Calling to order a regular meeting
of the city council Tuesday,
July 9th at 7:00 PM Please
stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
I pledge allegiance
To the flag of the United States of America
and to the republic for which it stands.
One nation under God, indivisible. With. With liberty.
With liberty and justice for
All.
Roll call Madam Secretary, president Roy.
Here, vice President McGee.
Here, assistant Secretary Dwyer. Here.
Councilman Bokey. Present. Councilman Nunan? Here.
Councilman Lafferty. Here. Councilwoman Moore is present.
We have a quorum. Next item.
Next item is adoption of the consent agenda. So moved.
Support Lafferty. Discussion.
Discussion. Mr. Lafferty
Like to remove item four D please.
D as in David.
Any additional discussion? Hearing none.
I will call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes.
Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Uh, Mr. Newan?
Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries.
Next item. Next item is adoption of the agenda.
So moved with discussion
Support, Lafferty.
Discussion Ms. Uh, Ms. Moore? Yes.
I would like to add as item
12 D settlement in the
matter of Cairo one.
Centers of Michigan Right way. Rehab Inc.
And first Response Transportation Inc.
Versus the city of Warren Macomb County Circuit Court case
number 23 0 0 2 7 5 5 and F.
And what was item four D on?
The consent will now be item 14 K
on the regular agenda.
Any additional discussion? Hearing none.
I will call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes.
Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Noonan? Yes. Ms. McGee?
Yes. Rogan Cez? Yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is calendar six. A calendar of pending matters.
So motion to receive and file
Support Lafferty.
Discussion. All in favor, aye. Aye.
Any opposed? Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is seven a approval of the regular meeting minutes
of June 25th, 2024.
So moved. Support Dwyer. Discussion.
Hearing none. I will call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr.
Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Boye? Yes. Mr.
Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes.
Motion carries. Next item. Next item is eight.
A approval of the bills of the General revenue funds.
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. Nunan?
Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan. See as a yes. Motion carries.
Next item. Next item is eight B Water and sewer system.
Approval of their bills. 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 eight C General fund revenue report for May.
Motion to receive and file
Support Lafferty Discussion.
All in favor? Aye. Any opposed?
Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is eight D General fund
expenditure report for may.
Motion to receive and file
Support Lafferty Discussion.
All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries.
Next item. Lemme check with
Mary for one second. Just
hold
for the agenda.
10. Yes. So can I make a motion? Mm-Hmm.
Um, Madam chair, if I, uh, point of order, uh,
if I could suspend the rules
and ask to move up item, uh, 10
A at this
point. 'cause we have children
Support to suspend the the rules.
All in favor? Aye. Aye.
Um, I will read a little something
and then I'm gonna ask the Mason family to come
to, uh, the podium.
Um, Jennifer Mason, a dedicated resin of Warren
was watching, was enjoying a quiet evening
with her beloved grandchildren Chase seven and Jackson five.
The boys were indulging in one of their favorite snacks,
cheese and chips while watching tv.
Meanwhile, Jennifer was busy online booking a campsite
for their next adventure.
Suddenly the peaceful scene was interrupted.
When Jackson walked up
to his grandmother holding his throat in distress,
Jennifer's immediate reaction was to grab his arms,
throw them in the air, and start pounding on his back in
and attempt to dislodge the chip he was choking on.
When her efforts did not succeed, she quickly called 9 1 1.
As Jennifer was on the phone with the dispatcher,
young Chase SPR into action with remarkable bravery
and composure, he confidently declared, I got this
and began performing the Heimlich maneuver on his brother
to everyone's relief.
Chases quick thinking
and heroic actions successfully dislodged the chip
from Jackson's throat.
In that moment of relief
and gratitude, Jackson turned to his brother
and declared, you are a hero and I'm not ready for heaven.
Chase is not only a superstar baseball player
and an exemplary student,
but also an awesome boy who loves attending church.
His dream is to become a police officer,
a fitting aspiration for someone
who has already shown such courage
and selflessness at a young age.
Jennifer Mason's love and care for her grandchildren shine
through in this heartwarming story.
Her quick response and the strong bond she shares with Chase
and Jackson are a testament
to the loving environment she creates for them.
This tribute is a celebration
of Jennifer's unwavering dedication to her family
and the extraordinary heroism displayed by Young Chase.
I have a
certificate recognition.
The Warren City Council wishes to recognize Chase Mason
in celebration of extra chance.
Chance. I keep saying wrong, right chance. I'm sorry.
Chance. Um, chance Mason.
In celebration of the extraordinary heroism displayed
by Chance Mason in his efforts to save five-year-old Jackson
Mason from choking the Warren City Council pays tribute
to him on his heroism and quick thinking.
July 9th, 2024. And if you'll come up to the podium,
This is for you.
And don't be scared
right here.
Pretty cool name. Your brother's gonna hold you forever.
Turn around. Awesome.
Yeah. Yeah.
Hey, great job. What'd he say? So do you, you doing?
Sure. Take care of your brother.
This is the fire commissioner.
He's the head guy over all the whole fire department. Warren
Chance, Jackson, Mindy.
Great to meet you guys. Today I have a
proclamation for you.
A civil ci, a civilian citation, city
of Warren Fire Department Civilian citation presented to
Chance, chance, chance to chance Mason.
I did write face, but
It was my Fault on the,
I take all the land on the evening.
On the evening of June 28th, 2024, chance
Mason witnessing his 5-year-old brother
Jackson in distress, came to his aid, came to the aid
of his brother who was choking on a food park.
Food particles successfully performing the Heimlich
Maneuver, dislodging the food
that had cut off Jackson's airway.
Because of his heroic actions, he was able to save the life
of his 5-year-old brother.
And this is presented to you,
or would've It would be presented to you.
But I have to do a correction
tomorrow to get your name right.
Okay. We're gonna get it to you,
but you will get it tomorrow.
And you are well on your way
to achieving your dream of becoming a police
Officer.
Notes. I can't say something.
Sure. Okay. And we have Fire Pass.
We have junior detectives.
The, um, the,
Uh, firefighters Union
and the police union put together all this stuff for you.
Here you go.
What do you say? Thank you. Thank you.
Might need some help.
There you go.
Put a hat on. Yeah.
You want, you want. Here. Let's do it this way. Yay.
Oh my. Somebody gave me a box.
Next item is audience.
Oh, did we, we didn't vote on Do we need to?
A motion to approve the recognition.
Motion to approve support. All in favor? Aye.
Aye. Any post motion carries.
Motion to go back into the regular agenda.
Support to resume the rules.
All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed?
We are back. Next item is audience. Good evening everyone.
Members of the audience who would like
to address the city Council this evening, evening may do so
by filling out an audience form
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,
or give your full name and address at the podium.
You have three minutes and we have a clock now in front.
Uh, that will give you your time.
This audience is for agenda items only.
There is additional time at the end of the meeting
for general audience.
First up is Gary Watts.
Did you have those mens with water to church? No.
I chase like,
Good evening everybody.
Great job on the Presentation Class Act.
So, I didn't plan on speaking tonight,
but there's two things on the agenda
that really concerned me.
As, you know, my time on council, I went
to every DDA meeting, every single one,
and I went to almost every Tiff a meeting.
And I sat here and I looked tonight
and we got Reappointments for the DDA for four people.
Now certainly all these people that are up
for reappointment, they're, they're fine people
and there's no question there,
but how many times they were warned by myself
and the audience by the city council that they were
violating the budget, the charter and where,
and there was misappropriation of funds.
We only audited one year, and it was 460,000.
That was misappropriated.
We don't know about the other three years.
And these people were warned
and they still voted to approve those,
that money to be spent.
I would question whether we really want these
people setting on the board.
Lastly, um, on the, um,
the TFA one, there's Mr.
Tali on here who, again,
he has a nice business down on Van D**e,
but he also owns a business at nine
and Gross Spec that hasn't had a certificate
of compliance since 2022.
There's junk unlicensed cars all
over the property over there.
And looking at the BSNA, it shows that it's in court.
So I'm not so sure this is the kind of person
that you want representing the tiff, a district either.
So I would just like
to say be very careful with who you reappoint.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next is Kelly Collegial.
Good evening. Adult sex toys have no place on city
property, especially where children are present.
Unfortunately, this is what occurred at the City of Warren.
Recent Pride Event City Ordinance 6 3 0 9 states
that it shall be a violation of this article
to knowingly allow a person under the age of 18 to be
or remain on the premises of a sexually orientated business.
This event brought adult sex toys to the, to,
to be sold in the presence
of minors in full view as they walked by.
There was even giant stuffed animal style male dependences
that had smiley faces on 'em that would catch the attention
of any child in today's Macomb daily.
One of the event organizers said,
and I'll just quote the paper, we were going to have an 18
and over section, but we did not think we would have
that many vendors where it would be necessary.
They actually discussed this beforehand.
Did people buy sex toys
and walk around with them where the kids were present when
they were getting their face painted,
playing in the splash pad, going to the, the city
of Warren Library or, um,
or any of the events that were there.
The kids that saw those things
or walked by 'em can never unsee 'em.
And it's totally unacceptable.
People brought kids out to support the Family Pride event.
It was a, it was a joyous pride event that was supposed
to be a family event.
And it was anything but Border Commission members
are officers of the city.
A city logo and city title should never be placed on a flyer
with that officer's nonprofit collecting donations,
look up the standard of conduct for officers.
Political campaigning was allowed to correct the event.
Mike McFarland, I believe his husband
or staff members were passing out campaign signs
and flyers literally on city property.
The Hinz campaign had a flyer as well.
Campaign finance violations need to go to the Secretary
of State, um,
like this council did in the previous administration
and other violations need to go
to the county prosecutor's office.
Um, we can't sit up there and take this ethics complaint
and these, uh, items
and pretend that we're gonna send 'em to the city attorney
because we know that's insider and nothing will be done.
Why didn't one of the many elected officials officers at the
event say something about adult SEC booths at an event
where minors were, could no one speak up for the children?
Mayor Lori Stone is yet to make a public statement.
She had her communications director
say it was not a city event.
I disagree. They used the city logo.
It was supported by the Cultural commission.
Fees were waived without counsel.
The national or the National Day
of Prayer had to pay for their booth.
The stage was used. Mayor Stone should,
should have shut down these events
and table when she was there
and let it really be a family friendly pride event
as the people that came out deserved to see, um,
where there, instead, she placed a video
of the event up on her, on her social media site,
but removed the sex booths.
Why were they too offensive for a soc too offensive
for a social media site, yet?
It was okay for the kids to walk by and see it.
She's online. Online now defending the event
and even questioning why people
that weren't even there are complaining about the event.
They're complaining. Mayor Stone,
because it is not okay for adult sex toys
to be on city property where children are present.
It never is. You are unsafe for our kids.
And in my opinion, you're on time.
You deserve, deserve to be recalled. Thank you. Thank you.
Next is Michael Holloway ate.
Good evening Counsel. I'm just here to let you know that
I appreciate the mayor's nomination or
or appointment to the planning commission.
I'm here to answer any questions when, uh,
comes up on the agenda on 14 g, answer any
and all questions as I'm fully willing
and able at this time to be a fully participant
of the Planning Commission at this time. Thank you.
Thank you. Next is Lori Harris.
And after Lori Harris is Joel, um, Vander Luen.
Hi, I am Lori Harris and I wanna talk about
two things on the agenda.
One was the appointments to the different commissions.
And, um, I do understand
that all the proper information was not
provided to the council.
I don't know if that's been, uh, amended
and you have all the information that you need.
Uh, the second thing is I read through every appointment
and looked at the information that was in the packet.
Um, why do we not have one form that everybody uses?
Why are, why are we so disorganized so that each commission
has something different and requires different information?
So that's an easy fix that can be handled.
Um, I do wanna save one of the DDA members, uh, on his,
whatever was included in the packet.
Um, just said he didn't, he didn't get that, uh,
text till 10 30 in the morning.
So you gotta wonder what's really going on
and how these things are getting decided and handled.
If it's getting handled by text at 10 30 in the morning
or that's when he got it.
The second issue, um, is
on the consent agenda.
And this is, um, 4G
and I know it's going to come up as a public hearing,
but I want to just, um, call out the planning commission
or the planning director
and ask if the petitioner,
uh, I don't see the name.
Uh, the petitioner has had a meeting with the residents
as they requested, uh,
feedback on some really important questions about
what this would do to their neighborhood.
And I would strongly encourage, uh,
because they may not notice
that this is on the agenda for August.
And, um, I'll do what I can to find the names of the people
and contact them.
I'll even go to their houses.
But to me, the planning department needs to be part
of making sure this happens
before it comes to council, uh, to have a public hearing
that these issues that we're very grave
and we're gonna get a lot of rain this week.
And some of the concerns there was water and flooding.
So it's gonna be on their minds, um,
this week, I'm pretty sure.
So I would just like to encourage the planning commission
to do their job and really work at getting petitioners
to address the neighbors.
Thank you Mr. Vander Lenin.
Joel Lan, longtime wor resident.
A few weeks ago we had a, uh, fundraiser
campaign, uh, contributors
for the L-G-B-T-Q parade.
It was supposed to be a family thing, a city thing,
but you had people collecting money, people, uh,
taking donations.
You had people, uh, running campaigns, passing out flyers,
trying to collect votes.
And worse yet, you had a booth with sex toys.
You had rubbery little toys, you had pillows, puppets,
whatever you want to call 'em that the children saw.
Ultimately, anybody you wanna look at it,
point the finger and stuff like that.
It comes down to Mayor Lori Stone.
So I called for a police investigation
by the state of Michigan.
I call for her to be suspended
and removed from office until, uh, she can be reinstated,
but she should not be in office now.
And so she's not in office now. Anyways, Ms.
Mayor Fouts, one of the few things he did well
is he got rid of all the porn places in Warren
and in exchange we have Stone
and her L-G-T-B-Q Group bringing them
inside Warren High or Warden, uh, hall, city Hall.
Another ethics complaint I have is Mr. Newman,
Mr. Newman and his public theme put down lookout
for the Christian nation.
And he further embarrassed himself even more
by the McComb Daily article where he is talking about the,
uh, the African Americans in Warton.
Ms. McGee, if I was you,
I'd be spitting mad about his comments and what he said.
I'm surprised you're not stomping feet on him right now.
I asked for Mr. Newman to be censored
for the rest of his term, censored if not removed
for these ethic violations.
Thank you and have a blessed day.
Thank you. So a number of folks have 13 E,
which is not actually the pride event.
So just to clarify, it's, uh, a report from Mr.
Schroer, some information from Mr. Schroer.
Uh, so those, just, those folks that have put in
for 13 e are being put at general audience.
Uh, Ms. Morris, you have 14 on here as the agenda item.
Is there a letter associated
or is it just a general comment?
Can't change it now. Okay.
So I'm gonna put you at the end.
Uh, well, I would like to talk about the private.
I could at, at the end Ethics at the, the,
that is a separate agenda item.
The ethics, the wrong
Agenda. But I would like
to speak to that.
I mean, I would like to speak too, if
I put it in form. I,
this is, I'm the chair of the meeting.
You all are going to get the opportunity to speak this.
This is for a agenda items only. Yeah.
And this agenda, Mr. Bell,
I will not argue with you this evening. Please don't.
But I put in a form. Ms.
nar, if you would like to, you have no,
you have no agenda item on your form.
Ms. ard, you can come look at it if you'd like. Ms.
Ard, if you plan to speak for both, please speak
regarding ethics complaints specifically,
which is what that agenda
item is. You're more than welcome to
Come speak. Okay. Can I, uh,
Put Mr. Bell, please? Have
a seat on there. Have a seat. You're
Gonna stop. Have
A seat. Ms. Camp can
Mr. Bell, you're
Gonna stop me from speaking?
Yes. Sit down or you'll be removed from the meeting.
Yes, I can sit down. No, you can't sit down.
No, you make, can the please,
please remove Mr. Bell from the meeting.
Thank you, Ms. Nar, you have the floor. Thank you.
Hi, my name is Michelle Nar.
I'm the Macomb County Commissioner for District 12.
And I just want to, you know, I I've, I'm hearing a lot
of people upset about the event that happened.
Uh, I just wanna let you know, I'm not upset with people
that wanna be free and do what they wanna do.
That's not a problem. But as a mother of 13 grandkids,
I do have a problem with it being put in our faces
at, at the, at city hall.
