Calling to order a regular meeting
of City Council Tuesday,
June 25th, 2024 at 7:00 PM Please stand
for the Pledge of Allegiance.
I pledge allegiance alle to the flag.
To the flag of the United States of America,
and the Republic for which it stands.
One Nation under God, indivisible. With liberty.
With liberty and justice per
All.
Roll call Madam Secretary. Thank you,
President rogenSi.
Here. Uh, Councilman Dwyer? Here.
Councilwoman McGee? Here. Councilman Bokey. Present.
Councilman Nunan? Here. Councilman Lafferty? Here.
Councilwoman Moore is present. Do you have a quorum?
Next item. Next item is adoption of the consent agenda.
So moved with discussion support, Lafferty
Discussion. Thank
you. Um, uh, item four
D on the consent agenda is being removed.
Apparently that was sent over in error,
so we'll disregard that one.
Anything additional? 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? Yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Um, next item is adoption of the agenda.
So moved with discussion. Support, Lafferty.
Discussion Ms. Moore?
Yes. I would like, um, to add, um, a discussion regarding,
uh, uh, committee meetings of the whole
and another item on mayoral appointments. Um,
Yeah.
And that will be under, uh, council business.
Uh, item E will be cws
and F will be, um, appointments.
Can you repeat E Sure.
E is a discussion on committee meetings
of the whole scheduling.
Thank you. I'd also like to add the
save.com circular paper somewhere.
Discussion that will be G under council business.
Thank you, Adam. President, I'd like to add an item.
Mr. Bokey. Uh, I'd like to add item, um, a request
for information with discussion later.
Okay. For the administration,
Um, That will be item H under council business.
Anything further? Are the makers of motion comfortable
with these amendments? Yes.
Without Objection. Thank you. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr.
Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr.
Newnan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Grogan is a yes.
Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is six. Calendar pending matters.
Uh, motion to receive and file.
So moved or support.
Uh, quick addition that I would love to add
to the calendar is request copies
or updated agreements
and contracts with outside legal firms.
That has to be a
Got it.
I will hold the item to next meeting for the agenda.
Okay. Thank you. Anything further?
Okay. Hearing none. Uh, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed?
Motion carries. Next item.
I,
it's fine.
Okay.
Next item. Next item is seven a approval of the minutes
of the regular meeting of June 11th, 2024. So moved.
Support Dwyer. Discussion.
Hearing none Call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Dwy?
Uh, sorry. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Lafferty?
Yes. Mr. Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is? Yes.
Motion carries. Next item. Next
Item is eight.
A approval of the bills
of the General revenue funds. So moved.
Support Dwyer. Any discussion?
Hearing non call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Dwyer?
Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Newnan?
Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan, C as a? Yes.
Motion carries. Next,
Next item is approval of the bills
of the water and sewer system. So moved.
Support Dwyer. Discussion. Hearing none.
I will call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes.
Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Newnan? Yes.
Ms. McGee? Yes. Ancy is? Yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item, audience participation.
Good evening everyone.
Members of the audience who would like
to address city Council this evening may do so
by filling out a form, uh,
located on the right side of the stage.
This is a reminder that per our council rules
and procedures, you must write your name
and address on the audience form.
You have three minutes. We have a clock in front.
Uh, this audience is for agenda item, agenda items only.
There's additional time at the end
of the meeting for general audience.
First up is Gerald Hacher.
Okay.
Push the button. Jerry.
Good evening. And thank you for the opportunity to speak.
Um, I'm speaking tonight on item 13 B, which is,
uh, the, uh, item on climate change.
Um, this has a long history of,
of concern starting in the 18 hundreds
and then going on to the 1970s when it first became, uh,
very commonly, uh, talked about topic
and onto the conference of the party meetings starting in,
uh, 1994, some of which you may remember
as the Kyoto Protocol of, uh,
of 1997
and of the Paris Agreement of 2015.
And then there was a, uh, COP 26,
uh, which at which time
when the International Panel on climate change,
which is composed of, of, uh, information from thousands
of scientists, the scientists got tired
of the politicians watering down the information,
and they released it, which they had never done before.
And the public got to read it.
And when the Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez read
it, he labeled it Code Read for Humanity.
Up to that point, the United States had done all it could
to obscure change
or further degenerate
the information on climate change.
At those meetings.
It hit the Detroit News
for one day, and that's all.
And that's where we are.
We are not acting in a way
that the information is calling for.
We have a chance now,
after many years, to do a decent job
and our part to address climate change.
I have some information.
If people are not sure about it, uh, I would like
to speak then I would really would
if they would come up to me.
Uh, otherwise, please, on item 13 B, vote. Yes.
Uh, the science is undeniable
and we need to get involved.
Thank you.
Next is Lori Harris.
After Ms. Harris is Kelly Davis.
Hi, Lori Harris.
Um, I want to talk about on the agenda the discussion
that one of the council, uh, persons is going to have about
using, um, appropriate emails for city business.
And I want to explain why this bothers me.
I was in receipt of three emails from Mr.
Ulu Jabari, and within 24 hours, uh, inviting me
to listening sessions.
Um, and I responded, uh,
and then I was getting reply backs
because he did not blind copy it.
And that's what I thought was the big problem,
until I realized that he sent it from his personal email,
not a city email, so didn't blind copy it.
And I have 159 people now
that I have their emails and they have mine.
I don't even know who they are.
And I find this inappropriate,
completely inappropriate, unprofessional.
And I did send an email
to the mayor's office Friday morning,
and I'm very terribly disappointed that I didn't even get
a routine response.
Like, thank you for your email. This is a big deal.
This is not how we need to do things here.
And a lot of these email addresses were campaign addresses.
So am I gonna end up on people's campaign email lists?
I, I am very unhappy
and I'm unhappy that, uh, if he was aware
of it, because I wasn't aware of it right away,
that he didn't apologize back, uh, to the people
that he sent this to.
But I'm more disappointed
that the mayor's office didn't have the decency
to say thank you for the email.
And, uh, I, I think that shows really what they think,
um, of citizens.
Uh, so thank you.
Thank you. Next is Kelly Davis, and
after that is Jeff Matthews.
Good evening. I'm Kelly Davis.
I'm a resident of the city, newer,
but, uh, live here in Michigan for some years now.
And I rose to speak to this agenda as far as the,
what's being called a climate, uh,
that you guys are declaring for the city of Warren,
a climate emergency.
Uh, I'm like everybody else.
Millions of and hundreds of Americans
and millions all across the country that are seeing all
of these things that are happening where I feel,
and millions like me feel
that our rights are being impeded upon.
Um, you know, science says this, uh, and science says that,
and we, I believe in science,
but I don't believe in our freedoms being taken away from us
by government in the name of sustainability.
Uh, there's a lot of manuals,
a lot of things that have been written.
This goes all the way back to 1987 to 1992.
Uh, when, uh, when, when actually George Bush was in office,
and then Clinton picked it up,
and it's a thing called Agenda 21.
If nobody's ever heard of it, it's out there.
And I'm not a conspiracy theorist
or anything, like, I'm a, I'm a researcher.
I read a lot, I read a lot of manuals.
I read a lot of information.
There's a manual and there's a movement called
agenda, uh, 2030.
You can type it into any search bar,
put your city there and put 2030.
And you'll see. So the cities are conforming
and aligning, uh, to this.
And it's disturbing to me as a Michigander is disturbing
to me as a resident of Warren, that now my city, the city
that I live in, is adopting this climate
emergency sustainability.
I'm a good steward. I'm a Christian woman. I'm a mother.
I'm a, I'm a leader. I'm a church leader. I'm a activist.
I'm a business person. So I believe in stewardship,
but there's some things that we are responsible for,
but that we cannot control.
The sun, the moon, different things like that. Yes.
Uh, recycling and, and things like that.
But some of this stuff is overreach when it comes to EV and,
and forcing us to wanna all of that lines up
to use this type of energy
because it was said way back then that, and, and I believe,
and this is not a conspiracy theory, anyone
and everyone in here should look up Agenda 2030.
The UN working with the WEF wants to inventory
and control all of our land, our water, our minerals,
plants, animals, construction information,
energy production, law enforcement
ultimately control every move that we make.
And when we're moving into that,
and everybody can, you know, it's millions that don't
conform to it, but it's millions that are afraid
because of this fear of, oh, the climate.
Oh, and it's, well, you know, the emergency,
we got emergency at our borders right now.
Our borders are standing wide open.
We have, uh, illegal people coming over, straining our taxes
and our money here while Americans in Michigan
and people are not being taken care of.
Yeah. I'm very, very, very, very disturbed about this.
I didn't sleep well last night,
so I made it my business to be here.
Though I've came to a few of the city meetings,
I will be here more, and I'm gonna make it my business
to make sure people are aware and get, get active
and get engaged in what's going on.
Our constitutional rights cannot be taken
and stripped away from us.
From a panel, a, a, a sitting governor, a president.
We have the, the, the legislative, the
Judicial Honor. You're out of time. Okay.
Thank you. God bless you all.
Have a good one. Next is
Jeff Matthews, and after that is Mary Michaels.
Absolutely wild. Um, good evening, counsel.
My name is Jeff Matthews, longtime worn resident.
I'm here to speak, uh, in support of agenda item 13 B.
That would be, uh, to declare a climate emergency hire
and empower a sustainability officer
and adopt a climate action plan.
All the way back in 1896,
ante ais published the paper on the influence
of carbonic acid in the air upon the temperature
of the ground, what he described 130 years ago,
the beginnings of understanding of
how human industry would come to change this world,
we know today is climate change For many here tonight,
they might not think much of the changing climate,
but I say to you, counsel, you can't afford that luxury.
To put it more succinctly,
the future generations born today cannot afford your
inaction in our present, their future
and the continued wellbeing
of our community relies on an investment.
We need to recognize this emerging
catastrophe for what it is.
Get someone qualified
and knowledgeable on the cascading issues.
It will present and begin planning
with an eye on contingencies
for those concerned about our border
and the influx of people into this country.
Let me ask you, how will you feel when
that border is the one at the bottom of this state?
Modeling has identified, Michigan is one
of the places in the continental United States
that will be least affected by immediate climate change.
But what happens when parts
of the southwest are too hot to live in?
What happens when sea levels begin to rise rapidly
and 30% of America's population
that lives on the coast begins to move inland?
How will we house them? How much will property
go up in cost?
How will insurance react? We need these answers.
We need to start planning.
These are just the, the tip
of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to
what we need to consider.
And for the money we invest Now, who knows how many,
how much we'll save down the line, maybe millions,
maybe hundreds of millions for a city our size,
maybe more than that.
Not taking action now is something nobody
in this room can afford.
We can't sit on our hands and kick the can down the road
because the people then won't be able
to handle those problems without all of you right now.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next is Mary Michaels, and then Curtis Osh.
Thank you counsel. Mr. Madam Chair, I'm Mary Michaels.
I'm the acting city attorney,
and as a lawyer for the city, I'd like to address item 13 C,
which is which re which regards the use of
private email for public business.
As a lawyer for the city, it is the best practice
to use public email for public business.
We know this because there are record retention laws,
there's public confidence,
and there are also public disclosure.
But I just would like to put this in proper context.
It is not illegal, per se, to use
personal email for public business.
It is an, it is discouraged. We don't want it.
And I know Mastone is going to be looking at policies
to make sure that public business is conducted on
public email only.
Most people, when they use personal email
for public business, it's
because they want to get a job done expeditiously.
And very, very few instances is their bad intent.
Nobody, I think, really intends
to circumvent the public view.
They're just thinking of how to get the job done.
And I just ask that council, consider
that item in that context.
But I also wanna give in assurance that
policies will be reviewed,
and I know as a lawyer for the city public
business should be conducted on public email.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Osh.
Good evening Counsel. Curtis Osh, pastor here in the city,
and also a resident of the city.
Um, I'm here to speak about 13 B.
It's interesting that we wanna spend extra money declaring a
climate emergency, hiring, an empowering,
a sustainability officer, adopting a climate action plan.
There's much already engaged with,
at the international level, national level,
even the state level for us to be engaged in all
of this at a city level.
We have many, many positions in our city that are acting.
They're not even permanently, uh, placed people
at many different, we don't even have a police commissioner
that's a permanent one.
We have an acting police commissioner.
As Mary Michael said, she's the acting city attorney.
We have all these positions to fill.
Why would we divert our attention to this kind of issue
that's already being handled in so many other ways?
It doesn't need to be a local issue.
We don't need to make this a local issue
and use local resources for a sustainability officer.
We can't even hire a top cop in six months.
I mean, this is absolute nonsense
that we should go off on this.
And let me tell you something I asked today at Stillwell
about recycling.
They have recycling bins at Stillwell.
Do you know those are just there for appearance?
They actually just throw everything away.
