?
Yes. So, uh, what exact mechanism would we do if we knew
people who were in that category?
Because I've met quite a few people who are in that category
who are totally unaware of this.
And at this point I would have a hard time hooking them up.
Sure. If folks are interested in getting an application,
um, they can call the county.
The phone number is (586) 469-6329.
And an application can be sent out to the
4 6 9 5 8 6 4 6 9 6 3 2 9 6 3 2 9.
Thank you so much. You're
Welcome. Thank
You.
Of the applications, uh, traditionally, so we have 60 spots.
How many applicants do we roughly get?
The applications are not received through our
Office. Oh,
Got it. So the county
will do that.
Um, I would say probably 80 plus.
So there's more demand than we have funding
For. Yeah.
Okay. Thank you. You're welcome.
Anything additional? Hearing none.
I will call to question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr.
Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee?
Yes. Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is 12 B.
Consideration and adoption of a resolution for the adoption
of the 20 24 20 25 Housing Community Development action Plan
for 2024.
2025, CDBG, home and Hop and Hopwa funds. So moved.
Support Lafferty. Discussion.
Hearing none I will call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr.
Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes.
Uh, Ms. McGee? Yes. Mr. Noonan? Yes. Rogan. See as a yes.
Motion carries. Next item. Next item is 12 C.
Consideration and adoption
of a resolution approving grant application under the fiscal
year 2024.
Law Enforcement Mental Health
and Wellness Act implementation projects
and authorizing the mayor
and clerk to execute memorandum of understanding related
to grant fund expenditures in the approximate amount
of $200,000 from the Bureau of Justice Assistance.
So moved. Support Dwyer. Discussion.
Hearing none? I will call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Ms.
Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Uh, Mr.
Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes.
Motion carries. Next item. Next item is 12 D.
Consideration and adoption of a resolution.
A granting DTE electric company and overhead
and underground easement and approving an easement agreement
for properties at 75 75, 75 83
and 75 91 Continental
and Continental parcel number 1320 8,000 483 0 2 2.
And granting DTE energy and overhead
and underground easement and approving
and easement agreement
for property at 75 92 Republic parcel number
13 28 483 0 8 Additionally request for temporary suspension
of council rules 18.1
and 11.1 to waive reconsideration
of resolutions granting the easements so moved.
Support Lafferty. Discussion.
Hearing none I will call the question Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr.
Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Noonan?
Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries.
Next item. Next item is 12 e.
Settlement of the 12 mound development LLC et al versus City
of Warren Macomb County Circuit Court case number
2 2 3 0 0 1 7 3 2 cc Pursuant
to the terms discussed in closed session so moved,
support Lafferty motion and support.
Any discussion? Hearing none? I'll call the question.
Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr.
Bokey? Yes. Mr. Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes.
Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries.
Next item, item 12 F, uh, settlement in the matter
of the estate of Koya Moore Etal versus City of Warren Etal.
Um, US District Court case number 4 21 CV 1 22 67
F KB C one pursuant
to the terms discussed and closed session.
So moved. Support Lafferty.
Motion from Moore Support. Lafferty. Call the question.
Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes.
Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Newan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes.
Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is 13. A Uh, Mr. Newnan's item, um, discussion.
The planning commission bylaws.
Motion to approve support Lafferty.
Discussion. Mr. Nunan?
Yes. Go ahead and discuss. Yep.
Floor's, Yours. Ah, that was easy. Okay.
So, um, Uh,
attorney Schroeder had, um, responded
to the Planning Commission bylaws before,
and, um, recently they were reiterated
and given back to me with a more recent date.
Uh, pretty much the same as they were before.
And, um, so for instance, um,
page six, section 4.4, ex officio shall not
do any of the following.
One. Vote two, make motions. Three.
Speak on an item that will be voted on by city council.
Four. Speak on a subject that is not directly related
to the item being discussed.
Five. Interact with the audience members in the auditorium
while the meeting is taking place.
Six. Leave the meeting before it is adjourned. Seven.
Address other commiss commissioners, the planning staff
or the city attorney or his
or her designee on the record without the chairman's
permission or otherwise.
Uh, eight. Otherwise be disruptive during the meeting.
And, um, so Mr.
Schroeder's opinion, you know, comment,
basically summarizing that was
the ex officios would be prisoners at the, uh,
planning commission meetings.
And, um, so I, I have, uh,
the email that Jeff, uh, Mr.
Schroder sent to Ms. Michaels.
Uh, it said, greetings Ms.
Michaels section 4.4 of the planning commission.
Bylaws state that ex officio members cannot do a number
of things as outlined below.
I have serious legal concerns about three
of the bylaw provisions restricting ex officio members.
This was discussed at the regular council meeting
of March 26th, 2024.
Specifically, I'm concerned about the restriction on council
members speaking on certain items
about council members restricted from talking
to audience members and about council members not being able
to leave the meeting before it is adjourned.
See my analysis below,
and let's discuss when you have an opportunity.
Section 4.4
of the planning bylaws indicate EXOFFICIO members cannot do
the following one.
Okay. So, uh, that was one, three and four, four
and five were, um, marked and read.
So those are the ones that are really, uh, in contention.
And then, um, let's see. Okay.
So this doesn't have, um, Ms.
Michael's response,
but as I recall, um, she went along with,
uh, two of those.
I think there were really three that were, uh,
that she was responding to.
And then there was one that she, um,
hesitated on, I would say.
And then, um, Mr.
Schroer got back to her
and I thought that that, uh, she conceded the third point.
So I was expecting the bylaws to come back, uh, greatly, uh,
changed instead
of pretty much exactly the same as they were before.
So, uh, I would like to ask Mr. Schroeder to, um,
please comment on this.
Certainly. Thank you. Uh, Councilman Newan.
We did communicate with the City Attorney's Office, um,
in anticipation of this item.
I did have a chance to talk to Ms.
Michaels about it, uh, this evening.
And, uh, she's reporting that, um, there will be changes
to the bylaws, uh, being presented, I think,
at the next planning commission meeting.
So, um, whatever you received is not
the sort of ultimate decision here.
Um, that's just the current bylaws.
They will be at the next, uh, planning,
commission meeting considering changes.
That's what I understand.
Oh, that's a, that's a big relief. Okay.
Thank you very much Mr. Shorter,
because, you know, for instance, I would like to be able
to ask questions of the planning commission about something
like the Van D**e corridor plan that we've spent, you know,
that they spent a couple sessions really on.
And, um, I'd like to be really clear on
how we're gonna make progress this time.
What I wanted to speak on when we,
when we're talking about the Van D**e corridor plan,
is I would like to see, um, us have a meeting of the whole
and discuss, discuss how the city is going
to implement the plans.
Um, instead of just continuously studying
and spending a lot of, uh, expensive people's time,
not moving the city forward.
I want to know how we're going to move the city.
I think this is extremely important,
and I really, of course, you know, the TFA is in, uh,
district five and, uh, chairman to nine mile, uh,
eight mile is, uh, in District five.
And the Van D**e corridor plan is
mainly concerning that area.
So, um, I'm, I'm hoping that, uh,
hopefully the mayor will participate and planning and the DA
and will really come up with a vision for
what we can have in our city.
And, um, I, I believe quite a few people have given up on,
on that area, and they don't think
it'll ever be able to move up.
And I think there are ways that we can get it to move up.
It, it probably won't be
through having multiple rental houses, uh, you know,
more than three rental houses on every block.