That's not what my grandkids,
when they went there expected to see.
I am upset by that. And I'm not afraid
to say that I'm upset by it.
And Melody, I'm very surprised
that you say you're a Christian
and that you're scared to talk about it.
Okay? I have a problem with that.
So I'm just, I just wanna say, I mean,
we can, people can do what they want.
This is the land of the free, the home of the brave.
So we, we have rights here
and I don't, I don't have a problem with LGBT rights.
What I have a problem with is if I can't put my Bible in
your face, don't put your ddo into my face or my kids' face.
I have a problem with that.
And, and I don't care what people think.
I don't care how they feel about that. It is what it is.
And as elected officials,
somebody should have said something
because my grandson, he's from Flint.
He saw that he left and went home
because he said, that's not what I went there for.
He, he went there to play on the
splash pla but he's curious.
So he walked around to see what was going on.
I'm very offended. And he was very traumatized by seeing
that because I don't teach him that at home.
Okay? And I don't care what other people teach their kids
and what other people allow.
If, if you have a right to wanna do that, I got a right
to be upset about it and say I don't like it.
And I'm not gonna let anybody tell me that.
I cannot be upset by that.
Yes, I'm a Christian, okay,
but you don't tell me how to think, Mr.
Noonan, you don't tell me what I should say
and what I should do as a Christian.
Okay? You can't speak for me
as an African American woman, Christian.
You can't speak for me. So don't ever try that again.
And don't ever put things like that in front of the faces
of my kids because you will see me
and you won't see me happy.
I never come up here angry. I never show any side of that.
But when it comes to my grand babies,
you see another animal when, when
that happens, don't ever do that again.
And you all need to take care of that
and make sure that that don't happen again.
I support, uh, Ms. Stone and what she wants to do.
You know, I ran for office, you all chose her.
And so we gotta deal with that for the next four years.
But for the next four years,
I do not wanna have anything else like this come in the face
of my grandkids.
Yeah. Okay. End of audience for agenda items.
Next item, please. Next item. Next item announcements.
Madam Chair, Madam Secretary. Yes. Um, sad news.
Um, on July 8th, 2024,
uh, former Councilman William Billy Barnwell passed away.
Um, Mr. Barnwell served on the city council from 1999
to 2003.
He was a strong advocate for his union brothers
and making sure we had a prevailing wage here in Warren.
He was always looking out for the less fortunate the, uh,
the working guys.
Um, he also was instrumental in making sure the new city
hall, um, was initiated.
And this building here, um, Billy has always been a fighter,
whether it was in the ring
or fighting for the rights of other people.
And, um, he fought to stay alive
for his family for a long time.
He's had an illness for many years
and, uh, I'm hoping he's at peace now.
He was a wonderful man.
Um, he leaves his wife Sandra, who had been married
to over 50 years.
His sons Michael, uh, and his wife Tammy.
Um, bill Barnwell, who all we all know, his wife is Lori.
Um, Barnwell, our city treasurer, and Eddie
and his grandchildren, Michael Matthew, Rachel,
Courtney Jackson, who's a great-grandchild.
William, David
and Allison, as well as many nieces and nephews.
He was predeceased by his daughter, Sherry Lynn,
his parents, William and Vivian, his brother Richard,
and his sister Marlene.
We thank him for his dedication to this community,
um, to his family and friends.
Um, I told his son the other day that
when Billy Barnwell was in your corner, like he was mine,
it was a lifelong commitment for him.
And I was lucky to, um, spend some time
with him in the last few years.
Um, um, there were a couple times I was at the house
and I wasn't sure how long he would last,
but he kept fighting and fighting and fighting
and, uh, I hope he is, uh, pain-free and at peace.
Our condolences to the entire family moment of silence.
Thank you. Any additional announcements?
Madam President? Mr. Lafferty?
Thank you. A couple of weeks ago, we laid
to rest one of our beloved firefighters, Christopher
Kowski and I attended the funeral along
with Ms. Moore,
and I think several other council members came
to the visitation the night before.
And I was moved
beyond emotion
to see the fraternal support
for our city when we needed it the most.
I think that there were over a more than a dozen
municipalities that appeared.
They brought their trucks, they brought their squad cars,
they brought their ambulances.
And within the funeral home, I thought it was full
when I sat down.
And then every single one of our firefighters,
every one of them arrived
and took formation in the aisle.
Ways more room was made.
We scooted up and made room
for every one of them to be there.
They were there because other fire
departments staffed our fire
department on that day.
It was one of the hardest things to witness
and one of the most beautiful tributes
to our fallen firefighter
and his family who needed their city
to come together for them.
And they did in a beautiful, meaningful way.
And I wanted to express my thanks to all
of the municipalities that, uh, lent their assistance,
their mutual aid to us, and honored their fallen brother.
It was, it was a beautiful memorial to him.
The next, uh,
announcement I have is a little bit more lighthearted
and it is an announcement about
LOVE.
And if you don't listen to it, you will lose it.
And if you lose it, you are going to forget it.
And if you forget it, you won't be able to attend it
because you will not hear about it further on down the line
and things are not going to be so fine.
So listen to this announcement.
This one and only time, city
of Warren will host the Jay Gilles Tribute Band
Rapa on Friday, July 19th,
beginning at 7:00 PM at Warren City Square.
All Jay Gilles all night long. Thank you.
Any additional announcements?
Okay, next item.
Next item is 11 A, which is a public hearing request
to review and confirm the special assessment role number
5 33 for 11 0 28 Lozier, demolition of a house
and garage and shed through the Nuisance abatement program.
I will open the public hearing.
Is there anyone for the audience
who would like to speak on the matter?
Okay, hearing none, I will close the public hearing
and entertain a motion to approve or deny motion to approve
Support. Lafferty
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 a yes.
Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is 11 B, which is another public hearing request
to review and confirm the special assessment role number
5 34 for 13 3 50 Sherman demolition
of a house and garage
through the Nuisance Abatement Program.
I will open the public hearing.
Is there anyone from the audience
who would like to speak on this matter?
Hearing none. I will close the public hearing
and turn it over to Council for action.
Motion to approve Support, discussion.
Hearing none. I'll call the question. Mr. Lafferty? Yes.
Uh, Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Uh, Mr. Nunan? Yes.
Uh, Ms. Moore? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is? Yes.
Motion carries. Next item. Next item is 12.
A consideration and adoption
of a resolution approving the 2022.
2023 IRS PCORI fees
requirement Federal Healthcare Reform.
IRS Form seven 20. So moved. Support the lawyer. Discussion.
Hearing none, I will call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr.
Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes.
Ms. McGee? Yes. Mr. Newnan? Yes. Rogan Cs? Yes.
Motion carries. Next item. Next item is 12 B.
Proposed ordinance amending Appendix A.
The code of ordinances adding Article four dash a entitled
Personal wireless service facilities amending sections
4.59 through four dash six six.
Repealing sections 2.81 and 2.82 relating to definitions
and amending Section 4.02 to eliminate cellular towers
and antennas from special land use requirement.
This is a second reading. So moved.
Support Lafferty with discussion.
Discussion. Mr. Lafferty.
Thank you. Uh, I did review, uh,
based on our first reading
and the changes that were suggested,
and they have all been, uh, included.
So we are all set. I'm all set with, uh, my changes.
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. Noonan? Yes. Ms. McGee?
Yes. Rogan C is? Yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is 12 E 12 C. Pardon me. Amendment to appendix.
A article four dash, a proposed ordinance amending appendix.
A article four dash a division three, section four A 13.
Signs not requiring a permit.
The proposed amendment would exempt permit requirements
for public artwork commissioned by the city of Warren,
but will require written notification
of the city's building division and,
and amendment to Section four A 14.
To make clear that public artwork as part of its placemaking
with art initiative is not a prohibited sign.
This is a second reading. 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. Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is? Yes.
Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is 13 A
and ordinance to amend Chapter 37
of the Warren Code of Ordinances relating
to record licenses.
Second reading. So moved with discussion support Lafferty.
Uh, discussion Ms. Moore? Yes. Thank you.
Um, what we've done is take the original, uh, record,
license ordinance point of order.
Yes. Real quick. Um, we still got, uh, 12 D Oh, I'm sorry.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Yep.
Uh, 12 D is a settlement in the matter
of Cairo one Centers of Michigan.
Right. Way. Rehab Inc.
And First Response, transportation Inc.
Versus the city of Warren Macomb County Circuit Court case
number 23 0 0 2 7 5 5.
And f. Motion to approve a settlement based on the, um,
um, terms discussed in closed session.
Support. Support. Any discussion?
Uh, no discussion. Uh, I will call the question. Ms. Moore?
Yes. Mr. Newan? Yes. Uh, Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr.
Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes.
Um, Rogan C is a Yes.
Motion carries that I forget anyone.
Okay, next item. No, next item. An amendment to amend.
An ordinance to amend Chapter 37 of the Warren Code
of Ordinances relating to wrecker licenses.
Second reading. So moved. I have support. Yes.
A motion by Moore. Support by Lafferty discussion.
Ms. Moore? Yes. Thank you.
Um, what we did, we took the original, uh, wrecker ordinance
and took the fee schedule out so
that in the future when we amend fees, we'll just be able
to do that by resolution and not have to have a first
and second reading of the ordinance just to make it,
um, a little bit easier.
Any other discussion?
I had one point of clarification
that came up from a conversation that Mr.
Bokey and, uh, Mr. Nunan and Mr.
Mazare and I had, uh, in here it says motorcycles and cars.
And we asked in the most recent version of some other issue
to define motor vehicles.
And I'm wondering if that we need to include the definition
of motor vehicles in this versus just cars and motorcycles.
Mr. Schroer, I don't know if that's a question for you.
It's, It's the ordinance 13 K,
Whether, um,
We should define I'm not,
we define it differently than it's
already defined in the ordinance.
It, yeah, it says motorcycles and cars. Right.
And obviously that we just were discussing the importance
of including a definition for motor vehicles versus
just motorcycles and cars.
I don't know if that makes a difference,
but something you like SUVs and Yeah.
Um, mopeds. Crossovers. We have mopeds. Mopeds are in here.
Um, folks are in, folks are in here. Motorcycles are in
Here. State law defines it. So
we can,
It defines state
Law defines motor vehicles, for example,
we have a motor vehicle code.
Okay. Um, but we can, I can take a look at it for sure.
Because it just says motorcycles
and cars, right? I mean, for the fees. That's
Actually a good Point. Yeah. Nope.
In the actual code, the ordinance?
No, we redid the, the red redone one. Can
You, can you just tell me which section you're looking at
so I can Yeah.
Hold on one Second.
It says vehicles, abandoned vehicles.
It's not motor vehicles in the ordinance.
One second. Daily
storage rate motorcycles and cars.
It's section three B.
Well, that's not part of the ordinance anymore.
It was amended to not include that.
That those, those are in the fees.
That's a different, that's in the
resolution, not in the ordinance.
Okay. That's, yeah, that's been amended.
That's not part of the ordinance any longer.
Right. That was the only item that I caught. So, yeah.
Any other 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 13, uh, b
resolution adopting towing storage
and administrative fee
for regulated record vehicles in the city of Warren.
So, move with discussion. Support Lty Discussion Ms. Moore?
Yes. Thank you. Um, so
before the last fleet manager, um, of the city
of the police department retired, he came up with a schedule
to increase the rates.
They hadn't been increased for like seven years
or eight years or something like that.
Seven years. And so those came from, um,
the police department.
I then discussed them with all of the towing companies.
And then I further discussed, um, uh, the administrative fee
because there is a fee that goes
to the city is an administrative fee.
And I spoke with the, um, police administration on that.
So these fees, um, reflect, um, the current,
it's just the current tow and how they have it listed.
And, um, this, this all came from the police department
and the tow companies were, um, fine
with all of these changes.
And I don't know, um, we have cars and motorcycles
and tractor trailers.
So I think that it's encompassed anything
that's not a tractor trailer is a car.
So I don't know if we need to change that, um, or not.
We have vehicles over 10,000 pounds.
But this is how they had it.
Yeah. I just re I just repeated
what was in the ordinance originally
and what the police
department gave me. Why don't just strike cars
In place with motor vehicles?
Yeah. Just put motor vehicles in. Okay.
And motorcycles. Okay.
Replaced with motor vehicles.
And then we solve the problem.
That works for me. So under two a,
that the word cars will be replaced with motor vehicles.
Any additional discussion?
I had one question about the 72 hours.
Uh, if the 72 hours falls on a holiday
or when the towing company is closed, how do we handle that?
Traditionally? How handle what?
So for example, it says if the owner
or secured party fails
to pick up the vehicle within 72 hours,
let's just say, I don't know, it's Christmas.
And if they that is closed, do we count Christmas as part of
that 72 hours or do we give them an additional day?
Well, I think it's not any additional day.
I don't think they're closed. They're not closed.
They're never closed. Okay.
I, I don't, I don't know if the wrecker company's ever
closed a 24 7 operation.
Yeah. 24 7, 365 days a week.
The accidents happen every day, so they have to be there.
Okay. Yeah. I mean, I can, I can double check that
with them, but I'm pretty sure it's, it's 24 7
and they charge extra on holidays.
If they, they could charge 15% more.
I think that's my statute
Or something.
That was all I had. Any other discussion? Okay.
Hearing none, I will call the question with that amendment.
Uh, striking motor, uh, cars, cars, vehicle cars
and motor vehicles, motorcycles, motor vehicle and
motor vehicles.
Uh, let's see. 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 C. Council Secretary Mindy Moore.
And council member Jonathan Lafferty,
discussion in rate undertaking a sidewalk
and tree replacement program.
So moved. Support Lafferty. Discussion. Discussion. Yes.
I'll start. Mm-Hmm. Maybe Mr. Lty can jump in.
Um, we're getting a lot of complaints about sidewalks. Um,
Accident. Madam Secretary, point
of order. Yes.
Would you mind speaking more into the microphone
For me? Sure, sure.
'cause I'd really like to hear this Conversation.
Sure. We're, we're getting
a lot of complaints
about sidewalks.
Again, we all noticed them last year, walking door to door.
Some of the areas are just horrific.
Um, and, you know, we have, most
of you will remember back in the early two thousands,
we started at the northeast corner
of Warren and they worked through the whole city
of replacing sidewalks that needed to be replaced.
And I think the, as soon as, um,
we took office in 2019, we talked about starting
that over again because we, the whole city needs to be done,
not just going to react to this one.
That one, we need to do a wholesale, it's been 20 years,
you know, longer than 20 years.
And at the same time, we'd like
to have trees replaced while they're going
through the neighborhoods that would increase
the tree canopy.
People are there, and I've, I've talked about this
before, that when they did this sidewalk repair program,
they not only repaired the sidewalks,
but while these companies were mobilized in neighborhoods,
people were offered a, a much lower price
for having their driveways replaced
or other cement work done on their properties.
Um, and so it improved, it, it was a good deal
for the, uh, residents.
Um, their work got done fast
and it was, they did a fabulous job, the contractor we had,
and it improved our city.
It's, it improves the housing stock, it cuts,
and when you fix the sidewalks, it looks better.
It cuts back on lawsuits, which causes the city, um, money.
But even more importantly, it cuts down on injuries
because we don't want people to be injured walking on
sidewalks that are, you know, not even.
And so, you know, we have three
and a half years left in this term,
and we need to get started.
If we're going to get this done, it won't,
it won't be done in four years,
but if we get it started now,
we can at least have it on its way.
Um, and we did it back in 20, in 2000, 2003,
two, well, we were done in two.
That was well into it in 2003.
They were already in the south end.
Um, but, um, the, the, the plan was already there.
All we need to do is just start it again from
what we did back at that time.
Um, I think, uh, Ms.
Uh, Annette Ari Ross was the attorney that wrote the,
the program and kind of, um, figured that all out and,
and I'm sure there's paperwork in the attorney's office
and we could resurrect that again,
and I'd sure like to see it happen.
I know Mr. Lafferty probably has some
additional comments too.
Madam Chair. Mr.
Lafferty. Thank you.
And the, the number of sidewalks that need
to be replaced aren't just the ones that weren't done
during that program.
I, I go for walks often throughout the district,
and there are the brand new sidewalks
that I consider brand new that are 20 years old,
that are heaving from the trees that were left over.