We can't even master recycling.
How do we need a sustainability officer
to worry about climate change?
And the other thing is the, the big dump totes
that the city dumps for, for rubbish, A lot of times
they just dump the recycling along
with the rubbish with the same truck.
They're a different color bin.
But I don't know if they don't have the
workers the capacity.
I don't know the issue. I'm not behind the scenes.
But oftentimes the bins that people wash all the recycling
with, and it has to be clean and separated.
It just goes in the regular stream of trash
that ends up in a landfill.
So if we can't master recycling,
why are we worried about all of this
that is already being addressed at a state, national,
and international level?
Thank you.
Thank you. That is the end of audience. Next item.
Next item is announcements. Madam Chair.
Oh, uh, apologize. Ms.
Um, McGee gave me a letter to read
from a constituent. I gave it back to you,
I think Okay.
To do it. Of the item to do.
Sorry. Next item.
Next item announcements. Madam Chair.
Yes, Ms. Secretary Madam. Thank
You. It is with
Heavy Heart, um, that, um,
I announced the, um, untimely death of
eight year veteran firefighter paramedic here in Warren,
Christopher Kosmalski.
He passed away June 21st.
He leaves behind a wife and a son, Mason,
and a daughter Claire, his parents, Terrance
and Jennifer, other family members and friends,
and of course, his brothers at the Warren Fire Department.
Um, arrangements for Christopher's, um,
viewing is St.
Therese lasu Catholic Church on Wednesday from two to nine.
And the funeral service is at Ji Calcaterra.
Um, on Thursday at 11 o'clock,
um, as I was looking at his obituary, I saw some comments.
And one was, uh, from one
of his colleagues on the fire department.
Chris was truly a good person.
He brought out the best in the guys around him.
He always showed so much compassion
and care for the people we cared for at work.
Even on that fourth call
after midnight, he never lost his cool.
And he always stayed sharp.
Um, the fire department is, has lost a,
a friend, a, a brother.
Um, and, you know, certainly, uh, uh, we're thinking
of them at this time and sincere condolences to his family
and friends.
Um, there is a GoFundMe page.
Um, it's gofund.me/ab
5 4 4 5 2 8.
If anyone is in the position to help this family out,
that would be fabulous.
Um, and you ask a moment, sentence, moment
Of silence.
Thank you. Thank you. And one more item, um,
on the 29th, I just lost my place here.
Warren is having its first pride event,
and that is at, um, city Square Saturday from 1130
to 6:00 PM.
Um, there, the group that has worked hard
to put this together should be commended.
They've done a great job. They're gonna be a lot of vendors
and events for, um, everyone.
Um, and their a special guest, uh,
is Attorney General Dana Nessel.
I happen to run into Dana Nessel, uh, last Friday,
and she's very excited to be coming to Warren on Saturday.
And we're looking forward to seeing her.
So anybody that would like to come out, I encourage you.
It looks like it's going to be a great event. Thank you.
Any additional announcements?
I do have one through the chair.
Council member Dwyer.
Um, I would also like to, with a heavy heart, um,
acknowledge unfortunately the passing of one of ours.
Uh, Oakland County Sheriff's Deputy Brad Reckling,
30 years old.
Uh, he was a nine year veteran of our department.
Um, he was senselessly, senselessly, gunned down,
ambushed in the area of Shanar.
And seven Mile, which is not very far,
obviously from our border here.
He was a, uh, great officer.
Numerous awards, commendations. He had a lifesaving award.
He was a family man.
Uh, he had three young children, another one on the way.
And just, well-liked by everybody within our department
and just did a fabulous job.
And he will be sorely missed by by all
of us. So if you could, a
Moment of silence.
Thank you. Sad,
Sad.
Any additional announcements?
Hearing none. Next item.
Next item is 11 A, which is a public hearing request
to vacate public alley and util easements.
And the North south 18 foot wide public alley associated
with fire station number one,
located on the northwest corner
of Van D**e Avenue and Continental Avenue.
2 3 2 0 9 to 2 3 2 11.
Van D**e Avenue, section 28.
Uh, Wilbert McAdams care of City of Warren,
PEV 2 4 0 0 0 1.
Someone from the fire department
or the administration, Mr.
Wirth, can summarize the matter.
Uh, good evening, Madam President and, uh, city council.
This is, uh, fire station number one, the new fire station
that they're, that's presently under construction,
but, uh, it's, uh, being built on top of an old subdivision
with, uh, I think five different, hold on.
Different, um, no, four different, uh,
easements in one alley, or three easements in one alley.
So these need to be vacated by the city so that the
construction can, uh, continue
and we build a new fire station in that area.
So that's, that's a summary there.
If you want detail, I can do that too.
Thank you. Uh, I will open the public hearing.
Is there anyone from the audience who would like to
speak on this item?
Okay. I will turn the, I'll close the public hearing
and turn it over to counsel for action. Motion
To approve support Lafferty Support more.
Um, motion, more support. Lafferty. Any discussion?
Hearing none. I will call the question. Thank you. Mr.
Wirth. Uh, Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer?
Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Newnan? Yes.
Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is? Yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is 12.
A request to amend the 20 22 20 23 Housing
and Community Development action plan.
Hopwa budgets, consideration, and adoption of a resolution.
Five votes are needed. So, 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
12 B.
Request to amend the 20 23 20 24 hoppo agreement
between OSHA
and the City of Warren for emergency housing assistance
and related supportive services, consideration
and adoption of a resolution.
Five votes are needed. 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. Newnan? Yes.
Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is 12 C.
Recommendation of the RFPW 0 7 3 9 review panel
to award architectural engineering services
for the construction of a new library to apply plus Inc.
And to authorize the mayor
and the clerk to execute a contract in an estimated amount
of $233,480 consideration
and adoption of a resolution.
So moved with discussion support
To air discussion Ms. Moore. Um,
Thank you Madam Chair. I,
I sat on this panel. Um, this is exciting.
As you'll remember, this was really initiated by, uh,
a member of the, uh, uh, community at uh, nine
and, uh, Shaner
and, uh, sort of, uh,
treasurer Lori Barnwell picked up on it.
And we had some, uh, uh, community meetings
and library, uh, went forward.
And, you know, it's had a couple iterations.
And now I think we're in the final phase.
And I, I would like to mention there, this library is going
to have a lot of, uh, amenities.
And I'll just read some of 'em if I may.
Um, it's gonna be, it's focused on a walkable destination
for the local residents.
Um, you know, there, there are, um,
there'll be vehicle capacity for 20 parking spaces.
Um, there'll be infrastructure
for an electric charging station, greenscape with tables
with built-in seating that can be used for reading adjacent
to the library, wifi, both inside and outside study room.
Um, uh, the course,
the facility will be fully a DA compliant.
Um, there will be, um, you know, cubicles and lockers
and an area for a library of things,
which I am very excited about.
Security cameras, signage will include, um, uh, braille, uh,
bicycle racks, um, you know,
and a lot of other, uh, really nice features.
And, uh, I'm very, very excited about this.
And I know the people at nine n Shane R two. Thank you.
I'd also note these are American Rescue Plan dollars.
So for folks who have wondered
and over the past couple years have questioned where all of,
where that money's being allocated, I just wanna point out
that this is one of those projects.
And I think it's really important that the southeast corner
of the city has a library in a public space.
So, anything additional?
Okay. Hearing none. I will call the question. Ms. Moore?
Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Bokey?
Yes. Mr. Noonan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Grogan C is a yes.
Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is 12 D.
Consideration and adoption
of a resolution approving public entity, casualty
and liability insurance program
through third party administrative services.
So moved.
Support Lafferty with discussion.
Discussion. Mr. Lafferty? Thank you.
So, Ms. Moore
and I met with Hyland
and we received more information about insurance
than I really care to comment.
And at one point I thought dealing
with the budget was, was difficult.
And then I was presented with the insurance.
So I'd like to ask through the chair to, uh,
acting HR director, uh, Ms.
Damron, just to summarize for us, non-insurance experts,
the changes and, uh, what we're expecting year over year
for our insurance this year.
Good evening, counsel. So the,
our, let me start over.
Um, we have very little increase in the premiums
between six and 10%.
So we were very lucky with that.
It was under the 10% increase in our premiums.
Um, the only cha major changes
to our policy from last year was we increased our
cybersecurity liability from, um, a million to 3 million.
Um, with a slight change in the premium for that,
some carriers changed,
but our liability coverage stayed the same.
Um, and we actually yep. Rest went up about six s 10%.
So is there any specific questions for me other than that
short, sweet, to the point
That, that was pretty much all I wanted.
Just a, a brief synopsis for council
and for the listening audience.
The, uh, the way in which the insurance is structured is,
uh, is, is logical,
but it's, it made a lot more sense when we were dealing
with the cybersecurity section.
'cause I was dealing with products
and services that I'm most familiar with.
Mm-Hmm. So I'm glad to see
that we're actually making a little bit more of a, uh, uh,
con concentrated in, uh, coverage there for, uh,
those potential liabilities as,
as I mentioned in the meeting,
municipalities, hospitals, and schools.
So the top three mm-Hmm, uh, uh,
organizations to be targeted.
'cause they generally have the smallest, uh, uh,
support structure and support staff.
And so we do the best of what we can.
We have some, some great people.
And, uh, so we now have
good coverage as well. So, thank you.
Yes, we do. Well, they were in that meeting the same time
we were in our meeting together.
Mm-Hmm. So yeah. Discussing that very same thing. Okay.
Is that it?
Anything further? Thank you, Ms. Damon.
Uh, 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.
Next item is 13.
A appointment of Sean Lindsay to the zoning board of appeals
to fill the term that expired September, 2023.
This new appointment will expire September, 2026. 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. Newnan?
Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries. Next
Item. Next item is
13 B. Council member Henry Newnan.
Request to refer to the Environmental Review Committee
for recommendation.
One. Declare climate emergency two, hire
and empower a sustainability.
Officer three, adopt a Climate Action Plan. So moved.
Support with discussion Nunan. Um,
Discussion Mr. Nunan?
Thank you. So, um, for one thing, our award-winning
master plan calls for a climate action plan to be developed.
So it's part of our master plan,
and there are sections in there on sustainability.
And for anyone who wonders why we would want to do this,
there's a whole, there are pages
and pages of really well thought out information.
Also, there were, um, community studies done
and maps of where
the most vulnerable populations in our city are.
It's a very, very local issue.
And, um, actually I'm hoping planning Director
Wir would come forward
and just speak, uh, briefly on, um, the history
of the effort to, um, improve our city through planning
and the master plan
director worth.
Thank you so much for stepping up.
That, that, thank you Councilman.
Um, didn't know I was gonna speak on this, uh, the,
the history of, uh, master plans,
but it, it's pretty simple.
We have, we had two of 'em, uh, the first one
that, uh, was given to us, uh, I believe in 1966.
And we had that for well over 50 years.
And then, um, uh, prior to
2019, uh, city council
came forward, put the money up, uh, for our new
and now present master plan.
And, uh, I greatly appreciate that.
I think all the people in the, all the citizens, uh,
should appreciate it too.
You're right, it's an award-winning plan.
And, uh, uh, it, it's a quite a document that
everyone should, uh, pay close attention to
because that's our future.
But, uh, there is a section in there about, uh, resiliency.
You and I have talked about it.
Uh, it has, uh, uh, considerable amount of information
and guidance issues that, uh, should help us, uh,
work together on this climate action plan.
And, uh, I'm sure you, you're gonna have more,
more to say about it.
Uh, we, we talked about, um,
the urgency of, of the plan, uh, the,
uh, the potential, uh, sustainability officer.
But, uh, the plan, uh, the, the Climate Action Plan,
uh, would be that frankly, the first thing that, uh,
one does, we want to gather all the information we can,
uh, as you said just a little while ago,
that locally affects Warren.
And that that will, uh, help immensely when we get into
that, uh, that climate action plan, uh,
through an RFP, the normal way to go through the steps.
And, um, and,
and I think that it's, it's gonna be, uh, one
of the most important plans we end up doing.
And it's gonna include, I think, a lot of, uh,
citizen participation as we, uh, go around town and,
and talk to people about it.
Um, I say that's about all I really have to say,
unless there's anything more councilman that you want me
to elaborate on.
I appreciate that. Um, I'm, I'm thinking that some points
that probably deserve to be mentioned are that, uh, Chicago
with its, uh, climate Action Plan has already been able
to help the, uh, minorities in poverty
reduce their heating and and cooling costs by about 50%.
Yeah. As they made their houses more energy efficient.
And that would be so much more money for
especially the southern parts of our city where there's
so many people who are in poverty.
And, um, also, uh, reduce flooding.
Part of part of that is reducing flooding.
Um, and the, uh, bringing,
increasing the tree canopy, I believe is part
of the general, um, thing.