'cause it's, I think that's pretty much guaranteed a way
of having property values stay down and,
and, uh, never come up again.
Anyway. Um, um, Ms. Michael, um, through the,
uh, president to Ms.
Michaels, would you mind, um, address, are you,
are you confirming what Mr.
Schroer had to say or,
Yes. Madam
Chair, if I may address, Councilman,
at the last meeting you received updated bylaws
that memorialized the last set of bylaw
Changes. Can you speak
into the microphone more?
I'm sorry, because I really am not hearing you. I'm
So sorry. You received updates
to the bylaws
that memorialized the changes that were made,
the pa the prior months I plan to address,
and Mr. Schroeder, you councilman brought
to our attention the ex official, ex official rules
that do need to be addressed.
But there's a process getting bylaws amended.
So I'm going to, I'm going to start
that process at the next meeting.
I was not able to attend the last meeting,
otherwise that would've been done.
Next meeting. It will be started.
Okay. That's, that's wonderful news.
Thank you so much. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm
Done. Madam Chair. Thank
you, Mr. Newan.
Ms. Moore, I think you have a great idea, Mr.
Newan, about having a committee meeting the whole,
but for one thing, we can barely hear
people in this auditorium.
Half the people that get up at the microphone, we can,
we're spending just straining trying to hear them.
Mm-Hmm. So this is just certainly not the venue for us
to learn any and much of anything.
So I think that's a good idea to have a committee.
Me the hall.
Thank you, Mr. Moore. Anything further?
I just, you know, I feel very strongly,
I always want the council to know that a council member
should be able to speak whether you're ex-officio
or not at a planning commission meeting.
If you are representing the public interest, which is
what you're elected to do, which you cannot do,
is stand up in front of a planning commission meeting.
And I know all the council members here,
and this would never happen.
But the, the real rule should be you can't get up at a
planning or a zoning board meeting
and represent a private interest
and, you know, help your neighbor
with their variance petition
or with their, um, you know, alley vacation
or lot split or whatever it is.
That's, that's what council members can't do.
But it's very clear you can speak on behalf
of the public interest, even if it's something you
ultimately have to vote on here
in front of the city council.
You have the right to speak on behalf of the public interest
and just not being able to leave, um,
before the meeting's over by a rule.
I mean, if, you know, there's plenty of good reasons
to leave a meeting and just maybe you just don't have time,
you have to go to another meeting.
It's not the Hotel California.
You can check out any
time you like, but you can never leave.
So, um, hopefully we can, we can get
that addressed. So thank you.
Thank you so much for, uh, it would be good to have that.
I'd like to know what we can do. Mm-Hmm.
That would be nice if the bylaws would
mention something about that too.
Excellent matter Chair, uh, Ms. Moore,
and if I am correct, there are some city councils
that sit on the planning commission in their
cities and they actually vote.
So it's not unheard
Of. And the email to
Ms. Michaels, we did point out
that the City of Royal Oak has two council members
sitting on the planning commission.
They vote at the planning commission, they speak their mind.
Sometimes the next week, they're at the council meeting
and they're voting on the recommendation for planning.
They sit on both bodies. The Warren City Charter,
when it was adopted in 1957, said
that the ex officio members are non-voting members in
Warren because of that.
You're a non-voting member if you're ex officio,
but you're still a member of that planning commission.
Uh, by rule, interestingly, Glenn Fry from the, uh, uh,
the band, um,
that wrote Hotel California was from Royal Oak.
So just let you know.
That's good to know. So, so the charter could be, um,
altered to allow us to be voting members,
and that might help if they're, if they're,
uh, short of quorum,
We would councilman we would have to change the charter
to allow, um, uh, council members
who are ex officio to vote.
It's completely proper under the Planning Enabling Act.
It's just that the founders
of the city decided ex-officio should not be voting members.
And that's until the charter changes. That's the way it is.
The Planning Enabling Act actually says,
unless a charter states,
otherwise, the ex officio members can vote.
Our charter states otherwise.
Good start. Uh, a motion to receive
and file the report.
We have a motion, Ms. Moore and Mr.
Lafferty from Mr. Shorter. And Ms.
Michaels, uh, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed?
Thank you. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item was 14 a, which was tabled on May 14th,
formerly four M on the consent agenda request
of the City treasurer
and Public Service director to waive the bidding process
and authorize one year of online service
and support to BSNA software in the annual amount
of $48,921.
Consideration and adoption of a resolution removed from the
Table. Motion to remove from
the table support.
Uh, all in favor to remove the item from the table? Aye.
Aye, aye. Any opposed? Item is off the table.
Motion to approve with discussion.
Go right Ahead. Support anyone.
Support, support, support Mr. Bokey.
Discussion, Mr. Lafferty?
Thank you. I received communication from Mr.
Repa in procurement,
and he indicated that, uh, we will be moving
to a cloud-based solution for BSNA.
Currently, our BSNA solution is an on-premise installation.
Our physical infrastructure is here,
and so this will, this one year agreement will take us
to an overlap our migration from our on-premise
infrastructure to the cloud.
And so when that happens, if it happens, uh, during
that one year period, we will be issued credits
for the next service agreement,
which will be a much longer term
under a cloud-based solution.
So we are, we are covered here.
Okay. Excellent. Any additional discussion?
Hearing none, I will call the question. Ms. Lafferty? Yes.
Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes.
Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C as a? Yes. Motion carries.
Next item, 13 B requests of the 37th District court,
legal city, retirement, police and fire retirement
and street lighting for an increase in budgeted revenues
and appropriations of funds between line items in the amount
of $101,625.
And an additional appropriation of funds in the amount
of $30,000
to provide sufficient funding in the several accounts within
the general fund budget for the balance
of the 2024 fiscal year consideration
and adoption of a resolution So moved.
Support Dwyer. Discussion,
hearing honor, I'll call the question.
Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr.
Bokey? Yes. Uh, Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes.
Motion carries. Next item. Next item is 14 C.
Request of the 37th District Court
for an increase in budgeted revenues
and appropriations in the amount of $71,176 to account
for the receipt of a Michigan State Court administrative
grant, clean slate, overtime reimbursement consideration,
and adoption of a resolution.
So moved. Support Dwyer.
Motion from Ms. Moore. Support from Mr. Uh, Dwyer.
Any discussion? Hearing none.
I'll call the question Mr. Moore? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr.
Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Nunan? Yes.
Ms. McGee? Yes. Grogan? Yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is 14 D.
Request of building inspections, public service
and property maintenance for a transfer of funds
between line items in the amount of $30,600
to provide sufficient funding in the several accounts within
the general fund budget for the balance
of the 2024 fiscal year.
Additional funds are necessary
to cover increased utility costs
and contractual obligations, consideration
and adoption of resolution. So moved.
Support Lafferty.
Um, motion by Moore. Support by Lafferty. Any discussion?
Hearing none. I will call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr.
Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr.
Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C as a? Yes.
Motion carries. Next item. Next item is 14 e.
Request of the police department
for an increase in budgeted revenues and appropriations.
Any amount of $10,000 to account for the receipt
of additional public Acts 3 0 2 Training funds
received from the state of Michigan consideration
and adoption of a resolution so moved.
Support Dwyer. Discussion.
Hearing none. I will call the question Ms. Moore. Yes. Mr.
Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr.
Noonan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan. He is a yes.
Motion carries. Next item 14 f.