So we really need a proactive approach at looking at some
of these trees that are well oversized for the,
the small boulevards that we have,
and find the, the right tree with the right root pri profile
that will fit the boulevards
and fit a 50 year growth profile
and not damage the adjacent sidewalk
and the street where you'll see the most, the most damage.
And then that leads to the, the trip
and fall hazards that leads
to the ice damming in the winter, in the streets.
Uh, I can't tell you the number of calls that I've received
of people complaining, you know, four houses, uh, next door
with, within my area, we have this tremendous flood even
after a light rain because the, the sidewalks
or the the roads have been heaved by these larger trees
that probably should have come down when they did the
sidewalk replacement program at, at the beginning.
And so I think we can take those lessons learned, you know,
what, what went wrong?
What can be done better? It's a great approach.
And so we can look at what, uh,
what was successful from 20 years ago
and only build on that success.
Taking that into account.
We have a horticulturist in the budget.
We should be hiring a horticulturist
to help guide us in this program.
That position needs to be filled.
That's the type of person that you need
to recommend the types of trees that should be, uh,
planted on our boulevards choices.
We also want to have the diversity in the trees
because you have, uh, an issue like the Emerald ash board
that came through where I live on, on Cunningham, just south
of, of 12 Mile.
Most of the trees at the northern end of
that street were all ash trees.
That Ash Boer bug came through
and decimated the entire street.
We have no large trees on, on our section.
The trees were never replaced.
I have a few neighbors that bought it, bought their own tree
and put it out, uh, on, on the Boulevard.
But, you know, it'll take 40, 50 years for those trees
to, to come to maturity.
So we need that diversity within the trees to ensure that,
uh, you know, the next, the next bug pest that comes
through, uh, does not have that severe
of an impact on our neighborhoods and on the tree canopy.
Uh, there are so many things that we can do
and I, I look forward to, uh, reinventing this program.
Like I said, building on the success
that we had 20 years ago and putting this into action.
How many calls have we gotten asking
for a tree on the boulevard?
I need a tree in my boulevard.
They took my old tree away and now I want a brand new tree.
Uh, trees are beautiful for all the reasons
that, that Ms. Moore stated.
I'm not going to repeat all of that, uh,
because it was all correct and all true.
So, uh, I, I think this is something
that we desperately need
and it's not something that we can wait.
We've got three and a half years, let's get it started.
And as I've said
before, when's the best day to plant a tree?
Today's a good start, but yesterday is the right answer.
Thank you.
Any additional discussion? I believe you can call Mr.
Maselli for a tree on your, uh, easement
or boulevard currently,
but would love to see sidewalks redone.
Madam Chair. Yes. Um, so the motion would be to send over
to the administration to ask them
to look into the feasibility of, um, reinstating
this program, um, on a citywide basis
and maybe with help from the city attorney's office,
certainly, and the controller's office
for the money plan.
And so that's what I would def that's my motion
Support.
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 13 D Council President Angela Rogan sees direct
the Legal Affairs Committee
to review the recent Supreme Court ruling in Grants
Pass versus Johnson.
Do you want me to do it? Okay. Um, motion to approve. Um,
Support Discussion.
Yeah. Discussion. Yes. Um, um, um, Ms.
Rogan C contacted me
and, um, forwarded some information
of a recent Supreme Court ruling
and, um, suggested that the, um, legal affairs, um,
subcommittee take a look at that
and see how that impacts our local government,
if there's anything we need to do ordinance wise or
otherwise, um, to, um, in light of this ruling, correct?
Correct. I think we should
Talk to the police Too.
Oh, yes. We'll talk to the police about that as well.
Absolutely. So the motion is to send this over
to the Legal affairs group?
Correct. Any other discussion?
No. Okay. Hearing none.
Uh, next, um, 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 e Discussion in
Ray Ethics complaints. So moved.
Support Lafferty Madam Chair discussion?
Yes, we have council offices received
and has received in the past ethics complaints.
Um, and, um, Mr. Schroeder is going to explain,
um, the authority we don't have
and probably some things that are lacking in our ordinance.
So if we could let him speak to this.
Mr. Schroeder, you have the floor.
Thank you. Um, the counsel office has received
recently some complaints about violation
of the city ethics ordinance.
Um, I encourage all council members to go to
the ethics ordinance, which is at section 2 3 71
of our code of ordinances.
You can read it on Muni code.
If you need a link, I can send it to you.
Um, this was last amended in 1999.
It was originally drafted in 1991.
There's an entire history behind this ordinance.
Originally in 1991,
the ethics ordinance had our district court judges as sort
of the, um, arbiters of the ethics ordinance.
And not surprisingly, the district judges did not want that,
nor was that really part of their jurisdiction under state
law to enforce a city ethics, uh, code.
So it was amended in 1999.
And for the last 25 years,
there is really no particular, um, ethics,
uh, police in the city in terms of
who makes the final decision about an ethics violation.
So I read the whole ordinance,
and I remember reading this over the years.
And, um, I think in 25 years,
there's not really been any sort of
official action ever taken under this ethics ordinance.
Partly because, uh, I find it to be very flawed.
First of all, it doesn't have an a complaint procedure.
Um, it doesn't direct complainants how to file a complaint
or who to direct the complaint to.
Um, and if you look at ethics ordinances
and other communities
and the county, for example, the county of Macomb,
they have an entire website
explaining their ethics ordinance.
There's a form where you can file an ethics complaint
where you state the facts.
You also have to, um, fill out an affidavit,
a sworn statement, get it notarized that you are standing
behind these allegations.
You're not just, you know, making something up.
And if you do make something up
or you do put something in it that's not true, then you,
as the person pointing the finger, will be liable
for making false statements, uh,
against someone who's a public official or,
or city official, or in this case a county official.
I also noticed that the county, uh,
their ethics ordinance has a procedure where
they can get an advisory opinion, you know,
before you take action.
Like, wow, well, I don't wanna violate the ethics ordinance.
Can I take this action? You get an advisory opinion
and then that'll give you direction on
whether you can do it or not.
And so that gives some protection.
We don't have advisory opinions.
We don't have that availability here.
You know, just using the county as an example,
their ethics ordinance, it applies to everyone.
It applies to all public servants, it applies even
to some county, um, um, vendors.
So the vendors are subject to this.
Um, there's a nepotism section, conflicts of interest.
And so they have a whole procedure there.
There's no procedures in our ethics ordinance.
There's no due process.
It doesn't say who investigates,
it doesn't say who writes reports.
Um, so it's, it's a little bit flawed here.
Um, and, you know, I think it needs to be reformed.
And my recommendation would be that we try to reform this.
Now, I do not think we should sweep any complaints under the
rug that we currently have.
I don't think we wanna do that.
So, uh, I'm taking a closer look at this.
And one of the problems with an ethics ordinance
and ethics violations, like I said,
when people are pointing the finger, is that, um,
you truly want somebody, I think, in my opinion,
you want someone who's independent of all the political,
ongoing issues to look at this
and give, uh, an application of the facts to the law, right?
Is this contact violate the ethics ordinance?
These things can get politically charged.
And I think, uh, the council, the city,
the public deserve sort of an independent view of this
because these things can get political
and we, we don't want it to be that way.
Another problem with the ethics ordinance is that
it only applies to the city council,
the mayor, and the boards and commissions.
So for example, one of the ethics complaints we received was
against an employee in the mayor's office.
And I read through this,
and, um, it wouldn't necessarily apply
to an employee in the mayor's office,
the way this is written, it's only city officers,
the elected officials, and the members
of the board and commission.
So how do we take this ordinance
and apply it to some employee in the mayor's office?
Well, the prior mayor, um, you know, he's a friend of mine.
He had a, um, he had a good solution for this.
And he, um, had a, his own code of ethics
that he applied to his own employees.
And so the solution by the prior mayor was,
I'm creating a code of ethics
and every time I hire an appointee
or appoint someone into a position,
they're gonna sign this code of ethics
and I'm gonna apply these rules.
A lot of it was what was
what you find in our code of ordinances?
Um, whether they actually enforced it or not, I don't know,
but there at least was a set of rules that was called a code
of ethics that apply to all the prior mayor's appointees.
I don't know if the current
administration has continued that.
Again, our ordinances, it don't apply to them.
It doesn't, our ordinance,
it doesn't apply to the civil service.
And a lot of our civil service employees are unionized.
And I think that you'd have to deal
with collective bargaining agreements when it comes
to enforcing ethics rules.
So there's a lot of issues here.
Um, I think that need to be addressed
because this is just not very functional.
Um, but I think a city of this size would want
to have a good ethics ordinance
and one that's where you can enforce it,
but also one where you can not just use it as a sword to go
after somebody because they may have violated it,
but to have procedures where we get compliance
and you get these advisory opinions ahead of time so
that these things can be avoided.
So on one hand, I'm recommending that maybe, um, you know,
the Charter review committee might be one that looks at it
because in Macomb County, it's a charter provision
for the code of ethics to refer this to a work group
or a committee to, and work with the administration.
I did talk to Ms. Michaels about this,
and I don't think I'm going on a limb to say that she agrees
with me that this needs to be reformed.
And, um, so that's one thing.
And on the other hand, I will take a look at the existing
complaints, which were directed to the council.
So they were directed here.
Well, the ordinance doesn't say where to direct it
and recommend how to resolve these things in fair
and equitable manner.
Um, so I will, uh, need some time to look at that
and, you know, try to decide how to proceed.
But certainly if it's someone who's not subject
to this ethics ordinance, uh,
there's no way we can force rules on them
that never were meant to apply to them.
So that's my initial report on this.
I thought it would be good to let the council know
and, um, kind of where we stand with this
so I can answer any questions too.
I have a question. Mm-Hmm.
So could we, um, how does this compare
to the Human Resource Department ethics
for the city of Warren?
Sure. So the Human Resource Department,
like I said earlier, the, the prior mayor, he had a code
of ethics and he made everybody sign it
and it went into their HR file.
And so I think,
but it's up to the mayor to enforce that, right?
It's not an ordinance, it's a work rule created by the mayor
under the administrative powers that the mayor has.
So if we wanna go in that direction,
we can create an ordinance where HR is involved,
but that would be involving amending our
ordinance, creating a procedure.
You may want HR to be the department
that takes these complaints
and files them and processes them.
Maybe you want it to be the clerk's office, maybe you don't.
Maybe there's the city attorney's
office, maybe it's someone else.
We can look at other communities and counties
and jurisdictions and see how they handle it
and try to figure out what works best for Warren.
So HR can be involved.
Certainly if this thing is gonna be a far reaching ethics
ordinance that applies to, you know,
everyday appointed officials in the city
and everyday employees.
And even if we go so far as to applying it to contractors
that do work for the city, um, that would, could involve hr,
it could involve other departments, including procurement.
So it just depends on what kind of ordinance you want.
But this one is not, um, giving a lot of direction.
The current ordinance,
I was thinking from a point of view,
we all received these complaints,
and so I was told that they would go
to file those complaints through the HR department, be
through the mayor's office,
I guess anyone can, as Of right now.
My question is, um, those that step forward
and said, I have a complaint.
I want to file a complaint. Um, where do I go?
Th this ordinance doesn't answer that question.
As I said, there is no answer to where do you go
to file an ethics complaint.
Now, generally, if you have a complaint involving personnel
and you know, the behavior
or actions of an employee, HR is a logical place to go.
But as far as our ethics ordinance is concerned,
there's really no direction.
And typically there is a process
that gives a potential complainant a roadmap on how
to file a complaint, who to direct the complaint
to whose job it is to review it.
And that whole process is outlined in the ordinance.
And we don't have a process here.
It's just, it was never put in here.
And maybe it was intentional. I don't know.
You have to go back and see what the minutes show,
but the minutes probably don't show
what the real motivation was
behind having this toothless tiger of a ethics ordinance.
Okay, I got you
Madam President. Mr.
Lafferty. Thank you. Through the chair to Mr. Schroeder.
Curious, you had mentioned a independent
adjudicator, so to speak.
We've appointed administrative hearings officers
for various purposes as a council.
But how would, you know,
just off the cuff, how would we go about obtaining somebody
that's out of county, perhaps,
and, you know, how how would that process
theoretically work?
What I would look to is sort of how the state
of Michigan handles this with some
of their administrative law judges.
Um, they hire administrative law judges
who will review complaints and write reports
and make recommendations,
and then those recommendations come back to, uh, the city.
So, for example, if it's the council,
an independent administrative law judge could review the
allegations and see if the conduct
that's being alleged here is actually a ethics violation
or not, based on the facts and based on the law.
And they can write a report and recommendation back
to the council and say, here's what I found.
Uh, counsel or the mayor
or whoever could be the ultimate, you know, uh, adjudicator
as to what, what's the penalty's gonna be.
But you could certainly have an expert, a legal expert,
who is not tied to the city
or county politics involved in deciding
who's committing an ethics violation.
To me, that's the problem, is, you know,
if someone files an ethics complaint against you,
Councilman Lafferty, I've worked with you for five years,
I'm working with you at least
through the end of this meeting.
I don't know, we'll see what happens.
But, um, it's, it's hard for someone you work closely with
to, to see, should I be the judge?
Should Ms. Michaels judge,
whether you violated the ethics ordinance, we work closely
with you, we all work together.
That's a difficult situation to put somebody in to say,
well, is this person violating the ethics ordinance?
It's, it's almost a conflict of interest.
It is a conflict of interest.
So in reality, the best this,
and this is 20 plus years of experience in dealing
with this type of stuff, it doesn't, it doesn't work
unless you have somebody who's independent of the process,
um, who can look at it.
And the state handles a lot
of the administrative complaints that way.
Um, with the various agencies that govern, you know,
licenses in the state like licensees who commit violations,
um, they'll have an administrative law judge review the
facts and circumstances and write a report,
and then the agency will decide what to do.
I think that's a pretty good model,
certainly better than what we have here.
But again, this process would have to involve a conversation
with all council members and the public, the administration
and everybody to try to get something that's going to work
because, um, like I said, in 25 years,
I have not seen anything good come out
of the current ordinance.
And I think it's because there's a lack of process, a lack
of due process, a lack of procedure.
And, um, it's, it doesn't have teeth
and it doesn't really apply to anyone.
But to counsel the elected officials
and the board commission members,
From what I've seen, of the complaints
that have been submitted there thoroughly documented,
they're, they're well researched,
but there's at, at this point, based on the ordinance,
the way it, the way it's written, the response is, well,
your complaint has been duly noted at, at, by,
by, by ordinance.
That's the only thing that, that we can,
that we can do with it.
Thank you for your time. And, you know, go on.
But that's, these, these are very serious situations
that need to be looked at.
And the reason I asked you about the,
the adjudication process is
because impartiality is probably the most important aspect
of the, the ethics, uh, ordinance.
And ensuring that fair
and balanced approach, not only to the,
to guide the, the person that's,
that's filing the complaint, but then how it's handled,
and then what do you do with it once it has been adjudicated
and it comes to a decision, what is that structure?
So this, this is much larger than I think any of us had,
had really considered on its face.
And we have to do some serious, uh, consideration
of all, all three of those aspects
before we, we go headlong into, you know, uh,
codifying, uh, the language.
I, I should mention too, just to add to
what you're saying, the about 15 years ago,
the Michigan Attorney General drafted a model ethics
ordinance for communities.
A Mayor Fouts brought that model ethics ordinance
to the prior, prior council.
And I believe it was either tabled or denied or something.
Ms. Camp is shaking, nodding her head. And I did talk to Ms.
Michaels about this the other day, that there was,
there's a model ordinance that came in front of council.
It wasn't passed at the time.
I think it might have been tabled and it never came back.
So that's something also
to take a look at is the model ethics ordinance.
I'm not saying, you know, this is, that was 15 years ago.
There may be issues there, but, um,
again, there's a lot to this.
And when, if somebody gets stuck with the label
that they violated the ethics ordinance, that's a serious,
you know, it's a serious charge.
It's serious, and we wanna make
sure that we have due process.
And you know, that once you get to that point
that people have faith that the process worked.
Um, but unfortunately we live in a political environment
where, you know, from time to time,
and I'm not saying this has nothing to do
with the complaints we have now, but from time to time,
people will used the ethics complaints
during election season to try to gain an advantage.
So we wanna try to prevent against that as much as we can.
Of course, of course. Madam present. Thank you.
Anything further? I'll, I'll yield. Ms. McGee,
Can we have Ms. Michaels
come to the podium, please?
My question is, now we have citizens
that have filed a complaint.