The, the city's already committing to doing that.
But seeing why that's important from the point of view
of climate, um, seems important to me.
And, uh, also, we,
the city moved to all LED streetlights
and some people don't like LED streetlights,
but they are much less expensive to run, um, and,
and much more energy efficient.
And that's saving millions of dollars.
And I'm expecting that this is going
to pay off in monetary terms, financial terms
for our city in a big way.
And so why wouldn't we do it?
We don't have to necessarily agree with the climate science,
but, um, it's not only the right thing to do,
but it's a great thing to do.
So, um, with that, I would like to, um, uh, brown,
if you wouldn't mind sticking around in case any
of the other, um,
city councilors have any more questions for you.
Does anyone else have a question for him?
Do you yield the floor? I yield.
I Yield the floor. Thank you. Any other discussion?
I have a question. Ms. McGee?
Um, the climate emergency plan,
when hearing the constituents, um, they seem to believe
that everything is just, um, put in place
or will be put in place according to science.
But really what you're gonna do is really having a
discussion of what is needed for the Climate Action plan.
We don't really have, we have one that the master plans
that we have to put in place,
but as far as right now, it is not in place
and they are allowed to ask questions
and maybe give suggestions on how we can make it better.
So I just wanted to make sure that the consensus hear that.
Thank you Mr. Mcg chair. Uh, council Secretary Moore.
And, and then just to let everybody know,
when we refer items to committees, subcommittees, you know,
we're not voting on that item at the moment.
It is just an exploratory adventure, uh, so to speak.
And, you know, they may say, Nope, this doesn't make sense
for us, but this does.
And it may come back in a different form
or, um, you know, things change as time goes on
and people do more investigations.
So we're not voting on any of this today,
is we're just exploring the possibilities
and what we can do here as a city, as I understand it.
Right. As I understand it, we would, um, be referring this
to the Environmental Review subcommittee
of the council, correct.
For consideration. And then, um, we would be discussing that
with city administrative officials to see
how it might be implemented.
And then if we come up with a good plan,
then we'd bring it back for a vote.
Okay. Thank you. And for those who are interested,
the environmental committee, I believe is publicly noticed.
So you can attend those meetings.
Madam Chair? Yes. There they can be.
Or sometimes they're working groups, correct?
Right. So that they're not sometimes are working
Groups. Working groups are
not typically noticed as meetings.
And so that those would be, uh, not noted.
Um, not open meeting.
They're not subject open meetings,
but just they're not, uh, working groups
to figure out what to do next.
We might have an open meeting.
We had an open meeting for the, uh, tree
or ordinance review,
and we're still working on
that in case anyone's interested out there.
So that's possible too.
Yeah. Madam Chair, they're just,
they're not subject to the open meeting.
Yes. Act one. It's a working crew. Okay. Thank you
Madam Chair.
Mr. Bokey, Uh, question of Mr. Wirth.
Uh, would it be fair to say that we're, uh, complying
with the master plan at this time?
You didn't give any specifics,
but you mentioned the, the tree canopy.
Uh, re I know we're, uh, rewriting the ordinance for trees.
Um, Mr.
Co Councilman Newman stated that we have the lighting,
the bulbs were changed.
Um, so we are, you know,
in compliance we're I actually working on it
to, to solve that.
And, and I know, uh, council gave I think 5 million out
of a funds that was supposed to be used
for low income homes.
And, uh, possibly that money could be used for that.
I don't know. The, the, the guidelines haven't been set.
What I'm trying to say is, uh, what's being brought
to the table, it's nothing new.
We've been working on it, all this all along.
Is that correct?
Uh, yes. The, the city has been, the council has been,
um, I can, I can add to the fact that we're,
we're now working on the, uh,
the Green Space Conservation Plan that's
for the entire city, uh, which has, uh, elements of,
uh, climate and what to do.
Uh, and we're, we're gonna pull from that plan.
We'll also pull from our, uh,
Uh, Lemme see our, uh, bicycle.
So there are a lot non, our
non-motorized a lot transportation
Programs in place right now. There.
We, we have two plans that we're working on right now,
and, uh, we'll gather information from those also
and, uh, move forward with, uh, the climate, uh,
action plan in due time.
But, uh, we, we will, we're all gathering information on it.
We do think it's all important.
The administration certainly thinks it's, thank you.
It has its importance.
Yield back. Thank you. Anything further? Madam
President, Mr. Nunan?
So, uh, Ron, I'm under, I'm under mic
Director Wirth, I'm under the impression
that the master plan calls for a climate action plan.
Do we need one? Yes. Or do we already have one?
No, we need one. Why do we, why do we need it?
We need it for the, the issues of, uh,
today when we're talking about, uh, the quality of, uh, life
and, uh, uh, everything that has to do with it.
I mean, air quality is, is a big one around here, frankly.
Water quality, air quality, uh, you, you talked about, um,
earlier, uh, about, uh, south End and,
and those, uh, uh, people who need more help than,
than most, uh, when, when it comes to, uh, serving them.
And that's, and we're after, we're after that aspect of it.
It's economic, it's social. It, it runs the whole gamut.
It's, it's a big issue.
The state of Michigan has a climate plan, uh, uh,
it's, uh, already been written through, uh, Eagle.
Anyone can look that up and,
and read it, get some ideas about what the state's, uh,
master climate plan is.
So it's a good, uh, boilerplate, so to speak,
to, to work from.
And then, uh, we, you know, I've been researching other
climate plans, not you had Chicago.
I, I looked at, uh, smaller ones to just see how you can
begin with one and, uh,
and the different elements that go into it.
But many things about that.
They talk, talk about the, you know, uh, with, with vehicles
and gas emissions and, and that type of thing,
and what everyone can do on their own to, uh,
reduce those emissions.
All sorts of things of that nature.
Would, would heat waves, gotta
Bring it all together? Would,
Would heat waves be one of the ones?
Uh, of course it would.
People don't die or get sick from heat,
Of course.
Okay. Tree canopy. That's, that's extremely important.
The tree ordinance that we've worked on,
that's almost completed.
And that'll come to here, city hall
or city council rather, uh, to, uh, approve
that regulatory device.
So yeah, we we're moving forward in a number
of different directions, but, uh, all coming together.
Well, uh, thank you, Ron.
I, I hope that we'll get a positive vote here,
and if not, I guess I'll be coming back again some
other time on that.
Alright, very good. Let's, let's see how it goes. Alright.
Thanks, Ron. Thank
You. A yield.
Thank you, Madam President. And, uh, Mr.
Lty. Thank you. And while I'm supportive of the,
the item and the ideas of, uh, Councilman Noonan, I'm,
I do have, uh, one concern, I'll get to that,
but I think it's, it's important to put some context
around this as well, is that sustainability is important
for everyone, and there are things that everyone can do.
Uh, and the, the word was mentioned earlier today, recycling
and reuse of materials, that's something
that everybody has the ability and the responsibility to do.
Uh, one of the items that I brought up at council
for the last several years,
and wrote most recently at the Parks
and Recreation Commission, was adding recycling bins, uh,
a number of them at our bald diamonds at helmet,
and the number of water bottles that were being thrown out
with the, with the regular garbage collection.
It, it was momentous.
And so voluminous is the better of the better term.
And doing something simple like that, placing recycling bins
to give people the option, they will leverage them.
And that's something responsible.
Uh, other items for the committee to consider.
The planting of trees.
We've talked about increasing the tree canopy, I believe
that's part of the master plan.
And the, the Climate Action Plan.
Uh, other items that homeowners can consider, bioswales
and river beds, landscaping
and rain gardens, uh, at, on a, on a residential level
in our backyard
and our front yard, instead
of draining water onto the driveway
and sending it directly to the sewer, we have our, uh,
rain water redirected to a dry river bed that fills up
and then evenly distributes that water across the lawn.
It looks beautiful during a rain shower,
and it serves a purpose.
And that water's not going into the sewers.
It's going back into, back into the Earth, uh,
from a a commercial standpoint.
Another item, porous cement lots, uh, rain,
raining rain ponds.
Uh, I've seen those on the news.
They look like a terrific way to detain water on the site
and allow that to drain off slowly.
And then I believe we've talked about this
before, uh, the last time we talked about your, uh,
your committee was working in partnership with DTE, uh,
McComb Community College consumers on exploring energy
initiatives, and really towards
how do we responsibly, uh, prepare for
the electrical grid to support electric vehicles.
Now I know not everybody's going
to jump into an electric vehicle tomorrow,
but it is something we need to plan for.
And Mr. Wirth, I know this has come up at, at the planning,
uh, department a number of times, uh,
having ev charging stations as part of a, uh,
a standard site plan for certain businesses.
Yes. And, you know, those are, uh, considerations that, uh,
commercial, uh, operators
and developers all need to take into consideration.
And that policy is set here for Mr.
Wir and, and for zoning
to implement in their site plans when those, uh,
when those developers come up.
The, the issue that I, I have
reservation about is the declaration
of a climate emergency.
And I find that rather alarmist
and for this body to take a vote on even
recommending that to committee, uh, is I,
I think we should have some pause about that.
Before we do that. We have plenty of information
that's brought to us in our packets to,
and to declare, to make a declaration.
We need facts. We need facts.
And yes, I've, I know there's plenty
of information out there, and we have, you know, the pro
and con, as we've heard at at audience earlier today, I am,
uh, not in favor of referring the Declaration
of a climate emergency to a subcommittee.
And what I think is what we could do is take the actions
of the committee, understand your research,
and then if that's brought forward as a recommendation
for us to eventually vote on.
Absolutely. But to recommend declaring, number one,
declare a climate emergency, I think is inappropriate
for this body to take that position at this time.
And I, I would ask to, uh, the, the makers of the motion to,
uh, make an amendment
to strike number one from 13 B
as, uh, as an amendment. And I'll, I'll yield.
Thank you, Madam President, Mr.
Newnan. So, um, one part of this,
and why, why is it a good thing to do this to, uh,
have a climate action plan sooner rather than later?
Is because the federal government has, as
director Wirth has pointed out, um, taken the lead on this,
and they're offering money to do these good things for,
uh, building our infrastructure.
And it would be behoove us to take advantage of that.
Um, there's, it is a,
it is a climate emergency.
People, uh, many people around the world are more
and more dying in heat waves.
The, uh, ocean level is ri, you know, are rising.
And, um, things like if the planet gets too hot,
then all, all the, uh, plant life on the planet
at a certain point can't survive.
No plant life. Not only no food, no oxygen.
This is something that we all need across the world.
The US needs to be setting the example.
We need to be setting the example.
But we're, we're not, we're, we are way
behind other cities like Ann Arbor, Sterling Heights,
Detroit, grand Rapids, and it's time for us to step up.
I'm, I'm, um, you know, I, I, I understand totally
that there are people who are totally in climate denial,
but I think that any intelligent person who's been following
the news would know that this is a crisis.
But all that was beside, um,
this is only referring it
to the environmental, uh, review Committee.
And, um, if the, if a lot more information be needed
to prove those points to my, the other council members,
I would, um, then I would look forward to doing that.
Or we could strike it
and say, well, we won't vote
to pass the Climate Emergency de Declaration.
This is just a review.
So I, uh, would beech my fellow counselors to please,
uh, refer this to the Environmental Review Committee.
Maybe we won't even bring it back.
We might not even bring that part back.
There's no reason why we would have to.
Madam Chair, thank you, Mr. I yield,
Uh, Ms. Moore.
I think there perhaps could be a legal issue whether
Ms Body has the ability to declare a climate emergency,
but putting that aside, I could see where
perhaps grant money
or something could be tied to our declaration of a
climate emergency.
I, I don't know that, but I think it's something maybe that,
you know, I don't think we're ready at this today
to declare emergency.
Whether we can or not, I don't know.
But I think if the group looks into that,
we would get the answer before it comes forward to us.
And I don't know how any of the grant money works,
what the prerequisite things are,
but there, there could be something, you know, I mean,
states have to declare emergencies
before they get federal money.
I think so. I don't know. But I mean, it's an option.
I, you know, I think you could look at it.
I don't have a problem with that.
Thank you, Madam President. Through the chair.
Um, Mr. Council Miller o Dwyer.
Yeah, I, I just think that I'd like to make a motion to,
uh, table this so we can do further research on it.
Just explore it more,
The whole issue.
To clarify, you wanna table the 13, uh,
13 B one, two, and three?
Yes. Correct.
Hearing no support.
Mad chair, could you repeat that? I didn't hear you.
Mr. Uh, council member Dwyer, uh, has a motion to table
13 B one, two and three.
Uh, point of order.
I believe we had a amendment changed
by Councilman Lafferty first to address, or
It was a request to make an amendment from the makers
of the motion, which was not
necessarily granted at this point.