Consideration and adoption of a resolution
for a change order request
for the BSN Day Cloud migration project from a total amount
of $855,465 to a total amount
of $859,505
and increase of $4,040
to the sole source provider BSNA software
SOLW 1 1 0 7.
So moved. So moved.
So, motion by More support by Lafferty. Any discussion?
Hearing non I'll call the question Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr.
Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Nunan?
Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries.
Next item, 14 G requests of the Parks
and Recreation Department to furnish
and install playground equipment at Licked Park from we
Building Fun Inc.
Utilizing the source.
Well, cooperative contract number 0 1 0 5 2 1 LTS
with Play Power Inc.
In the amount of $597,469 90 cents.
Consideration and adoption of a resolution. So moved.
Support Lafferty. Discussion? Yes.
Discussion Ms. Moore? Yes.
Is there someone here from Parks Rec?
There? It's
good evening.
Good evening. Thanks for being here.
Um, um, my question is, um, making sure
that everything that's installed is a DA compliant.
I understand this equipment is actually, um, for those
with disabilities to utilize, correct?
That is correct. And there were, were some mention earlier
that there could be some curbs
or something you can address that?
Yes. Um, they are a DA, they,
that's the only way they can be built, uh, through design.
I, I realize Ms. Harris point that out,
but there are ramps, uh, this is the sixth one we built,
and they're the 3D off the ground.
They do have a ramp that's a DA compliant.
Uh, the one at L actually is gonna be a universal play.
And the one at, uh, vets is a universal play.
More of a challenge course type scenario.
But they all are a DA compliant.
Thank you very much. You're welcome,
Madam President.
Yes. Don't go too far. Oh, Madam, vice president.
Apologies through the chairman. Mr. Cassan.
Uh, could you, uh, comment on the age range
that this is intended for?
Yeah, there, there age range, um,
from really zero to 14.
Um, the one that we're gonna build that, that's,
is actually gonna be a joint.
So the older kids have one side
and the younger kids, as you probably know,
when we built the one at Bussy, that wasn't age appropriate.
So we did include another playscape
to encompass those age groups.
So these two are definitely across the board, various ages.
Thank you. That's that is good to hear.
And, and I was looking at the, the elevations.
It looks really impressive
and it looks really, you know, really welcoming to,
to children of, of many different ages.
My and my concern continues to go back to some of the ones
that we've done previously where that element is missing
that it's not as accessible to, uh, uh, children
that are probably under the age of seven.
And I know that we've had several, uh,
installations while they're beautiful, they're,
they just don't offer the, the kind of, you know,
play it playful atmosphere that someone Sure.
Exceptionally young, could I always
have, you know, really traverse. Yeah.
Yeah, I would agree with that. I, except, uh,
I think Bussy was a clear, uh, built
that didn't have a range,
but I believe all the six other ones
that we have do have the range of age.
Mm-Hmm. Um, it's just, uh, the one
that Bussy is very impressive.
It's a three story high.
And, uh, so I, I believe some folks
and parents were a little concerned about that.
Um, but I can assure you
that all the other playscapes are age
appropriate for all ages.
Sure. I, I will continue to, to advocate both, uh, birdie
and Butcher probably need a, uh, a suitable
smaller play scape for the younger ones.
We'll take a look at him.
Thank you, sir. Yeah, you bet. Appreciate it.
President. Uh, Mr. Nunan,
If I may. Mm-Hmm.
Um, so, um, I noticed that the amount
of this was $597,469
and 90 cents.
And I, I just wanted to, uh, verify.
Um, in the letter here it says, this project
be reimbursed from a community enhancement
grant awarded to the city.
So it's a hundred percent funded by the, by the grant.
It is. That's really nice. Yeah.
And it also includes the tier out
of the existing play gate too, so it's all complete.
So the company will remove the old, do the necessary grading
and build the new one for that kind of money.
Does, does the scope of the project go
beyond the playscape?
Um, in Terms of anything else in the park?
Does it, does it do anything more? Well,
As far as vets, we, we have done a lot of work out there.
The bathrooms have been completed as far as lick.
This is the last component.
Other than, uh, I think we're gonna do some more paving, uh,
for the, the walking track.
But those two parts should be completed
after the place gets are included, except for vets.
We're looking to do some other
courts and type things like that.
But, um, as far as, uh, what we intended to do,
we're almost completed on those parts.
Thank you so much. You're welcome.
I'm very impressed. Thank you.
Madam Chair. Ms. Moore. Thank you.
So my teacher, smart guy has got a question. Okay.
He's told me this ask, so if the parks are altered,
the whole park has to be a DA compliant,
including the parking spaces.
Are we taking that into consideration? We are. Okay.
Thank you. Yes. Any
additional discussion?
Hearing none, I will call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr.
Lafferty?
Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey?
Yes. Mr. Nunan? Yes.
Uh, Ms. McGee Big Yes. Rogan C is a yes.
Motion carries. Next item 14 H, request of the Parks
and Recreation Department to furnish
and install playground equipment at Veterans Park from play
Core Wisconsin DBA game time, utilizing the,
the Omnia Partners cooperative contract.
2 0 1 7 0 0 1 1 3 4 in the total amount not
to exceed $598,749 32 cents.
Consideration and adoption of a resolution. So moved.
Support Lafferty. Discussion?
Uh, discussion. Madam President.
Mr. Lafferty? Thank you.
Uh, just looking at the,
and this is only, I just want to,
to validate this is only in the backup materials,
which is the agreement between the city of Charlotte
and, uh, Clayco, Wisconsin.
That it's in there for reference as the source.
Well con the contract that we are taking advantage of.
We've seen this before. I just wanted to make sure there's
Yeah, this particular, I'm sorry.
This particular one didn't go through source while it was
through Omni, which is kind of the same basic
vehicle to purchase these.
Um, I know we had a jump for a couple hoops, uh, to do this,
but we were successful.
Um, we wanted, it was clearly the team that decided, uh,
for the playscape for vets really wanted this one.
So we proceeded with it. So, yes. Alright.
It was competitive that bid.
Thank you for the clarification.
Before you go, may
I, Mr. Lafferty,
you've finished No other questions.
Okay. Mr. Nunan. Okay.
Okay. So this, uh, this project at Veterans Park
will cost $598,749 and 32 cents.
And that's all out of the parks budget.
That was the enhancement grant that was given to us.
So yes, it was part of our budget. Okay.
It was enhanced the grant.
It came from, it came from a grant.
It Did. Excellent. Okay. That's good to know. Okay.
I'm, I'm good.
Anything further? Hearing none.
I will call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes.
Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Nunan?
Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries.
Next item 14.
Aye, consideration and adoption of a resolution
to approve contract modification number two
and final to city contract W2 2 7 3 8 Tofa Road water
main replacement Hoover Road
to Gross Spec Highway increasing the current contract amount
by $102,824 2 cents,
resulting in a final contract amount
of $1,784,497 51 cents.
And to issue payment number seven
and final in the amount
of $177,675 80 cents
to ILE Construction Company. So moved.
Support Lafferty
Discussion.
Hearing none. I'll call the question. Ms. Moore. Yes. Mr.
Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr.
Newan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is? Yes. Motion carries.
Next item. Next item is 14 j.
Consideration and adoption of a resolution to award bid
and contractor city project P 24 8 11 Miller
and Denton pavement reconstruction ITBW 0 9 5 9
to the low bidder Zuniga Cement Construction, Inc.
In a total bid amount not
to exceed $1,469,722
75 cents.