What are you do currently doing about the situation when,
when they're saying we're violating any kind of code
of conduct, any type of ethics, where can they go
to file the complaint with the City of Warren
and how can they receive feedback and follow up?
I think the proper channel would be to hr
because they actually HR administers
for the Civil Service Commission.
HR would direct that complaint,
I believe to the department head.
It would be investigated.
And if it is an infraction of a rule, of a work rule
of a city policy, then action would be taken.
Okay. But there are management rights in every contract
regarding civil public servants who are subject
to union agreements.
And if management rights rule, if the manager
and folks rules and they're violated,
obviously there can be some discipline.
Okay. Thank you. Anything further?
Uh, I would just, uh, in closing out, would like
to be a part of whatever working group for the ethics, uh,
work, uh, in whatever way we decide to move forward.
I'd like to be included. Madam Chair,
I think we didn't you start Madam
President, would you mind something?
Madam President? Would you mind restating
what you just said since I didn't hear it?
Yes. I said I would like to be a part
of whatever working effort is in redrafting
or drafting an ethic or ethics ordinance.
And Ms. Moore stated that she thought some work had been
done already on it start something, or was that the social?
I had the model ethics. Yeah.
I think we started with the model. Yeah.
Last time nobody would do anything. Yeah.
So if anyone would like to join me,
I'm happy to start a working group.
I don't think it's attorneys to do it.
I mean, we'll give it to the attorneys.
He's got people in the office.
Ben's secretary. I'd like
to mention that. I can't hear you.
Oh, sorry.
I'm just, could you repeat what saying said, just saying,
if we're gonna give it to the attorneys to do it,
they do it in their office and they have experts look at it.
I don't know if we need council people involved in
doing the legal drafting.
Maybe when it gets to a legal document,
everybody can weigh in.
I don't have a, a committee meeting a whole,
I think everybody should be involved in it.
Mm-Hmm. Sure. You know, but
There, there will be some decision points here about
what direction you want to go.
Yeah. And so I think we just bring the options
to a committee of the whole
and, you know, see how the council feels
and then, you know, go from there.
This isn't something that's gonna happen overnight.
I will mention, I did this for the city of Plymouth.
Um, in 2017.
I attended a number of committee
of the whole meetings with the council.
Uh, we worked, uh, as it was with the whole council.
Um, and there's a, uh, ordinance, you can look,
it's also on muni code.
You can look at the Plymouth
Ordinance, see what we did there.
But that was directed by, they have a city manager there,
and they had a council and they were all very involved in,
in particular in how this went.
And we do had, did create a process
for filing a complaint under oath.
And, um, so we can take a look at that too.
So I've done this before. They're very
happy with it in Plymouth.
Um, they were having some issues there.
And so once this ordinance passed
and the ordinance had some teeth
in it, those issues went away.
So, um, maybe we can do the same here. Yeah.
Perfect. Anything?
Well, I guess this is a motion to receive
and file the information motion to direct the,
our legal counsel to prepare an ethics ordinance.
The model. I would think that should be the motion. Okay.
Motion to direct legal counsel to support, prepare a draft
of the ethics ordinance, support labor Lafferty.
Okay. Uh, let's see. 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.
A request for reappropriation from fiscal 2024
and increase in
and increase in budget Appropriations
for sanitation in the amount of $794,382
to cover the purchase of 2 20 24
Ry right hand atomizer garbage trucks and two Mac chassis.
The transfer from previous fiscal year is 722,000,
and the increased amount is $72,382
to complete the transaction consideration
and adoption of a resolution. So moved.
Support, 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 14 B.
Request of the sanitation division to award the purchase
of two sanitation vehicles to Frederickson Supply.
Utilizing the source well contract number 1 1 0 2 2 3 LEG in
the amount of $794,382 Mac chassis
with lab bodies consideration
and adoption of a resolution. So moved.
Support Lty with discussion,
Uh, discussion. Council
member Lafferty.
Thank you. From the consent agenda, I had asked
to remove item four D, which is related to this.
We are rescinding a contract related to this item.
And I'd like to ask, uh, Mr. Kita or Mr.
Elli, uh, can speak to this?
Good evening Counsel. Good evening, gentlemen.
Good evening. Thank you.
I am so let, if we start with really with four D,
we're pulling back a,
The original, the original vendor, the
RP. Yeah.
They couldn't deliver the, the trucks
that they had promised to us.
Can you speak into the microphone please?
The original vendor couldn't deliver the, the contract
or the trucks that they promised to us.
So we spoke with them, they were bought out.
Um, they agreed with us that they, they,
they couldn't deliver a product that was similar.
So we looked at an a, several other manufacturers,
Frederickson brought in a a, a demo truck for us.
We had Russ and Kevin, uh, reviewed it.
We had the guys take it out on the route.
These trucks are a lot easier to manage, maintain, um,
to replace an arm is like an hour's work worth
of work instead of two days worth of work.
Um, they're just a lot sturdier vehicle. Um, so
Yeah. Uh,
our fleet right now is six years old
and the trucks we're using are kinda of like entry level.
And this is an upgrade. It'll,
They'll last longer. They're doing better,
Last longer, cheaper to fix,
much quicker and more efficient.
It's safer for our drivers too.
Drivers out on the route was
fantastic. Everybody loved them.
Alright. Yeah. And my confusion really was based on,
on the, the backup material,
because you had originally asked for a Freightliner chassis,
and so, and now this,
the source wall contract is, is going for a Mac chassis.
Yeah. Most of our fleet is Mac chassis.
So in, in, in keeping with for service
Mm-Hmm.
It's, it's much, much easier.
Instead of having a loan truck
for parts switching out parts, stuff like that,
the Mac chassis is, is, is good.
Right. And it's, it's an entirely different mechanical
support structure for one chassis versus another.
So, exactly. I I was just,
I wondered if we were departing if the idea
before was we're gonna depart from Mac
and go to freight liner
and start building a freight liner fleet.
And then now it looks like we're settling
for certain on the M chassis
That Oh, I'm sorry. Go
On. We're not settling the
m chassis's good. Oh, no,
No. Not, not that,
that we are, you've made a decision to go
with, with the M chassis
and that's what we should expect here on out.
Absolutely, yes. Okay. Alright.
And then with the source wall contract,
we're leveraging an existing RFP, correct?
Because F Fredrickson was not part
of the original bid package.
Correct. So that's, that's already covered.
So this is not like we rewrote the bid specs
Specific. Correct. We're we're, we're
using somebody else's RFP
where it's a state contract.
Yeah. Source one. Yeah. Thank you very much.
I don't have any further questions. Thank you, gentlemen.
Keep up the good work out there too. Thank
You. Any
additional discussion? Hearing none?
I will call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes.
Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Nunan? Yes.
Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is 14 C.
Request of the downtown development authority
for approved funding in the amount of $1.4 million
for the purchase of 87.
77. Common road consideration and adoption of a resolution.
So moved with discussion
Support with discussion.
Discussion Ms. Moore? Yes. Then Mr. Lafferty? Yes.
Thank you. Thank you. Um, Ms.
Rogan, I think this is an absolute, um,
perfect purchase for us.
The building is in pro perfect proximity
to everything within the city center area.
The building's in really good shape. It's configured well.
I think we can make very good use of it.
Um, and, um, yeah, I'm really, really pleased with this.
Thank you Mr. Lafferty.
Thank you, uh, through the chair to Ms. Michaels.
The purchase agreement that's included in our back
of material and all sections.
Is this in its final form?
Not in final form.
It will be, um, the DDA actually has to
approve the final form.
I've been working with Hank Riveras on specifics. Mr.
Riveras is a DDA member
that's highly efficient in real estate issues.
Um, the salient points are here, which basically states,
if you'd like a quick summary,
Please.
The purchase price is 1,000,400.
Dealer sell will ask for a lease back for until March 31st
of two th 2025, just to use the rusting area.
And, but they've agreed while we're working on the building
to make renovations for whatever purpose we have,
they will not interfere with our operations.
They'll cover their own water, their own utilities,
their own salt, and limit the hours.
Okay. And so the,
so all we're doing is approving the appropriation with this,
uh, with, with this item.
That is correct, yes.
Okay. And then the DDA has sole authority on approving
the the purchase agreement. The
Purchase agreement, correct. As
the board, a courtesy copy
and copy was given to counsel, so I could see the terms.
Thank you. I have no other questions.
Any additional discussion?
Hearing none, I will call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr.
Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr.
Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes.
Motion carries. Next item I. Next item is 14 D.
Request to approve the appointment of Sarah McCullough
for a term expiring June 30th, 2028.
And the reappointment of Al Ahmed, um,
whose term would expire June 30th, 2029
to the Board of Review.
So moved.
Support Lafferty
Discussion? Anyone?
Hearing none? I will call the question. Ms. Moore?
Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr.
Noonan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes.
Motion carries. Congratulations.
Madam Chair. Yes. I believe, uh, Mr. Hoke is here. He's
Not, this isn't his. Ms.
Faed, I'm sorry. Uh, not Mr. Ahed, but Mr. Ahmed was here.
Uh, I'm not sure if he's still here. I saw him earlier.
I wanted to recognize, uh, him.
And then, uh, Ms. McCullough know if she's here.
No. Okay. Thank you.
Next item. Next item is 14 e.
Request to approve the reappointment of Nick LDI
for a term expiring June 30th, 2026.
Joe Akari, a term expiring June 30th, 2026.
Mike Wigan expiring June 30th, 2028.
And Gregory Jackson for a term expiring June 30th, 2028
to the Downtown Development Authority.
So moved with discussion,
support, support. Anyone I'll,
I'll support for the purposes of discussion. Thank,
Thank you Madam Chair, Ms. Moore.
So, um, I have to say that
I'm a, a little more than disappointed that
the mayor has simply reappointed people
that have been on the DDA.
Um, we were looking for change.
And this is not change,
and this has been one of the most controversial boards,
certainly in the last four years, that in the TFA
and the DDA spends an extraordinary amount of money, um,
their actions impact greatly on the city.
And there was, um, uh,
a very serious issue where the DDA, um,
misappropriated almost half a million dollars.
And the Supreme Court has ruled that
that was in fact a misappropriation of funds.
I'm concerned that as many times as
this council brought it up, lawyers brought the problem up
that no one on the DDA, none of the members questioned
why those monies were being spent without
authority from the city council.
And I'm disturbed by that.
Um, I have seen a big change in the DA
from when it was started.
Um, when it was first the membership.
Um, they truly, the members ran the authority.
It was their input, their ideas.
Um, they weren't just reacting
to something the mayor wanted.
The mayor was the CEO at the time,
but certainly was never the chairperson of the DDA.
It, it was, you know, Lloyd Brown and John Green
and Chuck Earl and Mr.
Wigan was in it. And Shirley Tree were, um,
Shirley Trewin from Small Wonders.
And they were so involved and excited.
They were doing something for the community.
They were very active.
And those members were removed
because they challenged, um, the, um, building
of a car, a car dealership in the DDA.
That was never something
that was anticipated in the original plan.
It doesn't fit with the plan. Um, it's not conducive.
So when the last administration took over,
the mayor became the chairperson.
And from what I can see,
I've gone back five years and looked at minutes.
And while once in a while somebody asks
a question, it's very rare.
And I don't, I don't remember seeing any vote
that there was a no vote against something the mayor wanted.
And I think we need people to challenge all of us
and not just go along with whatever is presented
by the person that appointed you.
So I did go back
and I looked at from January
of 2019 till today,
and I did, um,
I entered all the meeting.
I looked at the meeting minutes, and I got the attendance.
And we did this on planning.
We got, we asked the planning department
to give us the attendance records,
and we actually denied the appointment of people
that didn't show up at planning.
As, you know, there's people here
that I'm planning had been on planning, I was on planning.
And when you don't have enough people there, the petitioners
their rights are violated
because they deserve to have a full board.
Listen them, like they, everyone deserves a full board here.
So I went through and I did, I'll show you,
this is my writing on it.
Um, but I will give you, um,
I dunno if I have an extra copy.
You have to just listen to me, Mr. Lafferty.
Um, and I went through,
and these are the attendance records
of Mr.
The first name on here was Mr. ldi.
His attendance record is 14.3% of the time.
He showed up for a meeting. Mr.
Akari, 35%, 35.7%,
Gregory Jackson, 33.3%,
Mike Wigan, 88.1%.
There are other members on here.
There is one member, Oscar Zamora,
who has never missed a meeting on the dates.
I looked 100% attendance.
And are we going to settle for that?
This council for not having better engagement in the
process for such important decisions?
Are we okay with that?
Um, the mayor was a teacher
and some of the people in our office,
and they like to talk about teaching moments
and, um, making lesson plans.
I guarantee you that if one
of the students in their classes had a 14.3% attendance
rate, they wouldn't pass
and their parents would probably be in jail
for not sending them to school.
And I dare say 88% is not good enough if,
if you're a student in class,
we should expect better from our commissioners.
The residents deserve better.
Um, and
that's a decision this council is going to have to make.
Um, what we think about that.
Um, I did ask and got some bylaws,
and it's clear to me, um, that we need
to clean up some the ordinance for the DDA
and, um, I was given a copy of the bylaws.
And, um, for instance, originally, um,
the mayor was the CEO, but,
but the mayor is only the CEO
until a DDA director is hired by the board.
And then the DDA director becomes the CEO.
The board is to appoint the DDA director
with confirmation by counsel.
I don't remember that appointment ever coming over
for the DDA director.
I couldn't find it going back.
Uh, maybe we have to go, I'm not, you know, sure
how far we have to go back to find that.
Um, and also the chairperson is supposed
to be voted on by the board.
And I have not been able to find that,
um, in the minutes either.
So I think there's a lot of work.
There's some question about, um, there are certain people
that the membership has to be made up.
A majority have to have an interest in the DDA
or live in the DA and there are some other factors.
Um, I think, um, Ms.
Michaels and I are gonna disagree on one
of the issues about the Warren Consolidated schools.
She's relying on an ag opinion that I don't believe, uh,
addresses really the issue we're talking
about, uh, with the Warren.
Now, if a Warren consolidated doesn't wanna
represent relative, so be it.
Um, but, um, the ag opinion that I was given,
I don't think fits the membership of this, of our DDA.
And that's something I think we can work
around in the next couple of months.
Maybe we can get that the ordinance squared away
and get the appointments made appropriately.
Um, you know, I don't have any problem with any
of these people personally.
Nick Lodis, I consider a friend.
I've known him for a long time. I've known Mr.
Wigan a long time. Mr.
Wegan, I believe has been on the board from day one.
Is that right, Mr. Fox? Yeah.
I think d And so he is very committed. He lives in the dda.
He built a, a great little property.
He's got a, you know, sort of a penthouse, uh, property.
He also has a business in. So he's, and he shows up.
And I, I will mention that the attendance is abysmal,
in my opinion, by some of the members.
And they have been allowed to participate by phone
or remotely, which I don't think is allowed by the law.
That's something else we're gonna have
to look at down the road as well.
So, um, you know,
and also when I did this, these, uh, attendance,
11 meetings were canceled.
And I assume many of them were canceled
because there wasn't going to be a quorum.
Um, so, you know, I have a lot of, um, problems
with these reappointments, um,
and there's a lot of work we need to do.
I will, um, while this is an attendance issue, um,
it doesn't meet the threshold of, um,
being in default to the city.
I do have the, just as we go through these today, the rest
of them, I, I will tell the council what a default,
what a being in default to the city means.
And that is failure to meet a financial, contractual
or other obligation to the city
after adequate notice includes, you know, not paying bills.
Um, if you have a contract with the city
and you violated it, um, if you are in your business,
doesn't have appropriate, uh, certificate of occupancy,
if you've failed to meet inspections
and your things of that, those are things that,
that absolutely disqualify you according to the charter.
You cannot serve on a board
or commission if you're in default to the city.
It's not subjective for us.
Um, but the attendance is subjective.
And, um, maybe going forward, there needs to be
an attendance, um, rule put into the bylaws.
We have it here. You can't miss four meetings in a row,
or you remove from council.
And maybe we should do that
and keep attendance on boards
and commissions that have super duties.
And what I mean by that, when you're spending millions
of dollars, you're purchasing millions of dollars
of property and developments are gonna affect how all
of us live in this city.
Um, I don't, you know, I don't think we need
to keep attendance at the, um, beautification commission
or the cultural Commission and things like that.