It was more a motion point of discussion.
Motions. A preceding motion. Motion, yeah.
Ends discussion at the moment. You go back
Hearing no support tabling motion dies.
So we are back to discussion.
Madam President, Mr. Lafferty. Oh,
Then I'd, I'd like to make an am uh, offer an amendment
to strike 13 B one,
declare a climate emergency, and simply ask Mr.
Noonan to, uh, you know, report back on findings
and, you know, provide the information that we would need
to declare such, uh, uh, situation.
Mad Madam Chair, could I offer something,
Mr. Lafferty?
The, so the, my motion on the floor is to amend, uh,
striking 13 B one.
Thank you, Ms. Moore.
Would you entertain, um, ex, you know,
changing the wording of it,
Open to amendments,
To the amendment, you know, of, of, um, discussing whether
that is appropriate, not, whether,
not affirmatively saying declare an emergency.
If we just word it the feasibility
of hiring a sustainability
officer, would, would
That, well, my issue is not number two. It's,
I I'm just saying, you know, the feasibility of declaring
or the power to declare,
whether it's the appropriateness, I, I don't know.
We're just referring it for people to look at it
and come back.
You know, we're not voting on anything.
We're just saying go ahead and take a look at it.
I don't see anything wrong with that,
but I'm, you know, I'm only one vote
and I'm, you know, Mm-Hmm.
Madam Chair. Mm-Hmm. Mr. Lty,
Ms. Uh, Ms. Moore, how
about, uh, determining
the factors necessary for the declaration
of a climate emergency
Works for Me as, as opposed to outright declaring one?
Yes. Madam President. May I support that?
Uh, so makers of the motion support Mr. Ty's amendment.
Right? Right.
Okay. Okay. So for restatement purposes, we're voting
and to re refer items to the Environmental Review Committee
for recommendation, one being,
if you could restatements for Lamberty
Two, number one will be determining the factors
for declaring a climate emergency.
Thank you. Two, is hire
and empower, uh, sustainability officer,
or the feasibility of such an adopt a Climate action plan.
Mm-Hmm. Okay. Any further discussion? Madam
Chair, does that satisfy you, Mr.
Dwyer? I'm fine with that, yes.
Thank you. Any additional discussion?
Okay. Hearing none, I will call the question. Ms. Moore?
Yes. Mr. Nunan? Yes. Uh, Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr.
Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes.
Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is 13 C Council member Jonathan Lafferty.
Discussion in Ray policy policy regarding the use
of personal email to conduct municipal business.
So move Lafferty with discussion Support Dwyer.
Discussion. Council member Lafferty.
Thank you. We had a situation
that occurred on June 20th, uh,
and it was in relation to emails being sent to,
uh, a number of Warren residents.
And this was sent by a member
of the mayor's staff, Ulu Jabari.
And the mail email was sent from a private email account.
And in this, uh, in this case, it was a Gmail account.
And it, I remember discussing this a couple of years ago,
previous counsel, where the Parks
and Recreation department were using Gmail, uh, either one
or two accounts, and they were individual responses.
I had signed up for an event through Parks and Recreation.
I received a receipt,
and that receipt was sent to me through a Gmail account.
And then I reached out to, uh, the director at the time, Mr.
Trudo, and inquired, why are, why is the city,
when the city provides email services, why are we using
a private email account to conduct city business?
And they went back and, and made, uh, changes in the office
and abandoned the, uh, the use of the email accounts.
And the issues was the issue was settled at that time.
We probably should have taken up the, the policy and,
and, you know, looked at it a little further back then,
whether it would've gone anywhere.
It remains to be thought for many years.
But this situation is, is something
that we do need to deal with.
When we talk about, and you hear it every day,
we just talked with the acting HR director about
data breaches, cybersecurity insurance,
and you think about all of those issues that can end up
costing a municipality a lot of money
if something goes wrong.
And we have to take every step.
There are many lines of defense when it comes
to cybersecurity, and our employees are
that first line of defense.
They have to be trained on our policies and procedures,
and they have to safeguard our residents information.
That is their number one priority.
And so I have several items,
and I, I did see there, uh, Ms.
Michaels, the acting city attorney.
She gave some, uh, basic, basic information, Ms.
Michaels, um, during audience participation
on this particular item.
And it, and it plays right into my questions.
And I would, what I'm asking for tonight are, uh,
specific items to report back to us.
I don't necessarily wanna make any decisions tonight.
We don't have enough information,
but for the City Attorney's office to, uh, research
and provide back the necessary information for us
to adopt a stronger policy, uh, in partnership with, uh,
the mayor's office and the HR department.
Number one, uh, direct the city attorney's office to, uh,
number one, examine applicable policies such
as the ethics policy and the acceptable internet use policy,
and or create a policy regarding the exclusive use
of the municipal email system
for all electronic correspondence with members of the public
suppliers, government entities,
and other third parties, et cetera.
And further explicitly prohibit the use of private,
personal, or individual email accounts
or email services while conducting business on behalf
and for the City of Warren.
In addition to number one, I'd like copies
of both policies sent to the council office
for dissemination to council members.
Number two, determine if the incident
that occurred on June 20th, uh, constituted a violation
of the city's ethics policy.
Number three, determine if the dissemination
and public disclosure
of approximately 160 emails belonging
to private individuals qualifies as a date of breach.
Number four, determine if the exfiltration
of approximately 160 private individuals emails
into a private email account within the Google Mail system
requires notification to all affected parties.
Number five, uh,
further request the City Attorney to advise Mr.
Jabari to immediately retain all emails
relative to the incident.
Number six. Uh,
further request the City attorney to advise Mr.
Jabari to cease usage of his private email account on behalf
and for the City of Warren.
And finally, number six, uh, number seven, rather, uh,
request of the acting Director of human Resources
to provide training to all employees on the subject
of email, best practices
and safeguards for the protection of private information.
That is my motion
support.
Are there already is a motion of support. Any discussion?
Thank you, Mr. Okay.
Uh, Mr.
Lafferty and Mr.
Dwyer accept the additions to Mr. Lafferty's motion?
Yes. Yes. Okay. Uh, I call the question Mr.
Lafferty. Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes.
Ms. McGee? Yes. Mr. Nunan? Yes. Ms. Moore? Yes.
Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is 13 D.
Consideration and adoption of a resolution
to approve a two year extension of agreement
with capital relations
for governmental affairs services. So moved.
Support Lafferty, Uh, discussion? Anyone?
So, I had a, a point of discussion.
I've been working with Shannon
and Mike with capital relations, uh, on a number of things.
Manufactured housing being one of them,
but also, uh, just a lot more over the past, uh, year.
Uh, I think they do great work. We hired them initially.
I don't know if that we went to RFP
or if we had the opportunity to talk to different firms,
given that we're in the middle of a budget, uh, process,
and that we also have then additional four
new council members.
I would request that it be one year
and that in a year from now, uh, in advance
of it being renewed again, that we have the opportunity
to interview and talk to some additional
firms, uh, and go from there.
That is my request.
Do the makers of the motion have any issues with that? No.
Madam Chair, no. No issues, but I do have a question.
Mm-Hmm. Oh, okay.
So our contract with them,
I'm curious if our contract has a, the,
because the contract is not part of the agreement here.
If the contract has a, a term
and condition for renewal, it was, we may be, uh,
already locked into a renewal period. We're
Not. Nope. Their contract
expired,
so we're re we're renewing the, the contract.
Okay. It Expires the 30th of this month. Thank
You. Alright,
So is expiring.
So we have the ability then set on a year to year basis.
Madam Chair, we can actually
terminate the contract either side 30 days.
Okay. So we can terminate without cause. Yep.
For, for whatever reason. Yeah. Okay. Correct.
30 days. I'm fine with that. Mr.
Schroeders though, knows better
Than me. Thank you.
Any additional discussion? Okay.
So the amendment is one year.
Uh, hearing none, no additional discussion.
I will call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes.
Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes.
Mr. Nunan? Yes.
Rogan C is a Yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is 13 e.
More discussion of committee meetings
of the whole Madam Chair.
Uh, motion to approve for discussion. Support.
Lafferty discussion. Thank you.
Um, so just so everybody knows, um,
when I, council officer, I get calls
that there's information that council members would like.
Um, I, you know, try
to set up a committee meeting as a whole.
I've gotten several requests, um, wanting to know
how animal control the department works.
Um, and we have read some things about there being
a lack of capacity.
So I did send a, um, request to, um, the police department
and the administration that we would like
to have a committee meeting of, of the whole, just
so we understand the process.
And that I've not heard back yet.
So I would like to put that on a calendar
of pending matters, um, that the council is requesting that.
And also, I will be sending out a request, um,
for a committee meeting
as a whole on the senior housing commission.
There are a lot of things we don't know
what the authority is.
Um, I, I read today, actually, I was looking
through the charter for something else
and found that council has to approve the man,
the head person or the director.
And I don't think we ever approved him.
I think he was just seated by the last mayor.
So, you know, that that never happened.
And you know, we, we, we have a lot of people
that are acting in certain capacities in, in this
today, and they've not,
and they have to be appointed
provisionally and they've not been appointed.
Even provisionally, Ms. Michael said she's acting city
attorney as I understand the union contract.
That would only be for a short time.
Now, certainly the mayor could appro could appoint her
as provisionally.
And I think in the past, I think it was a case with, um,
Nancy Cooper Green.
She was the chief assistant attorney at that time,
and then assumed the role in the absence
of the city attorney.
That is meant to be, if somebody's out sick with a sitis
and recovering from an operation thing,
it's not their departure,
it's not supposed to go on a long time.
But Nancy Cooper Green was appointed.
And I think that if somebody's going to keep acting as, um,
city Attorney, that there needs to be an appointment
that comes to council to approve even a provisional
appointment because that is a, that is one of the offices
that council has to approve that and the assessor.
And we're now almost eight months into this, uh, term.
And we don't have a permanent city attorney.
And that's a little disconcerting
'cause that's one of the most important, um,
roles in the city, in my opinion.
Certainly. So,
but that's, I kind of got off track there a little bit,
but I think everybody would like
to know a little bit more about the senior housing.
So I will be sending that.
I'd just like to have council concurrence just as a voice.
We do a voice vote that we're going to, you're in favor
of doing a committee meeting, the whole on that.
And then we'll put it on the calendar pending matters so
that we can sort of, um, watch these things, monitor
Any additional discussion.
Madam President of, I, I did go to this, uh,
mayor's Senior Housing listening event,
and I spoke to Sean Clark, uh, the director
of the senior housing.
And, um, he told me that he would get back to me about
the, um, superseding authority, uh,
for the Senior Housing Commission.
And so I, I totally agree.
I would, I would like total clarity.
So if people ask me, well, say if,
if the senior housing commission raised the rent,
but didn't bring that matter
before the council, then was the rent
raised properly or wasn't it?
Some people were, were, uh, questioning
how many times the rent had been raised.
And, um, if it isn't too far out of line,
I was wondering if I could ask Mary Michaels
to step forward for a second.
Well, that's Related to senior housing.
Yeah, it's, is it too out far? It's, it's really that
Discussing the item, it's too far of line.
I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll yield. I yield.
That's, but I, but I would request that
someone in the city attorney's office does some research so
that they're able to answer with authority.
Yeah. On the authority. That'd be lovely. Right.
'cause Sean Clark is the director, but he's not an attorney.
He's not an attorney. So I, you know, there, I,
I do remember us approving over the years rates,
but I don't remember recently doing that.
But policy things we didn't approve.
Like they banned smoking there.
They were going to ban smoking in or in certain areas,
and there was a lot of blow back of, you know, right.
People lived there a long time.
Um, so I remember that coming up,
but I don't think that we had authority over policies.
So, but I think those are all things
that we, we need to know.
Need to no.
Any additional discussion.
So I will see Ms. Moore, you were motion Mr. Lafferty.
Uh, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed?
Motion carries. Next item. Next
Item is, um, 1313 F.
Um, that's my item again. So moved.
Discussion, support TY appointments.
Uh, Ms. Moore? Yes.
Um, we did receive several appointments that, uh,
came over last week.
And I immediately sent an email to the administration asking
for, um, backup information that had not been included,
had been, uh, excluded in the, um,
backup in the applications.
I received a response that we were not going to be getting
that information, and that if we wanted to see it,
then we could go to the attorney's office to see it.
Um, but, um,
and I suggested today that, to move things along that,
to send over the unredacted documents,
but we would not put, um,
those items out on the e packett
that we would put the redacted
and that the public would not be able to see, um,
whatever is being covered, you know, redacted.
Um, but I think a better way for us to do it is
for this body to request unredacted documents.
We do have a court order, um, that anything the council
asks for must be provided to us within 10 days.
And that anything the city has, we are entitled to.
We are co-equal branches of government.