So moved with discussion support,
Support Lafferty,
Uh, motion by more support
by Lafferty discussion Ms. Moore.
Thank you. Um, I think we discussed this bid
and, um, I, we've had some problems with some
of the Zuniga projects in the past,
and I'm hoping we've got some things built into the contract
to, um, hold them a little more accountable
for some of the things that have happened.
Yes. I know we have to take the lowest bidder.
Yes. Um, I actually specified a slip form paver
for this project, and he has agreed to use one. So
Great. Thank you.
Much
Smoother payment. Good.
Um, I've been getting a lot of calls lately of,
it seems like a little bit of, I'm not being critical,
I just want to, maybe we can come up with a better way
that people seem to be a little
confused about what's going on in their neighborhoods.
You know, somebody will see an ex on a sidewalk
or somebody will see an ex in the street or on the tree,
and then, you know, they call me and,
and say, are they taking my tree down?
Are they taking my sidewalk? Can I take it out?
And I, I don't know how
to educate the public on exactly what's going on
in one neighborhood.
They were told the night
before, they wouldn't be able to park in their driveways
because of some construction.
And one of the, you know, ladies was, um, has a disability.
So I don't know how we could do a better job maybe
of notifying people.
And I know that you don't always know when people are gonna
be out and supplies and things,
but if we can maybe try to come up
with some little better way or,
Yes. Uh, we try to notify
it as early as we can,
but sometimes, you know, things come up
and they have to, I know, move their cars.
Um, I realize it's an inconvenience,
but, uh, we could try
to do a better job in notifying earlier.
Yeah. And, you know,
maybe we could have some sort of legend.
Like if you see a pink X on your tree,
that means it probably needs to be removed.
Or if there's, you know, what the options are
for people. Um, and
There's confusion too.
'cause sometimes consumers goes out there
and marks things up as well and
Exactly, exactly. I know they
Call our office all the time too.
I, I know. Just
Send 'em to our office and our
inspectors will figure it out.
Okay. Whatever. Thank you question.
I try, I try to save you a little work if I can answer the
question, but, um, thank you very much. Sure.
You're welcome. Madam President.
Mr. Lafferty. Thank you. Through the chair. Yeah.
Good evening. Good evening.
The, what is the status of the Barnard Road project?
I know we, we talked about that needing some, uh,
some repair remediation. Yeah.
Um, we had, we worked
with the contractor selected a diamond grinding company,
and they're going to do the diamond grinding mid-June,
and then we're going to retrip it.
I'm, I'm sorry. You're going to what? That
We'll retrip the road after the diamond grinding is done.
So you're going to, to essentially smooth the surface.
That's correct. Yeah. That, that's it. Okay.
And then the story that was on channel seven
that highlighted the, uh,
and I, I forget the, the term scaling.
The scaling of, of the new roads from, from two years ago.
Uh, what is the status with, uh, the,
are you we're monitoring that at this moment
or are there plans to, uh, seal?
Yeah, so far we're monitoring, monitoring this.
Um, we still have one more year for warranty,
so we're gonna see if it gets any worse
before we decide what, what to do with it.
There's about three or four areas in the
city to have this issue.
Okay. And I did notice along Cosgrove, my wife
and I were walking the other night,
and the approach, the couple sections
of the driveway and several areas of the sidewalk
that were also redone, uh, actually have much worse, uh,
scaling than what I was witnessing in the street.
The sidewalk Did? The sidewalk did? Yes.
Just email my office and We'll,
I'll, I'll send you the address. We'll
Monitor, monitor that as well.
It was all from two years ago. Mm-Hmm. The concrete left.
Mm-Hmm. Very good. Thank you. You're
Welcome.
Anything further? Okay. Hearing none.
I will call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes.
Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Nunan? Yes.
Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries.
Next item 14 K, notice of appointment of David.
Cost to the position of water superintendent.
Motion to receive and file
Support Lafferty Discussion?
Uh, All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed?
Motion carries. Next item 14 L Notice of appointment
of Kevin kicker to the position
of sanitation superintendent.
Motion to receive and file
Support. Dwyer.
Any discussion? Uh, hearing none.
All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries.
Congratulations. Next item 14 M, request
of the Human Resources Department to award bid ITBW 1 1 9 5
to furnish recruitment services for the city of Warren
for one year period with options to extend
for four additional one year periods to Amy sell
LLC in the annual amount not to exceed $75,000 consideration
and adoption of a resolution.
So moved with discussion
Motion by Lafferty support.
Anyone Support,
support McGee?
Uh, discussion Mr. Lafferty?
Thank you. Through the chair to Mr. Fox.
Good evening. Good evening, sir.
The, the contract is written.
We have a, a one year term with an option to extend
for four additional years.
The, the one year, uh,
is really a, a trial period, so to speak, then,
Correct? Yep.
So it'll, um, it'll, it'll take the
positions that the mayor's gonna be going out to, um,
conduct search for various department heads
and, um, the, um, it could be three
or four different ones
and it could be, uh, there's two different, uh,
rates depending on the in depth review of, of the, um,
the candidates in the search.
So the, the only thing that I didn't see, uh,
in looking back over this was metrics
and KPIs that, uh,
this firm would be responsible for, you know, providing,
I mean, obviously we're supposed to see recruitment,
we're supposed to see talent being brought to the city.
Correct. Uh, but You measure recruitment
based on the talent that that is brought to you.
But how many people did it take?
How many venues did you advertise through?
What's your method of recruiting?
Um, when other reputable firms can do it,
you know, recruit somebody with 15 top level candidates
and others can do it in five and they do it for, you know,
and then you examine your rate structure based on
how much work they're, they're exerting.
I'm just curious, we don't have
that necessarily in this contract,
and so I'm just curious as to how we're going to measure
the, the success of this person.
Well, I think it'll, it'll be through the, when,
when they do their search, they're gonna be reviewing
and documenting everything and,
and, um, they, they do deep dives on,
they're gonna do their background checks.
They'll do, uh, review their credit score,
they'll review references of, I mean, it's, it gets pretty,
uh, deep review
and all that'll be presented as part of her findings.
And then ultimately reviewing each candidate
and then, um, you know, from the candidates
that they recommend the mayor will be making
selections from 'em.
Okay. And is this for, and,
and I'm looking at, at the different classifications.
Do we have any particular, um, positions
that we're going to be leveraging this person for?
Yes, so, um, I believe it'll be a city attorney.
I think it'll be the police commissioner. Oh my God.
Um, we have building director, uh, parks
and recreation, um, off the top of my head,
those are the ones that I'm, I, I can remember
that those are the ones I think that are gonna be reviewed.
And, and, um,
So is the intent to,
if the letter wasn't specific, so I apologize
for the additional questions,
but the, are these national searches,
I mean, you mentioned the city attorney.
We have to have somebody that's
licensed in the state of Michigan.
Absolutely. So it, is it the intent to
have this person doing national searches,
performing a national search for potentially for parks
and rec recreation director?
It's possible. Yeah.
I, I mean, the mayor could want to do a, a national search.
Um, I, I agreed
that city attorney's gotta be licensed in Michigan, so
that's probably gonna be a Michigan search, but
otherwise it could be a national search for a parks
and recreation director or a, a police commissioner or,
Alright. I'll
yield at this time. Okay. Thank you
Adam. Chair. Mr.
Bokey,
Mr. Fox, how are you doing tonight? Pretty
Good. Okay. Thank
You. Uh, I have
a few questions.