Um, um,
but I, I do think that going forward,
we have to expect more.
And I don't know if this council wants
to deny these appointments at this time.
Um, I was hoping to see a change in this city,
and especially in this group.
This is, um, I think there's seven people on,
and this is reappointing, four of those seven people, um,
that let a crime be committed.
And I find that troublesome.
So, um, I'd like to hear what my colleagues have to say,
um, about this.
And, um, those are, those are my comments. Thank you,
Madam Chair.
Mr. Lafferty. Thank you.
Uh, at this time, I'm going
to withdraw my support from the initial motion,
and I am going to make the motion to deny the reappointment
of Nick ldi, Joe Akari, Gregory Jackson,
and Mike Wigan to the Downtown Development Authority.
And if there is support for that motion, I'll speak to it.
Support. Thank you Mr. Nunan.
Discussion, Discussion, discussion? Yes. Mm-Hmm?
Yes. Um, so
You go ahead. Yeah. Sorry.
I'm very
Sorry. No, that's okay.
Uh, so Ms. Moore brought up many,
many salient points relative to this.
And sitting next to Ms. Moore for the last four years,
and advocating for our primary responsibility.
And I have been known for bringing this book with me
every meeting so that I can reference what we have as a body
allowed the department heads in this audience to spend
during their, their fiscal year.
Now, with that said, time
and time again, we had discussion.
We had debate, we had provocative debate, we had
legal entanglements, we had court cases, we had
judicial decisions that asserted
that this body had the authority to mandate
what a department could spend.
These four individuals are part
of the decision making process
that allowed almost a half a million dollars
to be spent illegally.
And I cannot in good conscience support any
of these four members.
Now, I, too, I'm friends with Nick Lois.
Uh, I've met Joe Akari a couple of times at his restaurant,
but that my fiduciary
and legislative responsibility
transcends those friendships.
Maybe after tonight, those will be damaged.
I'll just have to take that.
But it is more important to put those aside
and make the right decision tonight in
denying these appointments.
We have proven, and it, this isn't just supposition.
We have forensic evidence
that nearly half a million dollars was misappropriated.
And we have a responsibility to act tonight to help begin
that, that correction.
Now, the, the case, the state treasurer
and the Attorney General still have yet
to take action on that case.
What are they waiting for?
But tonight, we can make a decision
and we can stand up for the taxpayers,
and we can say, this is unacceptable.
And we're gonna start right here.
I am actually shocked that the new mayor
sent these four individuals to us, knowing
the malfeasance that occurred in this
department and on this board.
This, this was not a hidden topic.
This was news every other week.
And for the mayor to send these four to us, I'm,
I'm absolutely shocked because there's no foresight.
There's no forethought,
and there's obviously no intuition
in the judgment to send these individuals to us,
because it says the mayor's office believes this is okay.
So motion to deny and I will yield
Any additional discussion.
Sure. Mr. Newnan,
My, my main point is, um, what you said about
the misspent money, uh, it didn't come before the council.
And, um, so that's, that's reason
I hope I, I don't necessarily pin as much, um,
blame on the mayor as perhaps I should,
but I hope that the mayor will work with us
to correct this in the future.
The Downtown Development Authority is extremely important.
The Van D**e corridor plans is important.
The TFA is important, and, and this needs to be right.
So I want to, uh, thank you very much Councilman Lafferty
on your, uh, measured stand, and I appreciate you.
Thank you.
Any additional discussion, Madam Chair, Ms. Moore?
So, I am concerned
if we deny these folks tonight that
who knows when we'll ever get an appointment.
Again, it's been eight months.
And this is, these are the first, well, they came over,
in all fairness, they came over two weeks ago
and we were waiting for, um, information we wanted.
But I'm concerned that the DDA comes to a standstill
because these members, um, are being denied.
So what I would like to ask Mr. Schroeder,
and maybe with consensus with Ms.
Uh, Michaels, if we were to table this
to a date certain, to give the mayor time
to make new appointments so we don't stop the activity
of the DDA, knowing
how this body feels.
And, um, you know, I I, I, I,
I have a problem with the mis, you know,
the misappropriation, um, and the attendance.
I feel bad because Mr. Wigan has been such a good
engaged member and shows up for a long time.
Um, and I, you know,
they got roped into some things, I think, too.
But they should have, they have a duty,
and I think they take an oath when they, any, um,
public official, um, public of officer,
everybody we're appointing today becomes a public officer.
Like you and I, we are elected, they are appointed,
but they are, we are all public officials nonetheless.
And that is our status. And we all take an oath.
Everybody will have to go and take an oath before they go.
And I think there's some responsibility that goes with that.
So I don't know if, if my colleagues would go along
with a tabling.
Um, I believe we don't have
to act within two meetings when we have to confirm.
I think when we're notified of an appointment,
we have two meetings to say no, no, but
otherwise it goes through.
But I think in this situation, so I,
I wanna know what everybody else thinks.
You know, maybe Mr. Schroeder wants to weigh in.
I I'm, I, I don't wanna stop, stop the action of the city,
but I also want the right thing to do.
I wanna see change. We deserve change.
We fought for change for a long time.
The last council spent a lot of time
to make sure we saw that change.
And this is not change.
And so I, I mean, maybe that we send a message
and something will be done if we table it
and give, give some time to the mayor.
It's, it's, it's certainly up to you.
I don't know what you think, Mr. Schroeder, legally,
if we can do that, you know, a tabling,
I wanna be, I wanna be fair.
Um, I don't wanna just stop, you know, things we, you know,
we've got buildings we're buying
and we have to have those approved.
And, you know, I
Madam chair, so I think the legal issue here
to drill down, so the council understands, is
when you have an appointment that requires
the council to confirm the mayor's appointment
before it becomes effective.
Um, and we have a situation here
where there's all incumbents.
These are all currently seated, DDA members
and the reappointment comes up and that's denied.
They are no longer DDA members.
We had this with a planning commission member in the last
term, who was an incumbent planning commission member.
She was denied for reappointment by the city council.
And then she was no longer seated
on the planning commission.
The result of this action would be that
four members would no longer be planning,
or excuse me, downtown development
authority board directors.
If you were to deny that Ms.
Moore's suggestion is, I'm hearing it, is that
this motion, uh,
or this appointment be tabled to a date certain to see
what might happen in the meantime so
that they can continue to serve.
So that there are, you know, there's a quorum.
You can at least theoretically get a quorum on the DDA
and that, um, the 7.6 of the charter,
which gives the council two meetings
to act on appointments made pursuant to 7.6 doesn't apply.
I would agree with Ms. Moore.
I I do agree that maybe Ms. Michael
should be able to weigh in.
Hopefully there's no, she's
Shaking her head. She's
agreeing with what you're
saying. You just can't see her.
Well, you're a court reporter, you know,
shaking your head doesn't count.
Right. So, um,
Ms. Michaels,
I'll affirmative affirmatively state, I agree with Mr.
Mr. Schroeder, the appointment does not complete
until council acts on the appointment confirmation.
And the two weeks that would apply to other
appointments does not apply.
So the tabling would not affect the, the ability
of the board to continue the,
so the members continue in office
until the successor is appointed.
So would we think like eight weeks,
Madam President, Mr. Lafferty?
I guess my, my concern,
'cause I had the same thought, especially since
item, uh, 14 C, we just
approved the re the appropriation of $1.4 million
and the ability for them to purchase a building.
And the DDA is responsible for doing that.
And if we cut the legs out from the DA, we have nobody
to sign that document.
We have nobody to vote on it.
Um, I'm,
I'm not in favor of tabling.
I stand by my motion.
I will be the lone vote if necessary on principle
To, to stand for that.
But, but please, you know, if, if the majority says we,
we'll, we'll table and,
and see if the, the mayor has a, uh,
sincere change in effort
and instead of a lack of effort
as demonstrated here tonight,
then maybe we'll have some new members.
But I think assigning a timeline would be the wisest choice,
saying you have until this date
to appoint brand new members, good members, people that want
to do a good job and have no problem saying, I disagree,
I dissent with the, the majority,
and I'm going to stand up and say my peace.
And if that means that the Mayor Unap appoints me, so be it.
That's the courage and the,
and the fortitude these members need to have.
This is not, we're not a pointing a, a body of yes men.
That's not what we're doing. And that's what we've had.
And we need to change that. Thank you.
So I would just point out, I agree with Ms. Moore in
that the good governance would be allow the DA to continue
and to give the mayor an opportunity, encourage the public
who meet the criteria, which I'm sure we can provide all
of the criteria to apply so
that process can actually take place.
Um, I don't think that there has been robust applications
for DDA members.
And so the plea would be to the public to make sure
that you are participating.
Uh, and that I don't think it is prudent.
Well, I appreciate Mr.
Lafferty's position for any of us
to be halting the activities of, uh, one of the largest
bodies beyond our own, uh, here in the city.
So, uh, I'm happy to table to a date certain, uh,
before that, I did want to,
before we, if, if that's the route we decide to go, is, uh,
the Warren, just to clear up the Warren Consolidated Schools
issue, they do not want a seat on the DDA.
There's a, a lengthy, uh, communication around
how when it was created, there was, um, a reason
to be connected to the DDA.
I can read a couple, uh, sentences from the,
from, okay, they're wrong.
But I have the, from the, uh, letter from Dr.
Lno, who was the previous, uh, superintendent from January.
He said, at the moment in history,
the tech center's tax appeals likely
impacted the district's funding significantly.
The tech center was possibly the largest city taxpayer.
And the tax revenues there from were pivotal
to ensuring the perpetuation of many city
and district operations.
However, shortly thereafter, in March of 1994,
proposal A was adopted in Michigan school funding was
significantly revamped,
thereby rendering the original intent
behind having a school district voice in DDA proposals
and initiative initiatives, largely irrelevant goes on
to say, from the district's perspective involvement
by a school board member on the DDA could lead
to complications involving the
fiduciary duties in the district.
Uh, in short, the district does not see a need
for involvement with the city's DDA.
Although we very much appreciate reaching out
to us on this topic, which led
to our very interesting research.
We feel the school funding changes
and the nineties rendered this agreement
irrelevant and unnecessary.
And the conclusion remains true today.
They note that the district's legal counsel has been around
for 25 years, and obviously Dr.
Leno was there for quite some time,
and that they don't even recall this ever being brought up.
So just wanted to Yeah, Madam Chair. Sure.
If I could clarify that they're wrong.
Um, because I was on the school board
and John Green was the Warren Consolidated School
representative on the DDA from 1996 until 2009.
He was removed at this time.
The other were, 'cause they went against that
and they never ever reached out
to the school district again.
And when, um, I, in, um, 2021, um,
the, uh, mayor's office, Amanda Micah told me
that Oscar Zamora was quote one member
with Warren Consolidated Schools connection,
that Oscar Zamora was the Warren Consolidated
Schools representative.
And however long he's been there until today, I asked Dr.
Livernois around that time about that,
and he stated that Mr. Zamora was not a representative
of the school district,
and no one from the city had ever contacted him
regarding a representative.
So they, their memory is incorrect.
I was on the school board at the time, Mr. Green was on
before there was actually some legal action
because one of the school board members
who was a city employee, Dan Smith, uh,
he wanted to be the representative.
And so we had to get a legal opinion about that.
Um, because the school district gets to,
um, put the person forward.
Now, whether they don't wanna have a person on
there, and Ms.
Michaels and I spoke of this last night,
or an emails today, that we need to correct the ordinance
because the ordinance is what we have to go by.
Now, I've been bringing up
for years about a warrant consolidated representative.
I've since day one of this term,
and not one person has said to me,
and what, when is that letter dated?
January 30th, 2024. Yes.
And I have been asking over and over and over,
and I was never given that letter.
So that's another of the problems that we're dealing with.
We're not giving information. Everything is hidden from us.
And when we ask for stuff, then we get redacted information.
We are the, as powerful as the mayor is,
we are allowed to have anything the mayor has.
We can have, and we should have had the courtesy
of being given that document.
I shouldn't have had to ask for it. I asked Ms.
Michaels for any correspondence to
or from Warren Consolidated,
and I got that letter yesterday.
It was never given to me as did I I asked for it too.
Oh, did you? What made you ask for it? That's unusual.
I didn't know you knew about the war and consolidated issue.
Yeah. Did you bring it up all the time? Oh, okay.
So, um, anyway, that's, you know, we, we need
to get it straightened out and we need to have who is
what on the board and who fulfills.
There's certain places that have to move,
but I think that's something will work.
Ms. Michaels and I agreed that we need to deal with this.
Madam President, when you're ready Yeah.
Just send a Yeah, if they send an amendment over,
we'll get it squared away.
You know, if we don't wanna,
the reason the Warren Consolidated Schools
had a representative is because we captured their dollars.
Right. Mr. Fox, I, I,
I think that was originally,
Uh, Richard Fox City controller.
Actually, when we formed the DDA, there was a very, um,
we had intense negotiations with the schools
and, um, I don't think we got to
where we actually had lawsuits between us,
but the bottom line that, that the state changed the,
the law regarding it,
we couldn't capture their dollars anymore.
So that went away. And, um,
we don't capture any school dollars today. Yeah,
Right, right. But
originally that was,
but oh yeah, it was, that was that, that was the reason Mr.
Nits was their attorney. Yeah.
Yeah. Well, I remember John. That's very well mm-Hmm.
Um, but we, you know, the ordinance was never changed.
If this happened 20 years ago, I mean, we,
it is my opinion that we need to go to every board,
every commission, go back to the ordinances,
look at their bylaws, and they all need to be updated
and squared away
because they're, they're gonna need to add
of things they have to send to the clerk's office
or for as the repository things they're gonna have to show
to the public on certain commissions that don't get waivers.
So that might be a good time to go back
and examine all these,
'cause I found out lots of things looking at the, uh,
I should have asked for this a long time ago.
I'm usually a little better than that.
I, I, uh, should have done a better job of asking
for the bylaws and things of all the commissions.
But anyway, I, I learned a lot
and I think, you know, now
that we've shed some light on this that we'll work
and just send over certainly that amendment, Ms.
Michaels, and we will change the ordinance.
So the, the, the motion on this would be for me. Mr. Mr.
Nina wants to speak. Oh, yeah. Oh, sorry, sorry.
Yeah. So, uh, I have a couple things.
One is I think that the representative from Warren
Consolidated Schools doesn't have to be a trustee.
They have to be from the district,
which would be a very different thing.
Indeed. You don't have to tie up a trustee
with another obligation.
Um, another thing is, um, I think the idea
of tabling into a date certain, um, sounds like a good idea
with the expectation that if the mayor fails
to bring forward, uh, viable, valid candidates
that we should expect to deny.
So I was curious as to whether, uh,
Councilman Lafferty would like
to suggest a date certain for that.
Was two months good for you, or
He's not good?
I don't think. And I know you're,
you're saying you're denying it on, on principle,
you'd say we should do that right now, despite, um,
having committed 1,000,400 thousand of DDA, you know, agreed
to the DDA spending 1,000,400 thousand on a building
that's needed for city projects
Through the chair too.
Mr. Noonan, uh, I was three months
in looking at the other timelines.
We've given other petitioners,
sometimes we've given them two weeks,
others we've given several months if we're going to,
this is something we want the mayor to do a good job at.
Right. And I think three months would be fair. Okay.
Date certain of OC Tuesday, October 22nd. Okay.
Does that seem fair to everyone?
Works for me. Yeah. Alright. Anything further?
So I think we need to amend the, the, uh, motion.
Motion. We're gonna motion to table. Yes. Right.
So we're, so we're going to withdraw our, our motions.
Right. My support, I'm not withdrawing my motion.
You're not. The tabling
Was from seated point.
We're going to do a tabling motion,
but I wanted to make sure everyone spoke before we tabled it
because after we,
then we cannot have any dis additional discussion.
Okay. Alright. And Mr. Bokey would like to speak, uh,
Yes. Steward Chair for
Mr. Schroeder.
Uh, the past investigation regarding the funds of the DDA
for unauthorized purchases as a board member, uh,
these were passed at a board meeting,
I assume the purchases.
And as a board member, you would review it
and whether you question it, vote no
or vote yes,
whose responsibility is it to get it to the council?
So the process was the City council
approved a budget that made reductions in the DDA budget for
that particular budget year.
So the budget year took effect in July 1st.
And there were two line items in the DDA budget.