And there's not a document in the city
that we don't have the ability to get a copy of,
except those things kept in,
perhaps the human resources about employee health
and information like that.
I'm not talking about personal information at all,
you know, on employees.
We're asking, in this case, for public, um, officers
that are seeking to be appointed, which is
to two totally very different things.
They just happen to be appointed rather
than elected like we are.
So, um, my motion would be to request at this point all
of the unredacted documents in electronic form, um,
to be sent to council office for diss dissemination to all
of council members so that we can, um, get
that on the next council agenda so that we can move forward.
You know, we've waited a long time for appointments
and we'd like to get the ball rolling.
And I think that, you know, we're gonna have to sit down
and come out with a procedure.
I mean, I, I would really make a blanket request at this
point for unredacted copies of all applications
for appointments and, you know,
leave out the driver's license.
We don't even, counsel doesn't even ask for that,
for our ZB a applications.
I don't know why anybody would
want somebody's driver's license.
I think if, you know, if I, we don't even ask for that,
but I, there's no reason, you know,
we've never won a social security number or driver's license
or somebody's date of birth.
Those are personally identifying things
that are usually excluded.
I mean, I certainly know in the legal world,
that's the only thing that they're allowed to exclude.
Everything else is address, uh, phone number, all none of
that is, that's all pr public information
that can be asked in a legal sense.
Certainly. So, question
Madam President, Ms. McGee.
Okay. Um, as far as the information, um, that we need, far
as you are, you're requesting that information.
Can we not get that information immediately?
And if we decide to contact, um, all of those
who were appointed immediately, can we make a decision
to move forward and still bring it up at our next, uh,
council meeting, approve it
before, um, they get on the agenda for next week
for the next council meeting? I'm sorry,
I, I don't understand. I'm sorry.
So if this information is submitted
by the mayor's office immediately, let's say they submit it
by tomorrow morning, we can review it.
If we want to make contact with all those
who are appointed at that moment in time, we can say,
I received the information, I contacted them, I'm, I say,
move forward so they can be on the appointed
to the commission so they can go ahead and be on there
and then bring it up at our next state. We,
We can't do that.
Um, we have, it has to be on the agenda and we have to vote.
These are people that we have to, the ones
that were sent over require not whether we have a problem
with them, they require council confirmation.
This is just not an announcement.
I've appointed these people
where we can say, I don't want them.
Okay. They don't, they're in default to the city.
This is a little different situation
because they require the council confirmation.
So, but I mean, if the mayor sends 'em over tomorrow,
that gives us more time.
I will tell you, in the past, um,
when someone was being appointed to planning, they came
to the council meeting and stood at the microphone
and asked ques and answered questions.
We could do it that way. We could have everybody come in.
And Ms. Roci asked for the address of
the public speaking every day.
I mean, not, not every day, but every council meeting
or to put it on that paper.
And these are foible.
Anybody can get these if they wanted them.
So those addresses, there's no privacy
that the residents get when they come up and speak.
And in my mind, the residents,
they should have more privacy than a public official.
So, and, and you should be able to call anybody
and ask them questions,
and you should be able to do your own background
and research, getting a snapshot, whether somebody is
in default to the city today, we may wanna know if
they owed $87,000 in water bills, but paid them two days
before they were appointed, which we have seen
candidates for office.
Do they go and pay their fines the day
before they file for office
or, you know, a a judge gets appointed
and, you know, they go and pay their water bills.
I've seen that happen. So I think we need to see all
that information, not just get a snapshot of time
that we should be able to do and verify.
'cause we didn't get an affidavit saying that.
We just said, got the snapshot of things,
and there's no affidavit saying that we have checked.
And really, the only way to be sure
that the taxes aren't owed is to go through the treasurer,
because they can go to the county.
We don't know what's at the county.
We don't have the ability to check unless, you know,
but the, the treasurer,
and I've suggested in the past
that all appointments are brought over to the, the treasurer
for the treasurer to make that determination about taxes
and send, you know, uh, not an affidavit.
I don't know if an affidavit would be,
but something from her saying she checked further
and further, and they are not in default.
So,
Another question, Mr.
Mr. Schroeder has something. Okay,
Go ahead. Just wanna say,
I, I did take a look at the application.
Um, it's been the same application for a long period
of time, and there's, there's no doubt in my mind
that the I issues are the address,
the phone number, and the email.
There's no doubt in my mind that the council's entitled to
that information as part of its, um, duties to review,
and in this case, confirm applications to certain positions.
I guess downtown Development authority is one.
So if you look at the Downtown Development Authority
statute, you look at our ordinances,
the mayor can't appoint someone to the commission
or the Downtown Development Authority without the council
making a motion to approve affirmatively approve that.
So, to do your due diligence, this is person,
the DDA has requirements.
Some of the, some of them have to be residents,
some have to live in the district.
And there's all these requirements.
You wanna make sure you're voting
for somebody that's qualified.
You may want to ask them questions about their theory.
Do you support the plan to, you know,
spend $30 million on a hotel in a retail?
Maybe you think it's good, maybe you think it's bad.
These are questions you are allowed
to ask in determining whether they're gonna get your vote.
You may not care about that.
You may just want to see that they're qualified.
They live in the city and they pay their taxes.
It may, you know, so that's, to me,
there's no doubt the council is
entitled to that information.
It's, it's beyond, um, you know,
any question that you should have
That and Madam Chair, uh, we, I, I, you know,
council office can keep that redacted information
to put an e packet.
Now, whether somebody fos that
or not, they can get it if they fo it, I'm sure,
but I'm not, that'll be something the city
attorney's office can deal with.
I don't care about that at this point.
I want the information for us.
And, um, so, you know, we need to know
what we're voting on that.
And, and I offered that today.
Um, but I got no response, so thank you Ms. wy.
One more question. Um, you stated on
before, um, secretary, more about, uh, there were those
who were on commission that we did not approve.
Um, let's say they have a upcoming meeting as far as,
I don't know if you guys can hear me,
like an upcoming planning meeting
and the people that the mayor's office had appointed,
are they allowed to sit in that space as a temporary
assignment until it it is approved?
So the answer depends on
which position you're talking about.
Okay. The positions we are talking about today are the ones
that require council confirmation.
They cannot sit in those chairs.
Those positions assume those positions
until the city council approves it.
So, DDA members planning, um,
require board of review.
Board of review, the ones that require council confirmation,
the ones that require council receive
and file that you can reject.
They can take that position,
but the council has two meetings to review that
and reject it for a reason.
So they can take their position immediately upon appointment
of the mayor once they're sworn in.
So it just depends on the nature of the position.
And I think the ones we're dealing with here are all
require council confirmation.
So they cannot sit in those chairs.
Now, the ones that are expired, so if there's a,
there's a number of commissioners
who are sitting in expired terms, they are allowed
to continue serving until their replacement is found.
That's by operation of law.
Madam Chair, Ms. Mcg,
Go, go. One more, Ms. Moore.
One
of the things I did wanna bring up about DDA and,
and Mr. Schroeder brought this up,
there are certain categories, there has
to be two people from, you know,
that own businesses in the DA
and there is required to be a member
that is a representative
of the Warren Consolidated School District
because we capture their funds.
And the, the school district is to put that person forward.
The DDA doesn't have,
the mayor doesn't have to accept that appointment.
She can reject, and then the school district
appoints someone else.
And as I understand it from the last superintendent,
he said they have never been asked to even do that.
The prior, there was a representative
before, in fact, John Green,
who was on the Warren Scholar School Board, served on the DA
as the Warren Con representative.
And I don't know that we have
or have had for a long time that representative.
And when we get those appointments from DDA, they should say
which box they are checking of the requirements.
That would be very helpful, I think, for us to have
that information going forward.
I will also note that in the communication the mayor did
offer us going to the City Attorney's office
to review the information.
I don't, that's, I think, unreasonable.
We're all part-time folks, money of us
with other full-time jobs.
And it's information that we all, we are elected
take an oath to ensure privacy of information
and ensure that we are upholding that oath.
So I don't see any reason why we can't receive
that information electronically.
Why I appreciate the gesture to be able
to come into City Hall.
It's just not reasonable for us to have to do that,
in my opinion.
So if we can renew that request
to have the information sent over with the understanding
that it will not be shared publicly,
and that it'll be used to do interviewing
and to do our due diligence
for the roles in which we're appointed, I think all
of us are mature enough and professional enough
and experienced to be able to handle that information
and do so with integrity and professionalism.
So that is my statement about the matter,
Madam President, Mr. Nunan.
I, I just wanted to add that, I wanted to make sure
that it was, uh, legally all right
for those documents to be emailed to us, um, checking
with our lawyer since I'm not a lawyer.
And that's what you said, right?
Absolutely. That's legally permissible.
You're an officer of the city councilman, as well
as everybody else who is elected and seated at this table.
As an officer of the city, you're entitled
to review that information.
You also have a responsibility to make sure that you're,
you know, you're not gonna go on your private email
and send it to 150 people.
Right. Which I know you're not gonna do that.
So, um, it's, it's to be kept there.
Now, there, someone could foia, you know,
someone could FOIA these applications,
and I know the City Attorney's office thinks these addresses
might be not disclosable under foia.
I'm not so sure I agree with that.
That's a separate question. But these are not nuclear codes
that you're handling here.
This is an even patient information.
You know, I do a lot of, I do a lot
of work in the healthcare field, and
whenever you're handling patient information,
you couldn't email that back and forth.
It would have to be done on a secure link
or portal and all of that.
This is name, address, email, phone number of people
who are asking you to vote for them.
So they can also be public officials.
And once you're a public official,
your address phone number, email is public information
Manager. Thank, thank
you so much for clarifying that. Yield,
Mr. Nunan. Finish
Mr. Bokey. And then Ms. Moore,
I just wanna add, comment, uh, sort of public with no,
there, there's been quite a few emails
between the administration
and the Common Council regarding this matter.
Uh, it was discussed, so it's no secret that the mayor,
the administration, knew that we were gonna refuse it
unless we got unredacted copies.
Well, coming into the building today,
the mayor is out there, passed it out copies of, uh,
redacted, uh, uh, commission appointees,
and I refused that.
And I told her, where's the unredacted?
Um, the other council members might have accepted it.
It's up to them. But I find it's, uh, ironic
that the mayor has to stand in a parking lot instead
of coming to the podium and talking with us,
with the city attorney, with Mr. Schroeder
and work things out.
Mm-Hmm. And just wanted the public to know that.
Thank you, Mr. Bokey.
Ms. Moore, one more item on this, and then, yeah,
Just I will, Mr.
Schroer rem I actually looked up the court order in the last
couple of days, and as part of the, um, court order,
Madam Secretary, could
you please speak up to the microphone? I'm not
Understanding what you're, I'm, I'm not, I'm sorry.
There was a court order,
and in the paragraph that discussed, um,
counsel getting documents, it was specifically mentioned
that, um, to be sent electronically
if it wasn't a brick from a building, I, so I assume,
but something that could be sent electronically was
to be shared with counsel by electronic means.
Thank you. Uh, so the motion is to request,
request the items, the unredacted versions to be sent over
to counsel, uh, regarding these appointments so
that folks can make, uh, determinations
and do their due diligence.
Madam Chair, Mr. Lafferty,
All current and future appointments.
Thank you for the clarification. Uh, Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr.
Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Newnan?
Yes, indeed. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes.
Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is 13 G, which is, um, uh,
president Rogan sees item, uh, regarding save.com.
Motion to approve
Support Lafferty.
Thank you. Uh, this, I received a couple emails
and I've noticed them at my own home.
There are save.com. They're coming in a plastic bag.
Someone is throwing them
or distributing them at the, in front of homes.
And a resident had said that she had called a number
of times to ask for them to, to cease,
uh, distribution.
And, uh, the mayor's office had already done some research.
They must have gotten some calls.
So Judith, from the mayor's office was helpful
and sent over a note saying that, um, Sonya had clarified
that the bill, the local delivery service, Steve's was hired
by saves to distribute in Warren.
And Steve's has granted a hand bill license from the city
of Warren in 2022.
It has not been renewed since the clerk has sent out notice
to renew with no response.
So I'm wondering if there is anything we can do, uh,
as a council to notify these folks that they need
to renew their license and be responsive when people, uh,
don't want the distribution anymore.
Mr. Schroeder,
The French have a saying.
It says the more things change,
the more they stayed the same.
I see Ms. Michaels there.
I can remember 20 plus years ago, I forget the name
of the circular, but they were going up
and down the street whipping these flyers in everyone's
front yard and pink bags and pink bags,
and, um, phone calls were ringing off the hook.
We did a lot of research on that.
Um, I know it's probably in the files there
at the City attorney's office.
And I think the conclusion was, um,
there was a First Amendment implication,
although there was litter occurring in people's yards.