Um, the job description for the recruiter is almost the same
as an HR employee would do.
Um, are they supplementing the work in the HR
or HR department
or, uh, is their work being farmed out?
And is, are there gonna be any union issues with, uh, an
outside company doing union work?
Do you know, has the union been contacted or anything?
Uh, in this case, I don't believe
there'll be any issue with that.
Uh, this is strictly to, uh, enhance the re the review
and the talent that the mayor's trying
to attract in those positions.
And I don't believe that there be any union issues.
Is there any reason our HR can't do the job?
I think we're just trying to do more of a,
a larger search, more in depth search, um,
and to try to attract the best talent we can.
And you're, so you're saying our HR is not capable of, of
Getting it? No, I think this
is just a, a, an add on to the,
to the services of HR to, to,
to assist in, in doing the search.
Many communities use these, uh, agencies in my, uh, uh,
10 years that I wasn't here at the city, uh,
I was involved in many, um, town searches and
Well, I definitely don't want of communities use.
Yeah. I I definitely don't want to cut a union member's, uh,
job or the city Bay later say, we don't need you anymore.
We got an outside firm doing your job.
I don't want that. Yeah,
There's no, there's no intent to do that in this case.
Okay. Thank you. You're welcome.
Madam Chair. Mr. Wiki
E back. Thank
You. Uh, Ms. McGee,
Mr. Fox, um, normally during recruitment process,
as you know, I do this, the uc charge
or rate according to the salary, um,
whether it be a 20% fee of, if, you know, finding that, um,
particular candidate for that position, this 75,000 that,
um, we're planning on paying for the recruitment services,
that will be a one time fee for all,
or could you please explain how exactly will that work?
So the, the 75,000 is an estimate.
So if there's four
or five different, uh, individuals that the mayor's seeking,
um, it'll be, the amount would not exceed 75,000.
So it may not even hit 75,000, might only be 50 or 40.
It just depends on the amount of services the mayor
from that agency.
So the recruitment services is based on, um,
the percentage, once the person is hired of
that person's salary, or that's just a average rate?
I, I want to know how the rating process is going.
So the, um, for a, um,
a basic search, I guess I'll say is that the,
this particular a any cell is like $4,900.
Okay. Okay. So that, so if they go out for that,
for a particular, uh, individual, it'd be a flat fee
of $4,900.
Okay. If it gets more involved with, uh, background checks
and other services are necessary made comparables
and other things, and it's more of a national search,
then it would, it would go up.
And I believe it was, uh,
18, 18 5
Was the, was the flat fee for that.
I guess my question is, you know,
I can understand recruitment services.
I'm, I have concern with background checking
that type of information.
So our HR department cannot do any of those type
of services at all.
Oh, they do, they do background checks,
but this is just, it'll be more, you know,
intense background check, more review.
But our, our HR does background checks. Yeah.
And they can, they can do that type of work.
Yes. So will they be also marketing,
um, posting it Yes.
Um, at other locations? Because did our marketing not work?
Well, I mean, I, I just off the, the one that we did do,
we did, I know that, uh, Jackie did a, uh, search for, um,
human research director and, uh, my review
and her review, and I think even the mayor at this time, um,
we didn't feel that talent was there for
the people that applied.
So this company will do a, a, a larger search
and a more in depth search to, um, look
for a human resource director
or a building director, police commissioner.
Okay. I'm gonna
Thank you.
Um, Mr. Nunan, then, Ms. Mark.
Yes. Thank you. Um, Rick, so microphone, um, microphone.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah.
Um, Laurie Harris made an interesting,
uh, allegation.
I would say, um, that the recruiter
mainly had a pharmaceutical rep career
and as a personal trainer,
which sounded like she wasn't
very well qualified to do this.
And then my other, my other thought on this was, um,
It seems like our HR department should be able to find most
of the positions, but for them to find their own boss,
it'd be better to have a company like this recruiting
and finding who to put in best to put in place.
Um, so there's several,
several positions that aren't the boss.
Once, once the suitable boss is found, I would hope
that they would be capable of performing
all the searches necessary for all the other people.
Um, and I'm surprised that, that
that isn't the case of what we're looking at here.
Can you, can you explain those two things to me?
Like what is, what did I miss the part about?
This person has successfully performed searches like the
ones we're asking them to do a lot of times in the,
and they've got a strong track record
and you've talked to other people who have used them.
Yeah, so I have talked to a lot of people,
other communities that have used Amy sell.
Um, she's, uh, got a background.
She's been doing it for quite a few years.
Uh, I think she certainly can handle the, the job
of doing the search for us.
Um, as far as, uh, again, this is pretty common.
Other cities have human resources directors,
and they also use a talent, uh, company in order to go out
and do a, a larger search and a more intense search.
Uh, it's not uncommon to to,
to use a talent company to do that.
Oh, okay. It sounds,
it sounds like you've got it all covered.
Um, pardon me if I was, uh, reiterating the same questions.
Not a problem. I'm done.
Thank you. Anything further? Madam Chair, Ms. Moore?
Sorry. You were next. I don't even know where to start.
I have never in all of my life that I've been
around this city, number one,
that a new mayor did not come in with a city attorney.
And on day one, we confirmed a city attorney.
We're now six months later,
and we went through the whole last term with a, a, a,
a fake city attorney that this council never got
to a to approve.
So now we're going on five years without a city attorney
that this council or a council approved.
And how much longer are we going to go?
Our hiring is a mess.
And thinking about doing a national search
for a police commissioner, I could fill
that position in about an hour.
There are so much talent that was in that department there,
recent retirees, people that live in Warren
that do a fabulous job.
I just, I don't get this why we can't find people
that know us that grew up with here.
We've, we seem to have brought people back. Mr.
Melli seems to have figured it all out.
He's got his positions filled, almost all of them
because he's networked, he knows people.
And I, I, I mean, to spend $75,000 to find people,
you know, that's
what you do when you have a city manager form of government.
They go out and get contracts and find people.
But when you have a political appointees,
the mayor brings their people, they get their people.
You come in with an idea with your staff,
you have it in your mind,
and you walk in day one with at least the core.
And we're now six months later,
we're having trouble hiring police.
Part of it is because there's instability.
Nobody knows who's gonna be the, the police commissioner.
I, I, I don't know. I'm just, I mean the, I don't know.
I, I just think it's ridiculous that we have to go out
and spend this kind of money to find somebody
to fill these positions.
Madam President, Mr. Lafferty,
Thank you.
And through the chair to Mr. Fox.
I appreciate the, the answers.
I'm, I'm still trying to wrap my head around this.
That, and,
and Ms. Moore Stated
some of the things that, uh, that I was going to speak to
relative to the historical precedents of
past administrations bringing their people in.
You, you go for
that position knowing exactly what you're going to do.
And you have a fair idea.
If you don't have every single position ready to go day one,
it doesn't take six months to do.
So. The the issue, the final issue that I have with this is,
this is one option
that being presented as the fix all.
And I'm not convinced of that.
We've, I remember going back
and forth with former director, Mr.
Deus, and arguing about
advertising in the Detroit News.
And I don't know a single person from that's,
that's younger than I am,
that would want a position in the city
that has daily delivery of the Detroit News and Free Press.
This is proof that we're just not thinking
of all of our options.
And if we're continuing to fund things in that manner,
we talked about that during the budget hearings about
expanding our capabilities and, and looking at this.
This was not what I had in mind.