Um, and I'm getting the answer to your question,
but I, it's the process will, I believe,
answer your question, which is, um, the
contractual services line item
and the community promotions line item were reduced.
And the DDA had a meeting a couple months later in
September, and the mayor told the DDA we're, we're,
we're not using council's budget this year.
We're using my budget and that's the way it's gonna be.
And so, um, they then approve the expenditures, um,
based on the representations of the mayor
that they were using his budget and not the council budget.
Of course, they were protests coming from the council
that, wait, that's not how this works.
The council has to approve the budget,
and if the council doesn't pass the funding, then you know,
you need to go back to council and ask for the funding
because an appropriation is the
legal authority to spend money.
So, um, they showed up at the meeting, they were advised,
we're using the mayor's budget this year.
And, um, I don't know if they got legal
advice to that effect.
I was not privy to that.
But I do know that, uh, as part of our litigation,
we did use minutes from the meeting where it was indicated.
The mayor told them we're using my budget only this
year, and they went along with it.
So that's how it happened. Okay. I appreciate that.
Uh, my concern was, uh, as a, as a board member, uh,
um, acting in good faith
and then someone else causing a problem.
And you answered that for me. Um, thank you. You'll back.
So, so my motion would be to table this for 90 days
to that date, you said October.
October 22nd date. Sir,
Is there support?
Is there Support, support
Motion to table to October 22nd?
Uh, let's see. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Dwyer?
Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? No.
No. Mr. Newan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes.
The tape. Angela is a yes. Motion carries six to one.
Next item. Next item is 14 F.
Request to approve the appointment of George Chap
for term expiring June 30th, 2027.
Heather Craig expiring June 30th, 2027
and reappointment of Mike Riis, uh,
whose term expires June 30th, 2027
to the Parks and Recreation Committee.
So moved with discussion
Support. Lty, this
is a motion to receive a file. Yes. Discussion.
Oh, we, we don't, we don't approve this one.
It's receive file. Okay. Alright. No discussion.
Uh, all in favor?
A. Aye. Any opposed? No.
Motion carries. Congratulations.
Mad chair. The members are here. If they
Could stand up. Excellent.
The members who were just appointed.
If you're here, see Mr. Chap in the audience.
Anyone else here? Mr. Crows?
Mike or Heather? Right there. Thank you, Mike.
Congratulations. Congratulations everybody. Thank you Mr.
Lafferty. Next item. Next item is 14 G.
Request to approve the appointments of Andre Doozy
for a term expiring June 30th, 2025.
Michael Awadi expiring June 30th, 2026
and Sed Hulk expiring June 30th, 2027.
So moved with Discussion
Court, Lafferty.
Discussion Ms. Moore. Thank you.
Um, these are excellent appointments, in my opinion.
Um, and a reappointment or no, Mr. Sacco.
That's a new appointment, isn't it? Mm-Hmm. Yeah.
Um, I, uh, Mr.
Doozy has quite a, uh, a lot of experience on planning.
Uh, when he resigned, I actually took his place
and I was grateful to have that experience.
And those are big shoes to fill.
I heard great things about you,
and we've become friends since then and stayed in touch.
And, uh, I think you're a great appointment. Mr. Hollow.
I met you a couple years ago
and you are a, a very fine resident,
and I think you'll do a wonderful job.
I'm very, very happy to support your appointment.
I don't know Mr. Hoke,
but I hear great things about him from a lot of people.
So, any additional discussion?
Madam Chair? Mr. Lafferty,
I can speak to the character of Mr.
Hoke. He is terrific and a fine representative of the city,
and he will be a, an equally fine representative on the
Planning Commission alongside of Mr.
Doozey and Mr. Awadi, who I also know and can vouch for.
Thank you. Any thank you. Any additional discussion?
Hearing none. I'll call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr.
Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes.
Uh, Mr. Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan is a yes.
I know Mr. Hollow is here. So motion carries.
Is there anyone else from Andre Planning?
Andre, I see you in the back. Congratulations. Thank you.
Thank you. You're welcome. Uh, next item.
Next item is 14 h.
Request to approve the reappointment of Michael Tyro
for a term expiring June 30th, 2025.
And Mary Miller for a term expiring June 30th, 2027
to the Sidewalk and Tree Review Commission.
So moved. Support Dwyer. Discussion
Clarification. Madam
President, is this a, uh, motion to receive and file?
Nope. Uh, this is
A, this is a mayor chair.
The mayor's appointment letter says it's pursuant
to Section 9.7 of the charter.
That's the Board of review.
It's actually section 33 dash 62, the Sidewalk
and Tree Review Commission, which does
require counsel confirmation.
Okay. Thank you.
Any discussion? Hearing none? I will call the question.
Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr.
Lafferty? Yes. Uh, Ms. McGee? Yes.
Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries.
Ms. Miller is here. Ms. Miller is
Here. Oh, Ms. Miller.
Thank you. Congratulations.
Next item. Thank you, Ty. Next item is 14. Aye.
Request to approve the appointment
of Helen Hicks expiring June 30th, 2028.
Joe Taupin. It was sent over, but there is no Joe Taupin.
T-A-U-P-I-N-I believe it's Joseph Taupin,
spelled T-O-U-P-I-N, uh, term expiring June 30th, 2028.
And the reappointment of Hassan Chira expiring
June 30th, 2027.
Ron Gerst expiring June 30th, 2025
and Joe Ali expiring June 30th, 2027.
I make a motion to, um, approve the appointment
of Helen Hicks, Joe Toppen, uh, Hassan Chira,
Ron Gerst, and deny the appointment of,
uh, Joe Ali.
Um, and I can further elaborate on those reasons.
Once we have a motion. Can you support Lafferty?
Can you repeat the motion, please? Yes.
Motion to approve all of the, uh, proposed appointees,
but deny the appointment of Joe Tali.
Thank you. So we're bifurcating the Yes.
Two items. Uh, and Mr. Lafferty, you're supporting? I do.
Thank you. And with discussion, please
with discussion Ms. Moore?
Yes. Thank you. Um, back in 2021,
um, Mr.
Um, Tali was denied appointment
on the tfa.
Um, unfortunately, he has still
attended meetings, and that's not the only person
that this council has denied appointment
that they are serving.
And, uh, regardless of what we say, um, at the time of,
I wrote down a note that, um, we don't have to have a reason
for deny denying anyone that we confirm,
but if the mayor notifies us of, of an appointment
and we say, no, we don't want that person,
we have to give a reason for that.
But for a council confirmation,
we do not have to give a reason.
Um, I will tell you at the time that, um, I, I found notes,
we didn't say it at the meeting, but I believe that Mr.
Tali was in default to the city at that time.
Um, so a as you know, there's been a little, little bit
of disagreement between the, um, administration
and council office of, um, be getting redacted,
um, applications we have been giving the unredacted
for council to look at.
I disagree that that's personal information
for public officials, but we'll deal with that later.
Um, but also the mayor's office sent over screenshots
of BSNA, which is the city's website,
which will give you information on who owns a property,
what the tax record is, what the water is.
They sent those over screenshots.
Unfortunately, they didn't dig deep enough into BSNA.
Um, you have to know what you're looking for.
Uh, you can't just look at a screen you've
gotta dig deep in.
So for, um, uh, Mr.
Tali, um, they sent over, um, his properties
that he wasn't default,
but if you click on, um, further information, you find that,
uh, he is operating a business at 22 7 55 gross spec
with no certificate of occupancy for the property.
He's been cited sev numerous times for failed,
uh, inspections.
In fact, he's going to court, he has a court date,
it says on BSNA of, uh, in July,
but it's actually August 7th,
according to the court records.
So he is in default to the city
because he didn't do what he was expected to do,
um, for those properties.
Also, there are approximately 15
to 18 unlicensed vehicles on that property,
which is creating blight.
Um, and I actually, um,
started this information I just read from, I started
to write an email, um, to the mayor to,
with this information, and I was going to end it.
I offer this information in case she would like
to reconsider this appointment sparing Mr.
Tali and your administration embarrassment.
But before I got a chance to hit send, um, the mayor
for some reason posted what she had sent over
to council office, um, on the city's website.
So I figured I, I was, I was not gonna, you know,
extend that courtesy.
And I don't like to embarrass people in public.
Um, um, but I feel the need to in this situation.
And that is why, um, you know, we,
we are constantly talking about people
that are not following the rules.
We can't have people on our
commissions not following the rules.
So that is my reason for denying Mr. T's, um, appointment.
Any additional discussion?
Okay. So I guess we will do a
motion for the, uh,
affirmative members.
Helen Hicks. Joe Toin, Toppin,
which is T-O-U-P-I-N.
Joseph, not T-A-U-P-I-N. And, uh, Mr.
Shahara? Correct. And Ms. Moore?
You, Mr. Gerst as well. Oh. And Mr. Gerst. Thank you.
Uh, Ms. Moore, you made that motion. Mr. Left?
You supported, uh,
any additional discussion before I 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.
The next item is denying Mr.
Tali? Yes. Ms. Moore, you're making that motion as well?
Yes. Mr. Lafferty, you're also making that motion?
That's correct. Or supporting that. Okay.
Uh, any additional discussion?
I, I have the backup if anybody wants to see it. Okay.
Uh, hearing none. I'll call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes.
To deny Mr. Lafferty? Yes. To deny Mr. Dwyer? Yes.
To deny Mr. Bokey? Yes. To, to deny Mr. Newnan
Yesterday night.
Ms. McGee? Yes. Denied Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries.
Next item. Next item is 14 J.
Request for a moratorium on the responsible contracting
and purchasing ordinance.
So moved with discussion
Support Lafferty.
Uh, discussion Ms. Moore? Thank you.
Um, when we passed this ordinance back in the last term, um,
we wanted to get it on the books.
We felt it was important. Ms.
rogenSi originally brought it up and then I think Mr. Green,
and, you know, I kind of pushed it through at the end.
Um, but we were not able to meet with the purchasing agent
and some of the other departments of the city,
which is really necessary.
And there are some defects in this ordinance that need
to be, um, clarified and amended.
And so, um,
this moratorium will just put this ordinance on ice
until we get those ordinances,
those amendments, um, worked out.
So I make a motion to timeframe. Oh, a timeframe.
Um, six months. Six months. Mm-Hmm. Okay.
Generally moratorium shouldn't be more than a year,
six months, never a year.
The next meeting with, uh, the legal department, uh, Mr.
Repa and purchasing and engineering is August 2nd
to go over some of this.
So six months is appropriate. Okay.
And Madam Chair? Mm-Hmm.
While we're at it, I think we need to check on some things.
'cause I think there's some moratoriums on issues
that we need to remove, like the moratorium on used car.
Lots. Mm-Hmm. And I think we, that expired,
maybe expired on its own,
but we gotta make sure that we don't have any
of these moratoriums out there.
Moratorium. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Okay. Thank you.
Any additional discussion?
Madam Chair? Point of clarification.
Are we just saying six months as in 60, uh,
six months calendar days?
Or do we want to date certain?
We can put a date, certain, figure it out.
Uh, how about Mr. Calendar?
Let's do, uh, Tuesday December 17th.
December. So last Christmas meeting. Mm-Hmm.
And I happy to bring it back if there's a, a, you know,
we run into an impasse
or something, they'll send it over, right? Yeah.
We'll, we can pass it then and put a bow on it.
Uh, okay. Hearing any other Mayor,
Madam Chair? Yep. Mr. Newnan,
Um, I understand that the downtown development, no, the,
um, development department has cases where,
um, federal government only allows
certain of dollar amounts.
And I, I think that we should, um, be asking Tom Bato
to do a little bit of, um, input on, uh,
when the responsible contractor ordinance might interfere
with, um, what kind of projects were those?
Melody, do you remember?
We went, we went and talked to, uh, Tom Bato,
DD construction project.
Yeah. They were construction projects.
Well, anyways, I think it, it might be good
to see if he could get involved in it too,
if he's still on the DA.
Okay. Thanks.
Any additional discussion?
Okay. Hearing none. I'll call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes.
Mr. Lty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Nunan?
Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Yes. Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries.
Next item. Next item is 14 K,
which was four D on the consent request
of the Sanitation Depart Division to Resend Award.
T-T-R-I-W 1 180 1 for the purchase of two Hial Dura Pac,
Python, automated side loader sanitation vehicles in the
total amount of 722,000 consideration
and adoption of a resolution.
So moved. Support
Lafferty. Discussion.
Discussion Mr. Lafferty?
Thank you. This was discussed under 14 A and B.
And so, uh, I have no further discussion on this.
Any additional discussion? Hearing none.
I will call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes.
Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee?
Yes. Rogan says yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is, uh, audience participation for general topics.
Thank you. If you have not submitted
your form, you can submit a form to the right of the stage.
Uh, everyone has three minutes,
and the clock is up front.
First up is Deborah Ano,
and after Deborah is mono, the clock is not working.
Let's see. Thank you. Working. Okay. Thank you.
Okay. Um, yeah. Yeah.
Hi, I'm Deborah Sato,
and I've been a Warren resident for about 24 years.
I just wanted to share my positive experience with the, uh,
Warren Pride event.
Uh, overall, I think it was a very positive experience.
I was there with some members of my church,
which is the Warren First United Methodist Church right here
on Chicago Road,
and proud to be a member of a church that is inclusive.
Um, I, I, I agree that there are probably a couple things
that could have been done differently at the event,
but, uh, please keep in mind that this is,
this was Warren's first pride event.
I hope it is an annual event.
And, uh, and,
and, uh, overall, in my opinion, that it was about love
and kindness and a fun time for anyone, whether you're gay
or straight, or, uh, adults or kids.
And, uh, it was really just nice
and heartwarming for me to see.
It was a really good overall experience.
And again, I I hope that, you know, uh, a couple things
that could have been done differently.
I hope that doesn't overshadow the, the fact
that it was a positive event.
And I was very, very happy that, you know, Warren moved,
moved forward and, and,
and, uh, that this positive event was in our city.
So, thank you.
Thank you. Is the clock working? No.
Patrick, if you could assist
next is Monica Pian, but I believe she left.
Okay. Uh, next is Melissa
Mc Lockin.
Sorry, she left as well. Okay. Uh, Mr. Pian.
Hello, council. Lauren Papazian.
Um, really, I'm just here in support
of the Pride Fest that we had this year.
Um, of course, excuse me.
Of course, first year
for any event, there's gonna be hiccups.
Uh, it is a monumental undertaking to throw
that large an event, uh, for the first time.
And I think they did a great job.
Um, but I'd also like to remind everybody that the parts
of the story that you're hearing are not the parts
that anybody was there.
Actually, there are portraying, there's a lot of falsehoods.
Um, I'm not gonna say everything went perfect,
but I am proud of the work that was done.
That's it.
Thank you. Next is Michelle Nar.
Hello, my name is Michelle Nar.
I am the Macomb County Commissioner for District 12.
And, um, I had a poem that I was gonna read, but
after hearing everything, um, you know, you guys, uh,
negotiating and making decisions, uh, I just wanna say
that nobody sitting up here is perfect.
Nobody back here is perfect. Everybody has issues.
Everybody has things that go on
and to make a decision regarding something, uh,
based on someone's personal issue without knowing what,
why somebody maybe is late,
why somebody maybe didn't show up a few times.
It's really unfair. And it kind leans on the side
of hypocrisy, because any of us is one major illness away
from disaster.
Any of us, anything could happen to any one of us,
and our whole trajectory of our life could change.
I stand here, your commissioner, unperfect,
but full of love for my, my children, my family,
my God, my community, no matter who they are, gay,
straight Jewish, Palestinian, black, white.
It doesn't matter to me because I'm 40% Irish.
So that don't matter to me.
But what matters to me is that everybody's wants needs.
Eve's opinions matter.
And I, I understand that the, the, the, uh, the pride, uh,
event went well in some instances,
but do not make it make light of the fact that people
who love God and who believed that God made Adam
and Eve, don't take that away from us.
If that's what we believe.
We're not gonna take anything away from you.
But I'm gonna ask that you not take nothing away from me,
especially when it comes to my
kids and what I'm teaching them.
Because whether you believe it or not, we have a payday
after this, each
and every one of us, while we're
claiming the name of the Lord.
Okay? We got a payday after that.
So we're gonna let you, because God didn't
take your rights away.
He didn't take my rights away.
I'm not gonna take anybody rights away,
but I'm not gonna let anybody muzzle me
if I don't like something.