I think, um, as a start, it certainly wouldn't hurt
for the council office to send a,
a letter, a correspondence.
Um, certainly I'd be willing to assist with it, to tell 'em
to renew their hand bill license.
But if there's litter
and nuisances occurring, maybe ask them to clean it up.
And, um, I I, I, we'd have to go back
and look at the research there.
There was a, you know, um, that line
between the first amendment right
to distribute things versus littering.
So I think we'd have to take a closer look at that,
but certainly we can, we can correspond with them.
I'll talk with Ms. Michaels about the, the research
and see what we can do.
My motion would be just to send something to renew their,
at least the license, and then we can handle, you know,
the secondary issue at another time.
Okay.
We will do that. Any additional discussion?
Okay, Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Uh, Mr.
Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes.
Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is 13 H, which is Mr. Bo's item.
Uh, uh, requesting information?
Yes. Motion to approve
Support. Lty.
Okay. Discussion. Discussion. Mr. Bokey?
Uh, recently during the past, uh, couple weeks,
I've been speaking to a lot of city employees.
Um, you know, how to make things better, what could we do?
Stuff like that. And one
of the biggest complaints I've heard is vacancies,
vacancies not being filled.
Uh, today I ran the listing of job, uh,
jobs in the city of Warren.
There's, uh, there's seven web pages for them.
Some of them are light buster, uh,
city attorney, which hasn't been filled since November.
Electrical inspector firefighter, human source
resources director, positions in the library, uh,
parks and recreation.
Three different, uh, positions.
The position in, in the senior citizen complex
Police commissioner, which is also, uh, pretty old.
Uh, building inspectors, animal control, clerical
engineers, temporary engineering laborers,
mechanical inspector.
Plumbing inspector. Looking at all these, I wonder
how we could even survive as a city.
Uh, my, my request is that we send a letter
to the administration asking for a list of all vacancies
that are not filled, and that is to include union
and non-Union positions.
Uh, human resources was not here,
but I know it was brought up when the administration wanted
to hire an outside contractor to do some hiring.
They said they were short and human resources,
but I don't even see a, a listing here.
Or they could have hired. It's, it's possible.
So, you know, my request is that we get that list.
Um, the council worked, worked very hard on a budget.
Uh, we didn't cut any positions.
Uh, we made some union positions.
I believe, uh, we appropriated the money.
Unfortunately, we don't do the hiring
and administration does.
And that, that's my request.
And I also, um, if we could direct the letters to the unions
that represent our labor force.
I know they don't have to comply,
but if they would kindly do it to, if they would, we'd like
to back up the information we get from the administration.
Ma, ma, Madam Chair, if Mr.
Bokey would, um, accept perhaps an addition, um,
I think we should have a list of appointed positions
that are vacant.
And those that are claim, they're claiming are acting,
but they've not been sent over to us.
So I would like to know which are acting
and which are not filled yet.
Of the, of the available appointed positions.
If you would accept that memo,
I'll support that.
Okay. Uh, let's see. Mr.
Lafferty, your support on this motion without objection.
Thank you. Any additional 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. He is a yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is 14.
A request of the Downtown Development Authority
to approve a 2025 budget amendment in the amount of $700,000
to facilitate the purchase of the Warren Racket
and Fitness Club, located at 29,901 South
Civic Center Boulevard.
Consideration and adoption of a resolution.
So moved, five votes are needed.
Support Lafferty. Discussion.
Discussion, Ms. Moore? Yes.
I think this is a, um, a great, uh, opportunity for us.
This is going to help us with, um, our construction
that we're doing with the court.
Um, there's a lot of uses that can be put to this building.
It's, you know, in the DDA,
it's closest city hall right across the
street from the police department.
There's even talk that that might be the future home
of the Warren City Council chambers.
So I think it's, um, a good purchase, even if it's not used
for that, it's property that we'll be able
to use and expand to.
You know, we're kind of outta room in the police department,
I think, I think nine 11 is,
or, uh, dispatches a little crowded in
there and some other things.
So I, I think it's a really good purchase.
Any additional Discussion? Madam President? Ms. Wiggy?
What would happen with the, uh, racketball?
I used to play racketball there years, for years.
Um, would they consider moving, um, racket fall
to the community center?
I think they're closed. They're closed.
No one is, I don't think they've been in
operation for a long time.
Wow. But we might have a purchase coming down the road
that might satisfy what you want.
I think that would be nice. Madam Chair. Mr.
Boe, uh, Due to chair question for Ms. Michaels.
Uh, Ms. Michaels at the April 10th, uh, DDA meeting,
there were questions about the, uh, owners that be,
or the ownership of the property being a trustee,
and also concerns about being able to walk away from the,
uh, contract if, uh, the building was in, in shape.
Do you remember those? I think, uh,
commissioner Hank Riveras address that, uh,
item there at the DDA and you were gonna negotiate.
Have those problems been resolved or,
Yes. We determined
ownership, which is basically, it's
a partnership if the building was owned
by a par by two partners
and they have both deceased,
so now their heirs own the building.
So we've determined that both the heirs will be the,
or the co-trustees, and they will be signing sellers.
They'll sign for the sellers. They're both in agreement.
They both reviewed the agreement.
They're both in agreement with it.
I think part of the reason it's taken so long is
because one partner's been taking the lead in negotiations
and they had to bring the other partner on board.
They don't really know each other.
They're not like their fathers that work together,
but there's Unity and they can both agree
to the terms that are presented.
Okay. Understand. Does that satisfy your question?
There were other issues that came up. Well,
Actually, you're talking over my head.
You know, the legal stuff.
I'm sorry. That's All right. But that's, I asked,
But there were other issues
that were addressed at the meeting. Yes, they were. I,
Mr. Schroeder to look at it.
So I don't know if he could address it or the property.
And just to make sure we're all on board doing it correctly.
So, point, point of order, Madam Chair,
this particular item is for the budget amendment in support
of the purchase agreement, which is the next item.
So we're right now, we should be limiting our discussion
to the budget amendment.
And then Ms.
Michaels and the counsel should discuss the purchase
agreement and those types
of questions on the next item. Honor,
Thank, thank you, Mr.
Ty.
Madam President. We Mix 'em up all the time.
Yeah. Mr. Nunan?
I am, um, I'm curious is, um,
how they arrived at $700,000, uh, appropriate to ask,
um, with the budget amendment in in mind?
Sure. Also, I'll note too, Mr.
Boy's questions may impact his vote on this particular item
with the purchase agreement, given
that we're voting on the budget amount.
Ms. Michaels, if yes, of course, you have a question about,
or an answer regarding the $700,000 purchase.
Yeah. Like, was it just how much do you want?
And they whipped on a number?
No, I believe Tom, Mr. Bra Marto had it appraised.
It's kind of an old appraisal, but I believe it was 5 95,
and I don't have that with me.
But there was an appraisal done
For 5 590 5,000, I believe.
5 95, but that was a few years back.
Okay. It's an old appraisal,
So it could have been reappraised to 700.
It might have made sense.
Correct? I, I know that there's just all
The zeros just seem like
If, if I may, there's a public purpose involved here
because we're working on a new court building
and to complete the, on
A, on a new What, a new court building
to complete the construction, we have
to relocate the police parking area.
Right. So this is a prime location to serve
as a parking area to serve as the police department.
Right. And it, there is a building there
that may be refurbished for some purpose.
Right. I believe the tentative plan is maybe
to see if the police have a need for it.
Okay.
I I just wanted to, to make sure that the, uh,
city was buying something of value at a reasonable price.
I, I understand that it's a very, uh, good property
for the city for a number of reasons with the court,
with the expectation that we would rebuild the courthouse
and the police would need parking while it was
happening, as well as the court. So anyways, thanks you
So much for That's correct. Correct.
And I'll confirm the number, but
I know it was appraised. I recall
That. It makes, it makes sense
now. Thank you.
Any additional discussion on this particular item?
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.
Next item is 14 b consideration
and adoption of a resolution approving the purchase
agreement for property located at 29,000 9 0 1 South
Civic Center Boulevard.
So moved with discussion support
Lafferty with discussion.
I am going to let Mr. Bokey go first, uh,
given he had some pertinent questions.
Ms. Michaels, if you could come back up to the podium.
Oh, I was gonna address those questions.
I ask the same question,
Ms. Mic, Ms. Michaels,
uh,
I guess we'll have to do it over again.
The, the, the, the concerns
that were brought up at the DDA meeting April 10th,
were they addressed in this purchase agreement?
Yes. At that, at that meeting, there was a concern
that the seller wanted pretty, um, onerous, uh, an onerous
as is clause, which means if there was any environmental
damage, they were walking away completely.
And it was a fairly sophisticated clause.
They agreed that they would not require
that in, in this agreement.
And there's an as is clause,
but it's not nearly as, um,
doesn't disadvantage the city as much.
And they're making warranties in terms of not knowing
of any environmental contamination
and that they agree
to a one year extension of that warranty.
And I think Mr. Riveras had that concern.
He wanted to make sure that the warranty was there.
And I've also advised Mr.
Bato to make sure the phase one is completed.
Uh, thank you.
At what Jun Juncture, do we do a title search on a property
after purchase, a grievance set,
Correct? Yes. Okay.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bokey. Ms. Moore?
Yeah. Thank, thank you. Actually, Mr.
Bokey contacted me and somebody else did, I think,
and ask about, um, some of the perch,
the purchase agreement items.
So I referred it to Mr. Schroeder to look at,
and he had, uh,
a real estate expert in their firm look at it.
Maybe he can address some of those items.
But it sort of brought up a good point that, um, you know,
on these sort of big purchases,
we probably should be consulting and,
and referring these matters to a real estate, um, attorney
for, you know, these, these kind of things.
They're pretty complicated.
And, you know, we have a lot of money
and we've had a couple things that have kind of gone south
on city per buildings that we sold.
Um, so I just think it might be prudent for us to refer some
of these out to a, a real estate attorney.
But that's, that's just my opinion.
But I think Mr. Schroeder has some information.
I had very productive discussion, Ms.
Michaels and I in the last couple days.
And so, um, I'm recommending
if counsel agrees with the terms that,
um, you know, we proceed.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you Mr.
Lafferty discussion.
Thank you. And Mr. Schroeder touched on, on the terms,
and so did, uh, Ms.
Michaels, but, um, just wanted to ask if there were,
you know, specifics that you wanted to highlight that were,
uh, seller concessions that were, uh,
pertinent to, uh,
Do we have that guy amendment?
I, I just, I can't, I received an email, uh, from, uh, Ms.
Michaels, um, it would've been today, uh, this afternoon,
and explained what the seller had agree to.
So, um, I don't, you know, I don't know that it's,
uh, major, but, you know,
Could, could we, could we have the amended, uh, uh,
agreement just sent over to us so
that we could see it in its final form?
Yeah. I'm not saying stop voting today,
but if we could just get the final, um, copy sent maybe
before Friday when the results letter goes
Out, I'll sign off as to form for the council. Thank you.
Yes, Mr. Lara, you have the floor.
Thank you. Yeah, my concern was that in our packet,
we have the original agreement.
There have been amendments on both sides, uh,
to the purchase agreement
and that we had full visibility into those amendments.
Uh, so if, if that, if those can be distributed
to all counsel, I'm more than happy to.
I've already reviewed them.
I'm, you know, more than happy with that.
Well done on the work, Mr. Schroeder and Ms.
Michaels on, uh, advocating on our behalf, uh,
negotiation wise.
So, uh, but yeah, those could be provided.
I see no issue, uh, again, agreeing
with Ms. Moore, we shouldn't stop this.
Thank you. Uh, any additional discussion?
Okay, hearing none, I'll 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
14 C. Requested
the engineering division for a transfer of funds
between line items in the amount of $6,000
to cover the increased costs associated with the purchase
of 1 20 24 GMC Sierra Consideration
and adoption of a resolution.
Five votes are needed. 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. Nen? Yes. Ms. McGee?
Yes. Rogan C is? Yes. Motion carries. Next item
14 D, request of the engineering division
to award the purchase of 1 20 24 GMC Sierra 2,500
HD four Wheel Drive Crew Cab to Tom Wenzel Buick, GMC,
utilizing the state
of Michigan Cooperative Vehicle contract in the total amount
of $54,718. 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. Nunan? Yes.
Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries. Next item.
14 E requests of the public work superintendent
for an increase in budgeted appropriations in the amount
of $175,000
to provide sufficient funding in the equipment rental line
item account within the Michigan Transportation Local Roads
Fund budget for the balance
of the 2024 fiscal year consideration
and adoption of a resolution five votes
are needed. So moved.