And so what I am looking for are
additional options, better options.
What is the, what is the total strategy from hr?
Certainly, we can't be hinging everything on this, you know,
one stop shop and it's going to fix our problem.
I have an issue with a and
and what you're talking about,
you said, you said it yourself.
The city attorney, parks
and recreation director, HR director, these are
c-level equivalent positions in a corporation.
And I expect the mayor to have a personal relationship
with some of these people.
I have a problem with someone that doesn't know our city.
I have a problem with, with someone who isn't familiar
with the makeup and background
and history of what makes Warren
and the needs of our city.
And somebody coming from Utah is not going
to have the first clue, you know, can they learn?
Sure. Do we want that?
No, we're already having a problem coming up to speed.
I just don't think this is, this is the answer.
And I am going to withdraw my, my motion to,
uh, in, in support of this, uh, as it was
for discussion purposes only.
Uh, I am withdrawing it and leave it on the table.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Madam Press,
Ms. McGee.
No, my only concern is this.
We have several positions that need to be filled
and need to be filled right away.
We all know that. Um, we, I think one
of the things that really shocked me is that we fail
to market correctly.
And if I was to say
what I really think we need is a marketing director,
because we're not marketing,
we're not marketing our city, right?
We're not marketing, um, the positions that need
to be filled correctly.
We're still using paper application process.
I mean, all of this, we're behind
and we have to fill these positions.
I definitely understand that.
I think what we need to do is have a process in place of, of
how we're gonna go about getting these, um, candidates
and getting these positions filled right away.
Recruitment works.
I know it works 'cause I do it, it can work.
But how long would the process take? There's no guarantee.
Can we get the positions filled?
Um, when I recruit, you say I'm, I know I'm able
to fill this position within two weeks,
or I know I'm able to fill this position within 90 days.
It'll be filled. We need to have a process in place
and making sure that it get done and get it done right away.
And we want the right people in place.
And if it's not people that can fill the positions
that live in the city, then yeah, I can understand.
We might have to go outside the city,
but I just need to know that we're doing everything we can.
Well, obviously that is the mayor's direction.
That's what she wants to do, is
to get the right people in place and, and, and move forward
and get these positions filled.
And part of the process is, you know, going out
and using the talent agency to do that to help us.
So, thank you. Uh, anything further? Ms? No, that's all.
So, uh, Mr. Lafferty withdrew his motion.
Ms. McGee supports. Is there a through
The chair? Mm-Hmm.
Yeah, I would just like to say that I would like
to think and hope that our HR department is competent enough
to go out there and actively seek
and recruit, um, quality candidates
for all these different positions.
Just going out
and spending $75,000
for a recruitment company when we have an HR
department in place.
I just, I just don't see that and I don't agree with it.
That's him.
Any motion since Jonathan withdrew his?
I just, I I just wanna say perhaps this could come back
just to find the HR director at a much lower, lower cost,
but yeah, I agree with what, what everybody else is saying
that this. Thank you so much.
So what would this body like to do?
There's no motion. Motion?
Yeah. Madam chair, point of order. Yes.
I withdrew my, my motion.
So there's, there is either a motion
to approve it or there isn't.
And if there is no motion, then the next item
of business is at hand. Can we
Table
this?
Table it.
Take a motion. I make a motion to table.
Thank you.
Any support?
Okay. Well then the item fails.
Thank you for the clarification, Mr. Lty.
Next item. Next item is 14 n unauthorized entrance upon
private parking area.
Proposed amendments to chapter 22.
Article four, division two, section 72
Is my item.
Thank you.
I, this is my item. I can't make a motion.
You can, if you hand your microphone, you're,
if you can, if you hand you, oh, thank you.
You just have to let somebody else do the job. Thank
You. Right?
That's correct. Thank gavel.
So, uh, I'll make a motion. Okay.
To approve this item for discussion,
Then it fails, then it fails.
Items fails. Next item.
Next item. Next item is audience participation. Oh,
Thank you.
Members of the audience who want to address city council
can do so, uh, with submitting a
form in the basket.
Uh, you have three minutes.
Uh, if you do not write your name
and address on the audience forms, uh,
please give it at the podium.
First is Amy Moka.
Good evening. Evening.
I appreciate this opportunity to address the council. Yes.
My name is Amy Moka
and I'm happy to say that I've been a Warren resident
for more than 30 years.
To begin, I wanna acknowledge that the current situation
for seniors in Warren is one that you have inherited.
But I'm hopeful that you are willing to improve things
for the senior citizens of Warren.
According to the statistic statistics that I have been able
to find, approximately 20% of Warren is a population
of more than 65 years of age.
However, that does not even consider the younger seniors 55
to 65 age range.
So that percentage must be even higher
with approximate population of 137,000.
That comes to more than 27,000 seniors in Warren.
If Warren wants to maintain our population numbers,
I think we need to address what is being done
to keep seniors here engaged
and thriving within our own community.
We are currently grossly underserved in Warren compared to
what is available in neighboring communities.
Senior activities here are practically non-existent.
I've recently become aware of this, the activities
that are offered at Fitzgerald Recreation Center.
Renee is the coordinator there.
She's a dynamo and doing a great job.
And I've enjoyed the programs that I've been to recently.
However, their offerings are slim.
Two days a week, five hours each day.
That comes to 10 hours a week
for 27,000 seniors.
Don't you think? As the third largest city in Michigan,
we could do better than that moving forward.
I'm not here to ask for a dedicated senior center similar to
what our neighbors have, although I think it'd be a great
idea, great goal, right?
In the interim, much more could be done
for senior activities,
utilizing the spaces that we already have.
When and where can we start working on this?
Does Warren have a senior committee,
senior commission senior representative advocating for us?
If so, who is it? And if not, why not?
Please help. Warren Seniors eng keep remind, excuse me.
Please help keep Warren seniors engaged
and thriving within our own community.
I want to help. Where do I go from here? Thank you.
Thank you.
Next is Lori Harris and after that is Mr. Watts.
Hi Lori Harris. And first I wanna say I'm disappointed the
mayor left without hearing the audience participation.
Um, I think that would be great for her since she sat here.
I wish she had stayed.
I also wanna remind people
that when you see signs out in the community for Mr.
Fouts, just remember out with Fouts, we don't want him
as our representative, uh, to the State House.
Um, I wanna tell tell people, sorry.
Uh, there's a questionable petition going around,
being circulated by Gus.
So my nickname for Gus is Sus Gus
'cause is an suss, means suspect.
Um, he's a little,
remember his dark money in the city contracts.
Um, don't sign that petition.
It's a charter, uh, amendment of nonsense.
Um, let's see.
The attorney's office and the clerk's office
need to stop their games.
Those ordinances have been published
and they need to be entered in muni code
and I'm not sure why it's not happening.
Um, we need the accessibility program put on our website
and every website I've looked at lately has the little icon,
uh, for accessibility.
And I don't see why we can't do that in the city of Warren.
And uh Hmm.
Uh, we need people to, uh, volunteer to work polls.
You know, we have a big election year coming up
and the primary in August and voting in November.
So some of the seniors we can get you involved in
working in the polls.
I, um, help out in a different city.
Uh, but it's a good job to do no matter what.
And, uh, I guess that's probably it.
So remember out with votes.
Next is Mr. Watts, and after that is Toby Hopkins.
Well, good evening everyone again.
So, got a couple things.