And I don't want that to happen to any of my residents.
I've been talking to them as I've been knocking doors,
and there was a lot of 'em that was offended by that.
And some of 'em are L-G-B-T-Q,
and they were offended by some of the things that happened.
And that's the reason that I say what I have to say.
So I just want us all to remember
that there's nobody's per perfect in this room.
And don't ever try to judge people
and make decisions based on somebody
having some little issue that, that they, that happened
to them without knowing the real deal.
Just remember that. 'cause we all one paycheck,
one illness away from disaster.
Have a great evening.
Next is Gary Watts. And then Mr.
So, uh, with all due respect to all the council members,
it is nice to have a couple council members
that have some great historical knowledge
of what's gone on in the city.
I know I was lucky enough to come to the table
with knowledge all the way back to about 75, 76,
and when things get, try to get pulled off on you, it's nice
to have that knowledge base.
So, uh, thanks for keeping those up there.
Um, you know, served four years on council.
Worked my butt off. I never missed a meeting, never Ever
showed up at every meeting.
That's your responsibility.
I expect the same out of the commissions and what have you.
I'm off the council now, and I'm still working.
I still get calls every day.
I refer stuff to other council people.
Some of the stuff I tell the
people how they can get it done.
And I enjoy doing that because I love my city.
I'm not going anywhere. I'm not going away.
Everybody's stuck with me.
Having said that, I'm running
for District 11 County Commission
and I have a pretty tough opponent, I think, on the,
on the Republican side, so I could really use the support.
'cause we need to knock him out. Never ever have
that person setting in there.
So, thank you.
Next is Kelly collegial and following that is Lori Harris.
Gentleman first. Sorry, was it this gentleman first?
Oh, sorry. Thank you, Mr. Hollow. Hey, sorry.
Look at something. Yes.
I just wanted to thank the city council for, uh, uh,
appointing me to the planning Commission, as is brought up
by the members that don't haven't attended the DDAI plan on
attending as much as my health will allow,
but I plan on being to the, as many
of the planning commissions as my health will allow, if,
if not all of them, most of them.
Uh, and with that, I just want to thank you
and I plan for, to the citizen, want to try to move the city
of Warren forward in a positive way, taking
both the petitioner's point of view
and the citizen's point of view.
All in all in conjunction, see what would be better
for the city at that time.
Thank you.
Next is Ms. Collegial, then Lori Harris. And thank you for
Your help. No problem.
Um, once again, I will state
that adult sex toys have no place on city property,
especially where children are present.
Unfortunately, this is what occurred at the City
of Warren Pride event.
You know, an event can be a beautiful event in part,
but when it's bad in a huge way, that's a bad event.
Um, you know,
the city ordinance states it shall be a violation
of this article to knowingly allow a person under the age
of 18 to be
or remain on the premises of a sexually oriented business.
And I'm sure Mr. Schroeder knows that under that definition,
the, it defines that where adult sex toys are sold.
Now, one thing I heard tonight was a lot
of discussion about boards and commissions
and responsibility.
One thing that was glaringly silent tonight from every
member of this body was anybody bringing up the fact
that adult sex toys have no place on city property
and the presence of our children.
Now, being a former council member, myself
and mayor pro Tem, you would not have been able
to stop me from placing that item on the agenda.
What is, what are you afraid of?
I mean, and you, and you try
to talk about it sweeping under a rug of ethics,
ordinance and violations.
I know who writes, who actually wrote the language for some
of those, uh, previous ethics ordinance that came to city.
I know that. I know who they are.
You know, um, let's be honest about it.
Little kids were at an event at City Hall
and walked by a booth
that had vial sex toys out for them to view.
Now, I'm not complaining under any ethics viol violations.
I'm talking to my elected body who are the spokesperson
for every voter in this city, including Mimy such as myself,
Gigi's, grandmas, pys moms, dads, people
that love children, gay, straight.
It doesn't matter. It was inappropriate
to be in the presence of children.
It's not okay. And if this body can't talk about it
and think it's important, then shame on you.
Shame on every one of you.
I'll add you to the list that I said
of the elected officials that were there that remain silent.
That includes every member of this council
that does not address this issue.
Campaigning was done on city count, on city property.
You had Mike McFall and his son, or, and his and his husband
and, and his elected, um,
department people passing out McFall
for state rep signs, right?
On city property. I know many of you have endorsed him.
Maybe that's the reluctance
to come and bring it to the front.
But boy, when Mayor FAU had an item, you sure weren't,
weren't reluctant to come forward then
and do your fiduciary responsibility, as you call it,
step up to the plate and do what's right.
The residents deserve that. And you know what?
Those children will never unsee the vile things
that they saw walking by.
And I know Mr. Nunan, you were there.
I saw you in the pictures. Shame on you.
Shame on any one of you that saw that and didn't stop it.
It just would take one person to say, Hey,
maybe little kids shouldn't be walking
or playing in the dawn fountain while sex toys are
what being sold at a booth at the event.
Shame on everybody. Thank you
Ms. Harris. And
then Jamie Morris.
Hi Lori Harris. And I wanted to, uh, say hi to Tony
and Dorothy Baker and remind the city, the council,
the administration, um, not just Tony and Dorothy,
but Betsy Brown, um, or maybe Jeff Cutter.
People that are unable to actually get out to come
to the meetings, but who might wanna have involvement.
Um, there needs to be a way for them
to participate in these meetings.
And, uh, so I just keep reminding you,
civil a DA is a civil rights law.
Um, we do have, uh, I forgot to mention that Mr.
Um, uh, shoot ldi, uh,
his parking lot is not a DA compliant.
Uh, when you're looking at, you know,
he's voting on a DA things through the DA
but his parking lot is not a DA compliant.
Um, I also wanted to, um, uh,
talk about, um,
Uh, Let's see.
Two more minutes. Um,
please stop.
Alright, well, I do have a question about the city in terms
of, uh, maintaining, uh, let's see, a business
that didn't have a certificate
of com compliance is going to court.
So I'm wondering if, for example, the house at 11 0 55 duet,
who doesn't have a, a certificate of compliance
or completion of their, uh, um,
inspections and the work that needed to be done, if
that also will go to court.
Um, I am very distressed that it,
despite all the things that people have brought to the city
through this microphone, the things are still not changing.
Things are not happening, uh, in that situation.
And, and I also wanted to remind people, there are a lot
of things that we are just oblivious to.
We wanna block it out.
One of the things that we wanna block out is how much raw
untreated sewage gets sent through the red run
during rain events.
It's overwhelming 200 million gallons at the last rain
event, 200 million gallons.
And if we're gonna get three to four inches
of rain this week, we're gonna have a whole lot more.
So I would encourage Mr.
McFall, um, to address that with Oakland County,
since he also now represents Warren.
Thank you
Jamie Morris.
And then Mr. Osh.
Good afternoon, everybody.
So I figured it's time for me
to introduce myself a little bit more
'cause you guys will probably be seeing my face here.
And I, um, I would just like to
get acquainted a little bit better.
So, as I said before, I'm a caregiver for veterans.
That includes grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning,
and even hand feeding those who can't be themselves.
Um, I bathe dress, put on their shoes for the day down
to putting them in pajamas
and tugging them in for the night.
I cater to aubry veterans every single day with every ounce
of respect, compassion, and integrity I have.
I absolutely love my job
and every veteran that I've had the honor of caring for,
I didn't have the best life growing up.
Me and my siblings were victim
to parental suicide when we watched our father
take his own life in front of us.
And then by the time I was 25, I found my mother, um,
passed in her apartment, which, um, I have seen
and been through enough in this life to not let, um,
I have seen the best and worst that this life has to offer.
And I had a choice to let it make or break me.
I decided to grow from it
and find a career in helping people.
I am the voice for anyone who needs one. I am.
I will go to extreme lengths to ensure the wellbeing
and safety of my community and animals if needed.
That's why I stood before this council about a month ago,
to be the voice for unheard citizens and animals.
Um, I cannot stand
and watch Hannah's acts being done in front of me,
given my job title that makes me a state mandated reporter.
Um, meaning I legally cannot make false
accusations or I could lose my job.
Um, I'm sorry, I'm trying to find my place again.
This applies for elderly when I'm making a claim
with a PS Adult Protective Services.
But that doesn't mean that I won't advocate
for another living, breathing creature.
With all things being said,
I do not appreciate being slandered at our local church,
being called a liar, the devil, or off all
because I pointed out actions being done by Mr.
Osh. We can all sit up here
and boast about how great of people we are
and the great things we do for our community,
but that doesn't excuse what we do behind closed doors
and what we don't tell people.
Um, I'm sorry, I'm almost out of time.
Um, to support the allegation, Curtis is absolutely right.
I would love to buy a dollar house just
as any other hardworking American citizen would.
I don't know anybody who wouldn't
wanna buy a house for a dollar.
The only difference is we wouldn't turn it into a literal
dumpster and make it, um,
an eyesore for all of the neighbors.
We would treat the house with respect
and comply with what we, the contract of buying that house
for a dollar when he has the six months
to do so and had it cleaned up.
And here we are six months later and it sits in shambles.
Um, besides the point, I thank you all
for letting me be the voice up here,
and I hope you'll have a great evening,
Mr. Osh.
And then following him
is Mr. Bell.
Good evening counsel. Curtis Osh, pastor
and resident of the city.
Just a couple things that I wanted to point out.
I did not respect any disrespect to any city employees, uh,
last council meeting because that's what Mr.
Lafferty alleged.
Our city has committed, diligent, and hardworking men
and women that take care of city business very efficiently
and effectively, day in and day out.
The second thing that I want to address is the issue.
Somebody said that the city wanted
to shut down harvest time, Christian fellowship
or harvest time, uh, ministries.
I never said that the city wanted to shut us down.
There's a number of people that wanna shut us down.
Excuse me. Pardon me. It's not your turn. Thank you.
Actually, Lori Harris bragged on Facebook
that she was calling the health department on us
then her band of negative people.
Uh, they chimed in about all kinds of things.
The Health department came out,
they inspected us multiple times,
did not find one violation in terms of how we received food,
handle food, store food, distribute food.
Not one violation.
Shortly after the Department
of Agriculture came out this year, I mean, excuse me,
the Health Department came out, then the Department
of Agriculture came out.
Uh, same routine, thorough inspection
of everything that we do.
Not one violation by the Department of Agriculture,
yet there's certain people that just continue
to cyber bully us, libel us, harass us,
and try to undermine community support
and community confidence in the ministry
that's been in the city for more than 32 years.
Also, shame on Mr. Nunan.
If the comments about beware
of Christian nationals wasn't bad enough,
now he posts something online
that SEAL Team six should take out MAGA Republicans,
excuse me, I happen to be a MAGA kind of guy.
Make America godly Again, that's what MAGA stands for.
In my mind. I find it very, very offensive, sir,
that you would say we should take out MAGA Republic.
Are you threatening one of the candidates running
for President Seal Team Six, take out MAGA Republicans,
you're a disgrace to everybody
and don't even deserve to be on our city council.
Other people recently told me, I'm Pastor Judas
and a hate preacher.
There's no hate here.
I mean, I'm a conservative Christian
who believes in conservative biblical Christian values,
traditional values.
I follow Jesus. I follow the Bible.
I bless everybody, whether you're gay, straight or purple.
I help everybody that comes through our doors, hundreds
and hundreds of people every week.
And I serve everybody without any discrimination whatsoever.
Shame on you, Mr. Nunan. Shame on you.
Have a good night, counsel. Thank you.
Thank you. I just wanna remind everyone that heckling
and yelling from the audience is not allowed.
Uh, please be respectful of the people up at the podium.
Mr. Bell, you have your three minutes.
Uh, you want everybody to follow the rules,
but you don't follow 'em neither.
How about that Angela Turncoat. Roy, you tried it again.
You tried to kick me out again. Once again, I'm back.
What did you do wrong? Poor decision again this time.
That was a poor decision. Angela.
You're just as phony as everyone described.
You turned your back on a lot of folks.
You're gonna turn your back on us too. I know you are.
Just like, what was this?
About a year ago, you were sitting somewhere up there in one
of them seats and you was all boohooing,
and then you actually threw your father under the bus.
You remember that? You threw him under the bus
and I do believe he passed away.
Look at you. You did all that for a vote.
And then you think that you're gonna run me outta here
or silence me because I know about all
three ethics complaints.
I have direct knowledge
and I was going to give it to the people.
And you wanted to silence me
because you're running in back of the mayor,
kissing her behind.
You are a turncoat and you deserve that name. And you, Mr.
Newan, hell, Mr. Magoo. Newan.
You Christians, huh? Christian Nationalists.
Christians. You had to clean it up.
You had to go back to the Macomb daily
and clean up your actual post that you posted.
You knew what you said. You knew what you did.
And then you wanna make a comment about African Americans.
Lemme tell you something. I don't want to think like you.
And because I'm an African American,
I don't have to think like you.
Who are you? You are the same person
that pretty much ratted on all the candidates in 2019
because we were handing out our
literature and you didn't like it.
You remember that time when I beat you in the election?
You remember? Right?
And then you wanna say someone threatened you.
Who threatened you couldn't be me
because I don't even call you on the phone.
I don't even talk to you. I don't even deal with your kind.
You are a bud hole. That's what you are.
An environmental but hole.
You only think about what you want, what's good for you.
You are the council member in the district, Mr.
That's predominantly minorities. My time is still here.
You're out of order. You're your councilman in a
predominantly black district, in a poor district.
And you haven't did a damn thing for us.
But talk about us and talk about pastors. This is my time.
I got 12 seconds. I ain't made no threats.
What you wanna try to throw me out again?
And with that being said,
my last three minutes, you're a piece of your time
Is up. Mr. Bell, have a seat.
And for the record,
you can slander me all day long,
but you'll not slander
my deceased father. Uh, I don't wanna
Hear you. You're responding.
Oh, yeah. Breakdown. Go ahead.
You should have thought about that
before you tried to pick me out.
Please. Everyone, have a seat.
You're an unfortunate human being.
Mr. Bell, Camilla Keto.
Have a good night And you shake people's hand.
You're a disgrace of a human being.
Go ahead. Thank you and apologize for getting up. Upset
Matthew 1914.
Jesus said, let the little children come to me
and do not hinder them.
For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.
Hello everyone. My name is Camilla Keto,
and I'd like to voice my concern on the first ever pride
event that took place in this city.
I doubt anyone in here knows who I am,
but the mayor as she's not here, but she knows who I am
because she offered me a job
to work in her office under her administration, um,
under an appointed position.
I'm thankful I'm no longer appointed
because the current appointees, aside from a couple, had
to sign a form stating they are not allowed
to speak on work matters.
Today I speak for the voiceless.
I've been a part of organizing other events
and can proudly say, I had no partake in this one.
As many of you know, this event was advertised
as family friendly.
But where do we cut the lines towards friendliness.
When do we know it's toxic or abusive?
I'll tell you when it's when children are exploited.
You don't need to be Democrat or Republican, religious
or atheist to come to an agreement that
what happened at this event was point blank wrong.
There's no reason children should be exposed to sex toys
and signs that say prayer might comfort you,
but condoms will protect you.
This isn't even about pride anymore.
It's about the sexual exploitation of children. Children.
Come on man. It's claimed
that these sexual boots were not supposed
to be visible to the children.
But if it's advertised as family friendly,
they're not supposed to be there in the first place.
Besides, you could have asked them to leave
or move their spot like they were supposed
to be in the first place.
And before you say it's sex ed, remember
that children shouldn't be having sex at all.
So they don't need to be taught sex ed
and how to put on condoms
because again, children are not supposed to be having sex.
The discrimination shows when the National Day
of Prayer Group was charged a fee
and this pride group was not.
I want to remind you, mayor, that being in a position
of power does not give you authority.
Just like being in a leadership position
does not make you a leader.
I have 30 seconds. When you meet God, you will have
to explain why you condone the behavior
that hinders children from heaven.
Because at the end of the day, you're not in power. He is.
Woo. Your campaign was built on transparency,
but all it's been is opaque.
You couldn't even be transparent about hiring me.
I might be persecuted for praising the name of Jesus today,
but I want you to know that as a kan Catholic,
born in Iraq, I have a history.
You are outta time of martyrs. You're outta the time.
Thank you. Mr.
Vander Lenin.
Yeah. Joel Valen,
longtime wor resident.