Support Laer. 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 is? Yes. Motion carries. Next item
14 F, request of the police department
for an increase in budgeted revenues
and appropriations in the amount of $140,400
to account for the receipt
of grant funding from the Michigan Commission on Law
Enforcement Standards
for basic Law Enforcement Training Academy, scholarships
for employed recruits, consideration
and adoption of resolution.
Five votes are needed.
So moved. Support Dwyer. Discussion.
Hearing none? I'll call the question Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr.
Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes.
Ms. Moore? Yes. Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is audience participation.
Members of the audience who would like
to address city council this evening may do so
by filling out the audience form located on
the right side of the stage.
Uh, you have three minutes.
Reminder to write your name on the form and
or give it at the podium.
First is Kelly Davis, and then next is Lori Harris.
Hello.
So I'm coming back
and I just really came up to address a, a, a, uh, phrase
that was publicly put out by one of the sitting council, uh,
men, but it, and it deals with Christian, um, nationalists.
Uh, I am a Christian, but
before I do that, I wanted to also, the comment
that was made by the councilman earlier about, um, you know,
climate denial.
I, I have a big issue with that,
especially the word denial being that if,
if people disagree, uh, I'm a very informed person,
educated, know what I'm talking about.
Read, have, read all kinds of things.
So I, I have a issue with saying
that we are in denial myself, along with millions
of other people are in denial
because of the way that something is being handled.
We saw that with the pandemic
and they said, denial, denial, denial.
I have a whole story with that.
How I walked off of a job
because I was, uh, given an option to, uh,
basically was fired
because I didn't receive a, a vaccination, um, on a job
that I worked on for 13 years.
So, so and so all the information
and the science was saying this, this, this.
But I personally know people who was injured by that.
And all kind of information is coming out now.
So when you say denial, uh, councilman,
I think you should really, uh, think about that.
Now, I wanna say this really quick as far
as I am a Christian, like, uh, millions of Americans are,
uh, when you put those two words
together, you know, I'm a patriot.
I'm an American. I love this country,
though it's not the same country I grew up in,
in the seventies in Ohio, moved here to Michigan in, in 97.
Uh, I'm not, uh, one that shies away from being a Christian.
Never will I be that way,
or a nationalist in the sense of I love my country.
But when this phrase is put in this way
that is being put forth in today's society,
it's saying beware.
And the thought was beware. Beware.
It means they are dangerous and to be looked at in a bad
or a suspicious way.
Uh, Christians are not people that, you know, everybody
that say they're a Christian is not a Christian.
That's number one. Uh, so, you know, we follow the teachings
of Jesus Christ, which tells us to follow the law,
walk in love, and do these things so everybody
that say they're Christian is not Christian.
And so I, I had to rise
and say that I am a proponent of the First Amendment though.
So I don't have an issue with taking to social media
and sharing your thoughts.
But I just had to get up
and I had to say that being a resident in this city
and having a city sitting, councilman putting that up,
I just wanted to further break that down and,
and stand up for Christians
and say that we are not like this view of this thing
that's being put out about Christian nationalists breaking
the law races and all this stuff. Those are lies.
Thank you. Morning.
Morning. The, uh, clock.
Uh, it's come to my attention that the
clock in front is not working.
So I will keep time and give everyone a one minute warning.
Uh,
Screen's not working.
Yeah.
So we'll address that with communications.
In the interim, I will use the Ms. Harris, you're welcome
to come up, uh, use,
I will give everyone a one minute
warning for their three minutes.
No, I want 10 minutes. If folks could quit yelling from
the audience, that would be super helpful.
Ms. Harris, you have the floor.
Um, yes, I am disappointed that Mr.
Wirth left because, uh,
until January I attended almost every planning meeting
for four years, and we've had a master plan
and the decisions that get made by planning, it's working.
Thank you. Um, have included taking down
lots of trees, have included putting businesses in the
backyards of neighborhoods.
And my thought is,
if we really care about sustainability in our neighborhoods,
we wouldn't put four car washes within one mile
of each other on Mound Road.
Um, planning has a lot to do with it,
and it, it's, it's just ironic that
He's wanting to promote this greatness of a plan,
and yet the decisions the planning department makes,
wipes out our neighborhoods, and it's really true.
So that's my number one comment for tonight.
I also would like to remind the city
that there's a disabled vehicle in the driveway
of 11 0 55.
Jut that has not been moved.
It's, uh, allegedly not registered,
and it's been there with flat tire
for a very long time, full of junk.
So, uh, two weeks ago I did mention this.
I wanted, uh, the city to get on the ball
and take care of these kinds of things.
Not right for the neighbors to have to deal with that.
And I also wanted
to comment on hello to Tony and Dorothy.
Um, Tony says to make sure that anything that happens to
that new building, uh, the racket club, um,
it's in the DA, that it needs to be added to the a DA list
of, um, how to make it a DA compliant.
Um, remember that there are people that would like
to participate in things in the city that are unable
to come to these meetings.
And we have technology even as simple as having Zoom
and the senior sessions that were just put on Facebook.
There are no accommodations for anyone
to join those senior sessions, uh, digitally
or, uh, uh, over the internet or any other way.
Um, and city council meetings should also be able to,
to accommodate that.
Um, and as a reminder, the, uh,
apparently it's not hard to a DA compliant to update our
computer, our, our website for the city.
And, uh, that has been pro the information's been provided.
I know to, um, the person doing it. You're out of time.
Thank you. Thank you. Next is Sue
Osh.
Okay. How many? My name is Sue Osh.
How many people here have ever bought a raffle ticket?
A 50 50 drawing ticket? Maybe a ticket for a basket.
Have you ever played? Bingo.
Believe it or not, this isn't liquor.
It's not a liquor license.
A gambling permit is required for these types of activities.
All we had asked at harvest time was for resolution.
The city council gives out regular regularly
to other businesses
or people thinks that they do in the city.
We are confused why on a,
why this is a problem with the resolution.
I've seen them give out many.
I would like to thank the mayor
and the city attorney's office for their approval.
The City Council's job was only
to look at the resolution at our 5 0 1 C3.
Have an understanding
of the community work we do in the city.
Take a vote whether you agree or disagree, and it's done.
I grew up on a farm. I worked with food my whole life.
There's apples and there's oranges.
What we asked for was a resolution.
We did not ask for a liquor license.
So to defame our character to say that you have
to do a background check to destroy our character.
We're citizens of warn we're doing good in the community.
And it's pathetic that such a waste
of our tax dollars would be used this way.
The state of Michigan does the investigation.
When I spoke with the gaming condition about
what happened in the last meeting, they had never heard
of anything so ridiculous.
He talked to a supervisor.
She suggested that we report the city council
to the Attorney General of the State of Michigan.
Many churches have multiple nonprofits, women's groups,
men's groups, teen groups, outreaches, festivals, bingos.
We have, there's hundreds of houses
of worship in this city of Warren.
Why is the only concern with harvest time?
We are the first agency located in Warren,
that's HMIS certified.
And, uh, it's to help the homeless.
My question is why nobody else does anything.
The question was asked, how much money do we get from HUD
or HMIS?
Nothing. We get absolutely nothing
from the city, the county, the state
or federal funds to help the homeless
or for anything else we do.
Everyone says someone should do nothing.
No one will lift a finger to help.
That is why we do what we do.
Not one of you council members have showed up at our pantry.
We're of time osh out time. Christmas party. Thank you.
So please look at apples and oranges.
Mr. Vander Lenin, you are next.
Uh,
I first, uh, wanna start off by saying congratulations
then Ms. Moore for becoming a grandma.
Now, before I go on the attack, I want to talk about
what I saw today.
I saw a little lollipop kid.
Looks like she's passing out fruit loop boxes
to council members as they're coming in.
And it was the mayor
and what's in these packets at the last minute.
She's passing out all this stuff is supposed
to be passed out to the council on Friday,
so you can review it, go through it to your homework
and everything else, passing it out at the last minute.
You should never even take it or vote on it or anything
'cause you can't do your due diligence with it.
And then when the last packet wasn't, was given out,
what happened to the lollipop kid?
She ran to her car and she drove away.
She didn't even have the BAC to come to the meeting
and hear the voices of the people.
She just doesn't care.
Mr. Newman, I saw your post today,
beware of the Catholic nation.
You wanna explain that? I know you're part of the mayor's,
uh, democratic Socialist party.
You're trying to create a great divide
between all the different groups, the blacks, the whites,
the polish, the, uh,
you name it to Bangladeshi.
That's all you wanna do is create divides
and division to conquer.
So what did you mean beware of the Christian nations?
Oh, you got nothing to say now, huh?
I look forward to your comments afterwards
because your comments that you posted today
should have you removed
or censored from saying anything else at this council voice.
Thank you. Have a blessed day.
Next is Jamie Morris.
Good evening and thank you for having me back today.
Firstly, I'd like to say contrary to previous statements,
nobody has ever said what harvest time church does
for the community is not good.
We don't wanna see anybody starve or homeless,
but we also don't wanna see the
mistreatment of animals either.
To have a mindset that leaving dogs in a contend ho
condemned home, living in filth with ever so often,
little bit of interaction that they had by their owners
who supposedly loved them so much is not the mentality
of someone who really loves their animals.
When Warren Police contacted him
and told him to remove the dogs from the home,
or prove that they had immediate food
and water, he failed to do so
and said, came late in the night, took the dogs and ran.
Now we have no idea of the wellbeing of the animals
or what type of situation they're in,
which is why I believe the dog should be surrendered
and put in the hands of a true loving family that the OSH
are not to be able to own pets again.
But obviously that's something for animal control.
It was about my heartbreak
of watching those two dogs stuck in a home for over a year.
Each day I walked my kids down the sidewalk being barked at
by two dogs either craving attention,
food, a normal life.
Who knows? I was warned.
Um, they told me good luck when it
came to dealing with this issue.
Um, but honestly,
luck has never been on my side, only courage.
Um, I've received multiple threats in legal action,
taken over the, um, over the situation only
for speaking on what's right.
Um, nobody likes to be called out,
but we didn't like seeing the wrong doing
of our animals property or vehicles down the our street.
It's been made clear to me that there's been a lot
of dishonesty and distrust with certain officials.
Past, current and present,
or I mean, sorry, passing current,
which has formed some type of immunity towards the accused,
which to me is highly unethical when it comes to protecting
and providing a safe and appropriate
environment for their community.
That involves mishandling housing, vehicles, animals,
and the community's trust in our officials
to make a proper decision and take appropriate action.
I'm an advocate for the elderly.
I'm an advocate for your mother, your father.
The dogs down the street doesn't matter. I'm an advocate.
I care. And thank you again for listening to me today.
Thank you. Next is Curtis Osh.
Good evening again, counsel.
Curtis Osh, pastor resident of this community.
A point of clarification from our last meeting.
Um, we never suggested that the city
or city council wanted to shut down harvest time.
What's going on is hundreds of online postings,
social media, cyber bullying.
There's a continuous barrage of hate that's directed our way
to undermine harvest time.
It's various ministries, my wife and I to turn public
and community support against us.
We've provided a vital service to this community.
We've been in South Warren for 32 plus years.
In September, we'll be there for 33 years.
We bless many people.
I found something else that's very alarming.
The city council puppet master, Mr. Schroeder,
Mr. Schroeder sent some kind of communication to Mr.
Nunan and Mr.
Nunan publicly posted that on social media
disparaging us, trying to, again,
in conjunction with a whole bunch of other haters, destroy
our goodwill in the community, the goodwill that we provide
to more than 6,500 people in this particular community.
Why do we have an attorney that's using city resources?
I would assume to post
or to communicate, excuse me, behind the scenes.
You know, I always thought
that somehow Schroeder was involved.
I have proof now. And the communication was signed.
Jeff, Jeff Schroeder, Plunkett and Cooney. Mr.
Oshkosh, if you could direct your comments
to the elected officials.
Well, thanks. He's not elected.
But anyways, the thing is, the city's paying Mr. Schroeder
and we're being attacked.
And so there's a lot of things going on behind the scenes.
The lady that was just here a minute ago, Jamie, she said
that she wants harvest time
and all the good things we do for the community.
She just wants us out.
That's why I provided you guys a job description, which kind
of gives you an overview of I'm in my sixties of
what we do, my wife and I do.
We don't have to do this. We could happily retire.
I'm in my sixties. I don't have to help the community,
but I faithfully serve the community for the last 15 years.
You even have the lady that was up here, Jamie, she's
so uninformed and ignorant.
She says We steal a hundred percent
of the monies from the church and ministry
and the nonprofits for our own personal benefit.
That's the kind of nonsense they post online
to discredit us, to harass us, to cyber, bully us,
to libel us, to harass us.
That's all they do. Part of it's jealousy.
You know, she posted you outta multiple places. Trash.
She wants a dollar house from the city.
You're out of time. Mr. Oshh.
Thank you. Thank you. Have a good evening.