One of 'em is pretty serious,
but the first thing is I'm disappointed
that we give another contract is zenga.
Too many problems over the last few years.
So we need to figure out what we're doing there.
Um, secondly is probably the most serious,
and it kind of leads back to
what you talked about tonight about the HR
since they handle the insurance too.
So, a few weeks ago, as you know,
we had a bad storm roll through the area.
I'm not convinced that it wasn't a tornado about the amount
of damage, but anyways,
it took down a city tree in front of my house.
It put the city tree on top of the neighbor's cars.
$10,000 worth of damage, roughly.
They were told to contact the city.
They contacted the city insurance department.
They were told, sorry. Nope.
Then they were told, yes, you need to
make a claim with the city.
So they, we, we both talked
to Christine at the insurance department.
She says, go out and get two
estimates on both those vehicles.
Neighbor spent all day long driving around,
getting four estimates for two cars
within maybe an hour and a half, two hours.
Our HR director slash insurance acting director
made a decision that that wasn't going to be paid.
Period. End of story. Sorry.
I have a real problem with that.
I sat on this council for four years
and I watched numerous lawsuits being settled
for people that got a bruise.
'cause they got handcuffed. They were, they're,
you know, they're bad people.
They sue. Well, you know, what the heck?
Let's just give 'em 25,000 to go away.
'cause it's cheaper to do that than litigate here.
We got a resident that's paying about $6,000 a year in
property tax and we're not gonna help our resident.
That's a real struggle for our residents.
We should be taking care of our residents and not criminals.
It's ridiculous. I would ask this counsel
that they would get with this administration
and try to get some of these people's problems taken care of
with this insurance situation.
I'm not sure how that person can make that decision,
but it, it shocks me.
The last thing I'd like to say with the stuff that Mr.
Newan brought up tonight about the, uh, planning commission.
I watched that go on as I was the, uh, ex exofficio along
with Councilman Lafferty.
And I watched them with the help of Ms.
Michaels try to shut down the residents from speaking.
It was terrible. And now they're trying
to shut down our elected officials.
We might need to remind the planning commission
that they're not the city council period.
And to tell a councilman
that he can't advocate for a business.
But we can have a city attorney that says
to the business, go, go file a lawsuit.
'cause you'll get what you want. That's
ridiculous. Thank you.
Thank you. Next is Toby Hopkins Skins.
How you doing tonight? You doing all right?
Well, I'm gonna tell you how I'm doing.
I'm not doing very well.
For the last four
and a half years plus, I've been worried about a house
that's been neighbored to me
on 2128 Michael Avenue in Warren, Michigan.
This house has been a nuisance to the,
to the, to the community.
It's been a nuisance to my life.
It's been a nuisance to the neighborhood
and it's been a nuisance to the city itself.
I wanna know why. Just about four weeks ago,
I was told that this house would be demolished.
I was told that all of the stuff that I've been going
through for the last four to five years
is finally coming to a completion.
I was told All this
information about it.
So one Friday afternoon
I saw this big yellow
and black Volvo machine sitting in front
of this guy's house.
This black and yellow Volvo machine was a machine
that was supposed to smash the house down.
So I go to work, I spent the weekend,
of course it got dropped off on a Friday.
And well, people don't work on Saturday or Sunday.
'cause you know, they don't. I do.
So I go to work and then I go to work again.
And another day I go to work and I go to work again.
And, and the truck is still sitting there.
This Volvo is still sitting there. Another day goes by.
Next thing I know it's Friday.
I get back from work. The Volvo truck,
the Volvo machine that was supposed to smash
and demolish this terrible house
that has rodents and other issues is gone.
I have spent nearly five years of my life trying to get rid
of this nuisance of a house from the rats.
Oh, by the way, the other day I'm sitting there talking
to an old neighbor of mine, Marla,
and I'm there in the front of the house having a cigarette.
And I'm like, what is that?
Oh, there's one there, two, five,
maybe six Animals.
Come outta his house, go across the street
and go hang out underneath another tree.
This house is full of rodents.
This house has been, I don't know,
said to be demolished.
I don't know how many times you're at.
I come to this council meeting.
Mr. Hopkins, you're at your time. Numerous steps.
You're at your why. Is it still there? Numerous.
If you have a seat at the end of audience,
we can certainly address
Your Oh, I would love to
because I wanna know what happened. Thank you.
Next is Marla Moses.
Hello. I also used
to live on Michael Avenue across the street from that 2128.
It is. It's been condemned. It is. It's firm invested.
The reason I moved out was because of that house.
Now I have an opportunity to move back onto that street
where I would love to, but I'm not gonna live
with rodents running around and being housed over here.
Now they filled in a pool in his house.
Oh, about, oh,
I'd say three years ago there was a built in pool there
that, uh, the city kept telling me it wasn't a pool.
One day they came in, filled it up and left.
This house has been condemned.
I know it's behind on, I know the owner's behind on taxes
because they're always hacking stuff onto the front door.
When is this issue gonna be resolved?
And they said it was a four oh a couple months ago
that it was going to be torn down.
What is going on? Can somebody let us know?
Thank you.
Next is James Kleiner.
Hey guys, my name's James Kleiner.
Um, I was actually gonna go after Chris here.
He was gonna give an update on the prayer day,
but I'm here to give an update on our group.
We're part of, uh, the secular group.
We were here maybe like a month or two ago.
Um, but first, since Memorial Day was yesterday, I want
to acknowledge Pat Tillman in Remembrance.
Uh, he's a known figure in the atheist community
and, uh, he gave up a career in the NFL
to fight in Afghanistan and serve our country
after the nine 11 attacks.
And he died a friendly fire back in 2004.
So I just wanted to say, uh, rest in peace, pat Tillman.
Um, I also wanted to acknowledge that Atheist and Foxholes.
It's a military group of
non-believers who serve our country.
And, uh, here today we have Doug Marshall,
who's served overseas during Vietnam War.
So just wanted to say that, um,
As part of our group, uh, we just co-hosted Essence Fest,
which was hosted in Troy and welcomed roughly 200
or so fellow skeptics who were mostly of a Indian descent
and came from Oliver North America.
Even had a few travel from India and Ireland.
And, uh, we've been traveling around for months,
spoken at many different cities for these meetings
and met with many individuals in local government.
And, uh, come to find out,
there are many non-believers in government who are afraid
to make their presence known due
to just bias in the community.
And there are people
who feel uneasy when starting meetings when they start
with a prayer 'cause they feel like they have
to closet their beliefs and they're afraid to speak out.
And, um, you know, even some of the police officers
that don't believe in a higher power
who attended National Prayer Day.
So just want to know that
we're out there and there's plenty of us.
Um, we don't want people to be afraid of us
because they don't understand.
Uh, we're here to show that we're out there
and that we exist and we're good people
and please ask us questions and get to know us.
And we're not scary people
and, uh, we just wanna be inclusive
of those in the community.
And if anyone would like to join in any
of the following groups we have, we have a, uh,
a Walking With Skeptics Group.
It's a weekly walking group
that meets Sundays in various cities around Metro Detroit.
Uh, we have a Godless Gamers group.
It's the first Saturday of every month it meets here at
Warren at Eternal Games.
Um, there's a Detroit Atheist meetup, a Michigan atheist,
and there's this group, the Secular, uh, advocacy initiative
where we go around and speak to local various governments.
And, uh, we meet Monday night.
And, um, we also have a Michigan Atheist annual
picnic that's coming up.