I'm in the Lord's Army. Thank you. Next.
They hated Jesus and they hate me too. Thank you Mr. Dog.
Shh. You didn't talk about the dog at all.
You can't yell from the audience.
Can't yell for the audience. Everyone.
Michelle Bernard, commissioner Bernard.
Commissioner.
All right. Good evening everybody.
My name is Michelle Nar.
I am your current, current Macomb County Commissioner.
There's been things said
that we have no representation in the south
end at the county level.
I've been here since 2020.
I've reached out to everybody that's on this panel, the,
and even the ones before.
I reached out to the last administration
and I reached out to the current administration.
I've joined several organizations outside of Warren so
that I could be informed about what we need,
how we can get funding.
I've sent several grant opportunities
to this administration and the past.
And nobody answered, nobody talked, nobody said anything.
It's been said that I'm too old.
That the people that are on the, the board
of commissioners right now is too old.
And I say to anybody that says that
with age comes experience and common sense.
Mm-Hmm. Okay.
So I'm gonna ask that Anybody that wanna make a decision
on who's gonna be their next county commissioner, they need
to take the time to find out all the things
that this current county commissioner has done.
You ask for a mile road to get fixed, it's getting done.
You ask for 10 mile road to get fixed,
they're working on it.
You ask for Mile Road to go down from 6 9, 6 to eight mile.
Hello. They're working on it.
So you ask for Ryan Road to get fixed.
They're doing that too. Sorry for the barrels.
But you ask for that to get done.
You ask for me to, uh, come to try to help out
with bringing funding here.
Everybody up here knows that I've been sending
that here from Simco, from Mac, from naco,
and from the National Association of Regional Councils.
I'm the vice chair of Simco.
I did that on purpose so that I could be effective.
Everybody is talking to my, my, uh,
pre whoever this other person is that's running.
Everybody's talking to him.
But all you had to do was call me.
Anybody up here knows my number?
You have my email, I've reached out.
If you needed something done, all you had to do was call me.
I don't appreciate people going around telling the residents
that we don't have representation.
I was the first African American woman to get elected
to the Board of Commissioners, okay?
And I'm gonna still be there.
I'm gonna fight like heaven to keep my job
because I love what I do.
I care about this city. I've been here over 20 years.
I have 23 grandkids and three great grandkids.
So I'm not going anywhere
because this is where my children
choose to raise their kids.
And so I'm gonna continue to stay here
and I'm gonna continue to work
and I'm gonna ask anybody that come up against me
to speak the truth.
Okay? Give facts because I can give them to you.
Yes, I went to Purdue University. You can check it out.
I went to Kaplan University.
I took a special class at University
of Michigan when my son had cancer
because he didn't want anybody else to give him his shots
or his bone marrow.
So they taught me how to do that.
So, and I went to Marygrove College in Detroit.
I also graduated from Concord Career Institute as a, um,
medical technician.
So I have the qualification and I've done the work
and I'm gonna continue to do it.
Have a good night. Thank
You.
Next is Mr. Jerry Bell.
Second Michael. Gosh,
thank you Commissioner Nar for that one.
You got my vote. Uh, woo. That's a good one.
Um, I wanna talk
a little bit about a comment that, uh, Mr.
Magoo, uh, Hal Newman, uh, he, uh,
I just wanna know, what do you mean beware of Christians?
I just wanna know that, I hope you, uh, respond to that
because you're in a lot of hot water.
We're trying to keep people from coming up here
addressing your issue.
Beware of Christians.
How about Be aware of Mr. Magoo.
Hal Newnan. You've been a big disappointment.
You're gonna be just like former Councilman Eddie Kazinski,
where I stood here four or six years ago
and I told everybody that he was gonna self-destruct.
And you are gonna self-destruct too,
because you can't learn how to control your mouth.
You talk about felons, you talk about Christians.
What else you gonna say?
You're gonna talk about Negroes next.
And you sitting next to one, the brown people flowers.
Check yourself buddy. Check yourself.
And to Mr. Howard. Very disrespectful.
Michael Howard running for county commissioner.
And you want to talk about old people,
but you're trying to get the old people's vote.
What do you mean by old?
You couldn't even come up here to this counter
and tell us what being a county commissioner is all about.
I bet you couldn't because you want to sit back
and watch everybody put out literature
and things of that nature
so you could slide on in there and win.
Seems to me about two weeks ago when I saw you
outside at one o'clock, you seem to be a little tipsy.
You was holding on to the pole.
What was you holding on to the pole for?
What was that all about?
Don't tell me I'm lying 'cause I got you on my dash cam.
You don't even know the damn job, buddy.
You a disgrace being a black man going
after a black woman.
And all these folks up there in the county are board
of commissioners who do such a fine job.
But you want to go around talking about people
who sweater you got on,
look like a little kid.
Sweater you. A big disappointment.
Don't get blackballed, brother. Don't get blackballed.
Thank you. You're outta outta time.
Mr. Bell. Thank you. Looks
Like Mr. Howard
Sweater.
Michael Howard. Uh, 2 3 7, 2 5, uh,
Biman Avenue, Warren, Michigan.
I just wanted to thank the council members that were able
to make it out and those that supported
our Juneteenth celebration.
Uh, when we look at, when we move things as a spirit
of unity, unity means moving forward, oneness, uh, in,
in mission, not necessarily one is in person.
Unity does not mean uniformity.
And so I just think, uh, not only the council,
but also the administration, uh,
and even our state officials
and our city officials that came out to support.
Um, I really want to just give a special thanks to, um,
Anthony from the Parks and Rec department.
Uh, he was very proactive in his communication
and was, uh, eager even when like we had
everything that was set up.
He still was persistent in calling
and checking in, sending out folks,
make sure the trash was taken care of.
I told him, we'll, we'll take all the trash
and we'll take care, clean up and everything.
He said, no, I'm gonna send somebody out there
and we're gonna take care of it.
Uh, he's been super responsive at any time somebody's been
able to call and reach out to him.
So I'm just really appreciative.
You know, the, the Bible says, show respect, show honor,
and give honor to when honor is due.
So I just wanted to give honor to, uh, Mr. Anthony
as he did a great job, uh, and setting up
and doing things on Saturday.
So thank you guys. Have a blessed day.
Next is Joey d Mr.
Bella and Mr. Vander. Len.
And if you all could not make sure you're not heckling the
person at the podium.
And also we can hear you up here.
So if you could please keep your voice down, it's,
it's hard to pay attention.
Thank you, Mr. Go ahead, Joey.
All right. It's been a long time since I've been here.
And I'll tell you what, this hasn't changed one bit.
It's been the same since the first time I came here
20 years ago.
The first thing I wanted to point out, I didn't see
what the post was that everybody's referring
to, but the fact that Mr.
Newan sat there and made the comment
that it takes intelligent people to realize
that there's a climate emergency.
I'll tell you what, all these climate alarmists,
and I'm not a anti-climate person,
but all these anti-climate
or these climate alarmists, every single one
of their predictions so far has been wrong.
So take that for what it's worth.
Sierra Club, one of the biggest predictions ever, was one
of the biggest disasters ever.
The next thing is there's a business,
and I'm not gonna throw anybody under the bus
and try and hurt their feelings.
So they start attacking me because they're so immature.
There's a business on nine mile east of Van D**e.
On the south side of the street is a freaking pigpen.
You guys can all figure out what it is, but go ride by
and it looks like a junkyard.
I didn't realize we allowed junkyards just anywhere in the
city, outside storage, pallets, tents,
it's a freaking disaster area.
I've taken pictures and I've sent 'em to a couple of you.
To me, that should not be allowed.
I thought you had to have permits
and stuff for outside storage.
It's embarrassing for anybody to say, oh, we allow that
to happen in our city, is just disturbing.
But the number one thing that I'm here about
is I was hoping she would be here,
but she's not, is our city engineer.
We have a problem at the corner of 10 Mile.
Rob Ryan, at least I have a problem with it.
I've talked to a couple council people responded
to my message.
The county commissioner responded to my message.
I called the city engineer.
I got the lamest excuse I've ever heard in my life.
There's a section of the road
that's been cut out for over two months.
They've done nothing.
She gave me some excuse about, oh, well,
we're missing a piece of equipment.
I don't care. Patch it back.
Why are you disrupting the traffic?
You're inconveniencing the taxpayers
for literally over two months and you've done nothing.
So I ride down Ryan Road today.
All the rest of the holes are filled in with dirt.
I talked to the head of the public service department today.
Oh, well we can't do that.
The speed limit's 45 miles an hour.
So you fill it in with something temporarily
and you put a sign there, slow down.
There's a bump in the road.
These people, I'll tell you what,
every one of 'em should be fired.
They're so incompetent. It's not funny.
And this is our tax, our tax money. Thank you. Thank you.
That is the end of audience. Next item. Council comments.
Madam President Mr. Newan,
I'd like to read a letter.
It says, uh, Ray agenda item 13 B of City Council meeting
of 26 June, 2024.
Um, as I'm unable to attend tonight's meeting,
I would appreciate it if you could convey my thoughts
during audience participation for agenda item 13 B.
By reading this letter. I understand there will be a request
by Councilman Nunan for the Environmental Review Committee
to be tasked with recommendations for the Declaration
of a climate emergency, the hiring
and empowering of a sustainability officer, the creation
of a climate action plan cap for the city.
In my opinion, and the opinion of a vast number
of scientists, physicians,
and military leaders, climate change is a matter
of grave concern for the future of life on this planet
and the stability of society.
We are beginning in this last decade to see the effects
of climate change around the world.
And even here in Warren.
Climate change is not a frequent topic
of conversation in Warren's government,
but perhaps it should become one.
Warren should join with other communities who have begun
to address climate change in organizations like Michigan
Green Communities or Michigan Catalyst communities.
These organizations can provide resources
and leadership training needed to tackle climate change
and navigate the various funding sources now available.
I like the name climate, um, catalyst communities
because in physiology, a catalyst is something
that gets a metabolic reaction started
or makes it occur faster.
Without a catalyst such as enzyme,
the reaction could still occur,
but not fast enough to sustain life.
For humans to survive climate change, we need catalysts.
Otherwise, it'll be too late
to sustain much human life on this planet.
Climate change is not some future prospect.
We've already seen flooding, we've seen drought,
we've seen deaths from heat exhaustion.
We've seen crop failures. We've seen massive migration.
We've seen wars. All the result of climate change.
The US military sees climate change as a threat.
Threat multiplier, meaning as it grows, conflicts increase.
Let's not spend all our time
and money dealing with the consequences of climate change.
Let's spend more time
and we'll end up spending less money on ever.
Whatever we can do to limit climate change in our lifetimes,
and especially in the lifetimes of our children
and our grandchildren, that takes leadership.
That takes commitment.
Councilman Noonan's idea is a step in the right direction.
I hope you'll support it. Thank you for your time.
Pete Sutliff, ward 1 39 57 Berkshire Avenue.
And also, I did not solicit this letter,
but I agree with it.
And for if I have offended anybody
by anything I've posted online
or, um, brought up tonight, I apologize.
My intention is to serve the community. Thank you.
Any additional comments? Madam Chair, Ms. Moore, I
Would like to wish Councilman Lafferty a happy birthday.
Tomorrow is his birthday.
Happy birthday. Any additional council comments?
Madam President, Council member lap me
Like to thank Mrs. Moore for not disclosing my age.
I'm kidding, but I, public information.
It is public information, isn't it? That won't be redacted.
I will be 46. But I, I would like to, uh,
echo one of the statements that, uh, one
of our audience members made.
Congratulations on becoming a grandmother.
Your grandson is absolutely adorable.
So definitely takes after your side of the family.
I worked with her husband. I know.
And, uh, I just wanted to, um,
Make mention of one of the, uh,
audience members made mention of the mix of recycling
with trash.
And I wanted to pull a number from the budget.
If you look at page 1 98 of the,
the adopted budget from the previous fiscal year,
it will show that we have rubbish hauling of $2.5 million.
And we also paid, uh, recycling
and compost disposal for $800,000.
Uh, those numbers went up significantly this year.
And so if you're suggesting that
the recycling is mixed into the garbage,
you are discrediting our employees by suggesting that
because you are saying that someone's stealing that money
and not doing what they're supposed to be doing with it.
So I caution, uh, when you make a statement like that,
that it is not treated, uh,
that it's not treating someone fairly.
Uh, there's a lot of hardworking people in sanitation.
They do a very difficult job.
They run our neighborhoods day
after day, uh, some multiple times throughout the day,
and they deserve every accolade they can get.
They are the people that service this community
and serve our residents.
So, thank you.
Any additional?
Uh, hearing none. Next item
To adjourn.
Support. Support
A McGee.
Motion, uh, Ty Support. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed?
We are adjourned. Thank you everyone.