So just wanna put that out there
for if anyone would like to join.
Um, all is welcome. We're hoping that non-believers come out
as well, and we get to know you and introduce ourselves.
And, um, you know, we hope
that the believers in the community we can show the same
level of respect to one another and bring people together.
Um, all these events can be found on our meetup page.
It's www.meetup.com/sam.
It's actually Secular Alliance of Michigan, S-A-M-I-C-H.
Um, it's just funny how it comes outta sandwich and, uh,
or you could just search Meetup for Atheist.
But, uh, thank you guys for your time.
I know we'll probably be seeing you
again. Have a good night.
Thank you. Next is Doug Marshall.
Hello, I'm Douglas Marshall.
I've been a resident of Warren for 38 years.
For the fast last 15 years, I've been trying to correct
Warren's violation of our constitution.
Namely the First Amendment.
They allow, uh, church services in
and in front of City Hall.
They allow a church to have a table in city Hall
to proselytize.
And, uh,
just recently I found out the police
department has a chaplain.
I have to ask, what is a secular purpose
of having a chaplain in the police department?
It's clearly a violation of the Constitution.
Since 2015, I've been director of the Reason Station
trying to, as a protest of the city's violation
of the First Amendment.
Uh, it took me eight months of litigation to get the
city to allow the Reason Station in the city hall.
And we've been operation, uh, since 2015,
except during Covid.
I'm now changing our table signage
to encourage Warren to come
stop the violation of the First Amendment.
All uses of city property
must be secular in Na nature.
So the reason station is going to
test the limits of blasphemy to see what level
will motivate the city of Warren
to stop violating the constitution.
Thank you. Have a good afternoon.
Thank you. Next is Chris McLaughlin.
Hi, my name is Chris McLaughlin.
I serve as a state director of the Secular Alliance
of Michigan, representing atheists, agnostics, skeptics,
humanists, and other secular identities.
I recently introduced myself at a previous council meeting
to represent the approximately 17% of Warren residents
who are non-religious
and to address their concerns like the separation
of state and church.
Today I wanna report on the National Day of Prayer event
that was held on May 4th in front of City Hall.
The Good news this year, the city rented the space
for the National Day of Prayer
to a local church organization, possibly
for the first time in Warren.
Instead of taxpayer dollars subsidizing religion,
a religion paid the city.
This positive change under the Council
and Mayor Stone's administration is commendable.
Previously, the city incurred costs
for things like having a firetruck
with flashing lights at the event.
Renting the space is a move in the right direction for both
taxpayers and the principal of state church separation.
The mixed news in the past,
top city officials participated in the event, not this year,
but this year, Warren police officers
and dress uniforms were present
and a police chaplain spoke endorsing prayer
for all Warren citizens.
This is concerning as it disregards the beliefs
of at least one in five residents.
The bad news. A sitting judge endorsed the practice
of prayer at the rally
and gave an incomplete history
of the National Day of Prayer.
He didn't mention that the pre that, uh,
president's Jefferson
and Jackson refuse
to participate in a National Day of Prayer event.
To maintain a clear separation of state and church
and any appearance of religious bias, judges
must avoid any appearance of bias.
So the judge should recuse himself from any future
cases involving religion.
Additionally, all speakers at the event spoke from a podium
with the city logo flanked by government flags
and a red, white, and blue balloon arch
without representation from other religions
or the non-religious.
This exclusion and the use of city symbols
and government symbols suggests a government preference
for Christianity, which is inappropriate.
Christian nationalists use government trappings
to subtly promote the idea
that their religion is the preferred belief
for all good citizens.
The lack of representation
and the use of government trappings is a
very bad look for the city.
I'm sure the city would not allow itself to be en entangled
with the more obvious Christian nationalism
of groups like the KK, K.
So it probably should do something
to distance itself from the more subtle religious
nationalism and exclusionary groups like the one
that rented the city property.
Overall, I would grade this year's event, a B minus.
The city has made strides
but isn't yet on par with nearby cities like Troy,
which held its event at a church
and included diverse religious and non-religious voices.
You're out of time, sir. So I'm going to tell the city
of Warren, sir, what I tell my kids, you're
Out of time When they get a b you.
That's good. But I think you're capable of doing
That. So sir, you've reached your three
minutes. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you counsel, and thank you mayor.
Next is Michael Howard.
Uh, good evening again.
Just wanna talk about two things really quick.
Um, I had an issue in my neighborhood.
One of the residents came to me
and complained about an issue.
Um, I did what, uh, I think a reasonable resident would do.
I text my city council member and I was surprised
because I figured it was something simple.
He ended up calling me back,
and within minutes the issue was resolved
and I was able to communicate that
to the residents in my community.
And so I appreciate Mr. Lafferty for calling me.
Um, but also it just shows highlights
that simple advocacy can, uh, do wonders.
Um, you know, it's easy to reach out to our council members,
whether it's text, email, um,
and just to get things resolved.
And so I appreciate you guys being present, proactive.
I've reached out to several of you guys
and, uh, everyone that I've reached out
to has been very responsive.
So thank you for that. Um,
the other thing is just want to talk about Juneteenth.
Uh, Juneteenth is a celebration
or the commemoration of the, of slavery
actually ending in part in America.
Uh, we are, uh, this would be the hundred
and 59th celebration.
Um, so this is not a new holiday,
it's a new federal holiday,
but this has been celebrated
for almost 160 years in our nation.
And so here in the city of Warren,
we're gonna have our second celebration right at City Hall,
June 22nd.
Um, on that Saturday. We have a great band
that played last year and they're coming back.
They're gonna bring another band.
Uh, we're partnering with the naacp, um,
to do a lot of other different things.
We're gonna have food trucks and live music.
So encouraging everybody to come out to that.
June 22nd, uh, 12 to four. Thank you.
Thank you. Next is Gloria Sanker.
Gloria Sanker and I grew up in ho.
Good evening, counsel. Yesterday was Memorial Day, a time
of reflection for us, the price of sacrifice is heavy.
All gave some, some, gave all. Little by little.
We give up freedom when we don't vote,
and our country is lost to government control
called socialism.
Our entitlements are being hijacked by politicians
who give our choices, benefits to illegals
who cross the border rather than our homeless veterans.
We give quality benefits to illegals while our wounded
and disabled veterans are in crisis.
Our American heroes have been forgotten by this government.
But could freedom perish?
Do you cherish it enough to vote and to vote wisely?
It's an awesome choice and it's yours.
Your vote decides how government governs
soldiers have given generations of service to America
to protect our values and freedoms.
Our veterans didn't fight, lose limbs
and die for America.
That is changing today.
And how God has taken out of our classrooms only
to bring violence there.
Quite simply, there is a strange way of thinking today,
right is wrong and wrong is right.
This is distorted thinking that makes no common sense.
These are not the principles.
Veterans left homes to get injured
or die in a foreign country.
This is not the American dream.
It's the American nightmare produced
by the radicals running our present government.
This election is not just an election, it's a decision of
what we will become.
You can't afford to sit it out, vote
for the freedoms the soldiers died for.
Not the strange ideology being presented
by our radical leaders in Washington
at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington.
There's a grave that says, here rests in honor.
Glory, an American soldier known only to God.
Let us respect our freedoms.
Let us vote and let us vote our conscience.
Thank you. That concludes the end of audience.
Next item, council response.
Any response this evening?
Hearing none. Next item, motion
to a jury support.
All in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries.
Thank you.