Today, numerous people have come up, talked about this
LGBT whatever, whatever parade
we were raised here in America under Eastern
European Christian family
orientated beliefs.
And what this did was smack us all in the face.
I know that most of the, uh, gay people
are atheists or whatever, and that's, that's fine.
And what they do in their house is fine.
But when you're smacking us in the face, it's wrong.
Now, you guys knew that there was gonna be gatos there.
You knew you were gonna have all this stuff.
You discussed many things about it,
but no one did anything about it.
No one there, all those elected officials,
no one did anything about it.
But what really makes things worse?
What really makes things worse for me is
that you've heard all these people come and talk
and this console has said nothing.
You close your eyes, you turn your edge.
You eat your, your hidden little dinners or do whatever,
but you haven't done or said anything.
It's like you are condoning her
or sticking your heads in the sands to support her.
You haven't supported the people here.
Jonathan gave a great speech that he's here for the citizens
of Warren and the Ada da.
And it was nice. I liked it.
But where were you about everyone coming here talking about
the gay pride and the sex toys and everything else?
Christ, get your tongue.
Did you throw your family values out the window?
Melody, you're supposed to be a Christian woman.
Why are you not saying nothing against the mayor
or about the events or about the sex toys?
You know, if you want to have a parade, that's one thing.
But when you have all these elected officials there doing
nothing and there's children there,
then you have wronged the citizens you were voted in to
represent, to go to another point.
Uh, things about criticism and ethics and stuff like that.
If you have a complaint against an appointed person,
you don't go to the mayor about it.
You don't go, you go to the prosecuting attorney's office
because they are not
warn employees.
They may be officials, they are not employees.
And all of you should know that
You're out of time. Mr. Vander Linn.
Okay, thank you for your time.
Uh, Jocelyn Howard. Yeah,
Good evening Counsel.
Uh, as everyone has stated on this evening regarding
what happened, uh, just a few weeks ago, uh,
I did receive quite a few calls.
I did reach out to some of the council members, uh,
as the former chair of the Warren Planning Commission.
The issue that citizens called me on is that this event,
these vendors were out of compliance.
And what does the ordinance say?
This council speaks often about the ordinances
and you refer to it.
And in section X of the ordinance, it talks about
sexually oriented businesses and where they can be housed.
Uh, most of you may know about the whole inci incident
that happened some 10, 15 years ago
with John Johns wanted to open in the city.
Uh, the former council struck it down
because again, the ordinance talks about the health,
the welfare, as well as the integrity of the city.
What, uh, gives me pause about it again, is
because there were elected officials there
who did not enforce the ordinance, who did not share with,
um, the constituents there, the vendors on
what was appropriate.
As a promoter
and coordinator of two
of the largest events here in the city, the MLK Day, as well
as the National Day of Prayer, we do everything to make sure
that we don't offend anyone.
And the mere fact that these vendors were there
that were offensive to our developing minds.
Again, this council has not stated anything.
And we cannot be silent about this issue
because it's in direct violation of what you hold so dearly
and that are the ordinances.
They're in direct violation and no one has mentioned it.
We have to do better.
Thank you. That is the end of the audience. No, no.
Oh, sorry. Ms. Sanker. Did I get that? Go ahead Ms.
Sanker. I know, I saw it.
Thank you. In the Macomb daily, the May 29th issue,
our county executive,
mark Hackle says he will not support Biden in
the upcoming election.
He says, Joe Biden's policies has failed Macomb
and Michigan every day with inflation skyrocketing costs
and Michiganders are now paying a thousand dollars more a
month to live.
Mark Hackle decided not to vote for Biden for president
because Biden wasn't delivering what is best for the county
or for the state of Michigan.
He could see that Biden's policies were making the middle
class poor.
Some people take the easy way out when they vote, instead
of common sense thinking, they just vote
as their parents did without ever thinking
of the consequences.
They aren't aware
that their parents' Democratic party no longer exists.
That party no longer services a common good like it used to.
And that's why our country
or our county executive, mark Hackle, said he wouldn't back
Biden for president.
Even though he has embraced the Democratic Party
for many years, he realizes the party changed
and is not serving the good of the people like it once did
was sky racketing high inflation.
So that one Granny green apple is $1
two purple plums are $2 and 50 cents.
Milk is $4. Gas is teetering on $5 a gallon.
The middle class is becoming poor and poor
and seniors on fixed income.
This is not the Kennedy Democratic Party that once was,
that uplifted the middle class.
It now embraces radical ideals
that are making our people poor
and endangering world security by allowing millions
of illegals to come into our country.
Without being vetted.
I doubt Hackle will ever become a Republican,
but this time Hackle will vote for the other guy
who will put America first.
I applaud Mark Hackle. He's for the common people.
Biden is no longer part of the common people.
He has, he is a multimillionaire owning four mansions
and many luxury cars.
He isn't aware of.
Cares about the price of Greenie Grand Apple
or two purple plums.
He has lost contact with the middle class of people
who soon are going to be joining the poor class.
Be careful who you vote for.
You may not be able to afford a piece of fruit.
And since I have a couple of seconds left, I will say
that I'm very disappointed that the council went ahead with
what they did with the pride thing.
I think you were so concerned about pleasing them
that you didn't protect our children.
Your honor. Shame on you for that. Thank you.
Shame on you for that.
Next item. Council response.
Madam President through the chair.
Yes, Mr. Dwyer. Yeah.
I would like to just, um, talk about the events
that took place on June 29th.
The Pride event. Um, I mean, I think
that the residents deserve a lot of different answers.
I mean, some of the items that were put out there on
display, uh, for all to see this was a family friend,
family friendly event.
Um, all ages.
And kids were subjected to such displays of
explicit sexual material
that could traumatize them, scar them.
I mean, we're talking young children
that were running around there.
And some of these displays were set up basically
between the Flash pa splash pad
and the, uh, food trucks.
And there's a lot of questions that need to be answered.
I mean, who was responsible for the event
and who should be held accountable for what went down?
There was a flyer put out
and Faith Facebook posts that said, with the support
of the Warren Cultural Commission
and also included our city logo.
Also, did the organizers
of the event take out an insurance bond with us, the city?
Did we get any proceeds from the, uh, vendors?
Were there any fees charged at all?
Were we paid anything for the event?
Or did the taxpayers foot the bill who paid for the use
of city property as well as all the city amenities who paid
for the setup breakdown
and rubbish removal, who covered for the cost
of the police presence
because they were out there covering the parade
as well as the festival.
I mean, who paid for all that?
We need to know also who vetted out the vendors
and policed the areas were sexually explicit items
were displayed and sold.
The City of Warren has a code of ordinances pertaining
to the sale of sexually explicit materials and items.
And I would just like to say that we as counsel
did not endorse the event,
nor were we kept in the loop on anything
that was going to occur.
And just in closing, I just wanna say there's a lot
of questions that need to be answered by the administration
and the organizers of this event,
and hopefully we'll get those answers.
Thank you,
Ms. McGee.
Um, I wanna say this, I've heard a lot
of people in the audience, our residents,
and I appreciate you expressing your opinion,
but you are not correct.
You are not correct in saying that the City Council failed
to do anything about the Pride Parade
and what took place there with the sexual explicit, um,
vendors in front of the children, I acted on it immediately.
Once I received the photo, I immediately got in contact
with the our city council members
and let them know, sent them the photos that took place,
and then I made the calls necessary in
order for this to stop.
I was told it would stop immediately
and that they returned the funds of the vendor
and shut him down.
Now, I had not done follow up since that time
because I was told
that the cultural commission will take a look at it in the
audience and make sure they have a clear understanding
and rules and regulations for the vendors.
So me as the city council
and some of us that received the calls,
'cause we received several calls, we did act on it.
Thank you Ms. McGee. Any additional comments?
Madam Chair, Mr. Lafferty?
Like, uh, my fellow council members
and members of the audience, uh, the materials were,
I felt equally offensive, was not.
I'm 100% certain, was not the intent
of the cultural commission for this to take place.
And was there a lack of guidance?
Absolutely. Was policy.
What policies existed that are supposed to govern
our commissions and the, the conduct of, uh,
organizations that rent our
facilities, who is responsible, ultimately responsible for
watching over that and ensuring
that those policies are followed?
The mayor, uh, when it comes to these types
of materials, these types of objects,
I don't care if there was an 18
or old older tent established,
you shouldn't need one on city property.
You shouldn't need one at an event like this.
That's my personal opinion.
This,
this event.
I support everyone, I accept everyone.
I love everyone equally. That's not what this is about.
But this is about what our city needs to do
better going forward, learning from the mistakes
that took place and clearly aming.
What rules and policies we need to enforce
or perhaps modify
to ensure this never happens again.
I don't have all the answers.
We had a news article, we had some photos,
we have some allegations,
and they all deserve to be treated with
The, the time and,
Uh, Diligence necessary
to make adjustments for the future.
And I'm going to hold the, the mayor accountable.
I want a report. I want to understand who paid
for the event, who was the true sponsor of the event.
How did that compare to the last several events
that took place in City Hall from the beginning of the year?
We had an inauguration of a state official.
We had the National Day of Prayer.
We have, uh, the Bengali Festival coming up.
How are all of these events being treated?
Because I'm hearing allegations that
one group is being treated differently than another.
Or maybe other groups are being treated
differently than than others.
We have absolutely no right to do that.
The mayor doesn't have that, right?
This council doesn't have that. Right.
Questions need to be answered. Mr.
Dwyer brought up excellent questions
and all of those need to be addressed.
But this board, this council cannot make haste decisions.
And we need to explore this thoughtfully and articulately.
And we will, we've heard enough, we understand
the issues, and this is where it's led.
And now it's time to take action.
Will there be, uh, a pride event?
I hope there is another pride event.
One that is guarded just like all of the other events
that will take place on city property,
all following the same rules, all following the same policy,
and under the supervision that the Council by Policy
and by Ordinance is responsible for insuring.
Thank you,
Adam. Chair.
Chair. Mr. Bo, Mr. Uh, Mr. Bo and Ms. War.
Alright, mine, mine will be quick.
I I just want to thank everybody for your concerns.
Uh, they, they are my concerns.
Also, I could tell you it is not gonna be shuffled
around under, under a desk
and forgot about, uh, the council.
We've had a lot of discussions
between individual council people
and what our plan would be.
It's not going away.
We're up here today, we're listening to you.
Where's the administration?
They had to know it was gonna be brought up today.
They could have answered our questions. They're not here.
Of course not. Okay.
We're gonna do what we could, we could do legally
to get the information for you,
and we're gonna correct the problem.
I can guarantee you that. And that's it,
Madam Chair, Ms. Moore.
So I would make a motion that we, um, request
of the administration, any contracts, um, having
to do with this event.
Um, um, any, anything that,
and a clear explanation of what the city sponsorship was,
how that came about, how I think we need
to have a procedure going forward to understand, um,
how things are billed.
I found out we've all been doing a
little bit of investigation.
There's nothing we can change about
what happened on the 29th.
We all have our opinions about it,
but we wanna make sure that we're not doing anything
that's offensive going forward.
And I don't wanna point fingers at people
because I don't know who is responsible at this point.
I, I just don't know.
But I think we need to get that information.
And I did, um, find out, um, in the last couple days that,
um, it is the DDA director that has the power alone
to waive fees, which is very unusual in the city
because it's usually city council that waives fees.
So that's another thing.
We need to make sure that there is, uh, parity with
who is being charged to use city resources.
And, um, you know, what is good
for one person should be good for another.
And, um, there, it was mentioned about campaigning.
I believe that it's a matter of free speech.
I don't think there is any restriction on people
campaigning at a private event
because this was considered a private event.
Um, I can go on City property anytime I want
and, and Campaign.
I can't stand up here and campaign
because I'm using City Resources.
But I can walk around the city property if I want to.
I can't go in the building, I don't believe.
But that's, that's something for the lawyers to figure out.
I'm not a lawyer, although I, you know,
act like one too many times.
I'm sure you'll agree, but play television.
Yeah, I play one of television,
but those are answers we need to get from lawyers.
And that is actually campaign things are handled
by the Secretary of State, not locally usually, right?
Yeah. He's a real
Attorney. Well, anyone could file
a complaint
with the Secretary of State.
I think what needs to be clear here is if, you know,
you determine this was a private event
or if there's a nonprofit or what have you.
I'm aware of, I've been to some of these festivals,
the Polish, Bangladesh, um, lots of ethnic festivals,
and there's parades with people with their,
I've seen people get up on the stage
and support their reelection right from the stage in the
City Square or and campaign.
It's happened many times if it's a private event,
but if it's a city sponsored event.
So, uh, I know there was an issue with the trunk
or Treat, which was a city sponsored event.
It's on city property.
It's not private that could implicate
the Campaign Finance Act.
So, but again, you need the basic answer here.
Was this a private event? A public event, what have you.
But then that would go to the
Secretary of State. So you're correct,
Because I don't understand,
I understood this was a private event.
People asked, um, city sponsor, excuse me, Mr.
Vander Linden, um, that we were told it was a private event
and I was in favor of the event.
I think it's a nice thing to bring to the city
and the people that organized it did a fabulous job.
Now, things didn't turn out
so well on a couple of instances.
I agree, but I don't wanna point fingers
and I wanna find out how all of a sudden, two weeks
before the event, there is not a disclaimer,
but there is a notice on the flyer that the City
Cultural Commission is sponsoring it.
I don't know how that came about.
And I'm interested to find out
and what that meant, what that sponsorship meant,
and why the, the arts and the music
and Fine Arts Commission is
sponsoring a private event.
I, I don't understand.
So I think we need to find out
that there's a lot of questions.
So if maybe the administration could get us the contracts,
who approved what, um, and who has oversight.
If we supported some, if we support it,
then did the city have oversight?
Was it our responsibility to then go and,
and police, so to speak the event?
I don't know. Those are things for lawyers and,
and people that understand that better than me.
But I think we would like to get some information.
So if you make that request for any information
that the city has regarding this event, um, how,
what transpired for the city to become,
or the cultural commission to become a sponsor
and going forward, what the city plans to do
to ensure that what is deemed inappropriate
or offensive, just illegal.
And, you know, we're I, I'm offended by a lot of things
that don't rise to the level of, um, being in, being, uh,
obscene or under, under an act like that.
But I think we need to find out what's legal, what's not,
and going forward, how we're gonna address that.
So that would be my motion, Madam Chair.
I'll support that motion.
Uh, I'm still in discussion, I hope
Mr. Doted.
Okay. Um, let's see.
So, uh, my main thing on, um, some
of the comments made about me is, my intent was
to point out that white supremacism white supremacy
is totally anathema to me.
I, I, I do not believe that
whites white people are superior to black people in any way,
shape, or form inherently.
And, um, uh,
and I think that people are, are going way out of their way
to misconstrue my words.
Maybe they didn't understand them in the first place,
but I apologize if I've offended anyone as always.
And, um, I'm against white supremacy,
and that was what my post was about.
Now, on the matter of, um, the Gay Pride event,
Um, the Pride event, I, I, uh, believe that reporter,
Susan Smiley, recently wrote a beautiful article about it,
which was pretty, um, comprehensive
about the major issues involved that need
to be addressed in order to have
a better pride event in the future.
I'm really sorry that it got marred by allowing
these adult, um, aspects to be on display in
what was supposed to be a family friendly event.
I think it, it's, it's pretty clear that
that wasn't a good idea.
But, um, you know, some, some,
apparently some vendors got through.
I think there was, my understanding is
that there was a agreement that the vendors signed that they
wouldn't, um, show those things outright.
But I don't think they should even have been.
Those things should have been there,
there in the first place, uh, for that event.
That's my personal opinion.
Um, and so I hope that people will turn to the,
um, article that Susan Smiley wrote
and try to figure out how to make it better, uh, next time.
Um, and also I had nothing to do
with organizing the Pride event.
I decided to show up to, uh, be a pr, you know, an observer.
I felt that I had a duty to be do that.
I didn't, I didn't see an obligation to try
to change anything that anybody else had set up.
I what authority did I have in that situation?
I, I don't believe I really had any authority,
but I do have the, uh, responsibility now as part
of the council to discuss what we want to do about it.
And I'm very glad to hear that the council wants to, um,
make sure that we don't have a misfire like that again.
So, um, I, that's it
for me for, for tonight.
Thank you, Mr. Madam. Chair. Yes. Lemme talk a minute.
You know, there were some things said tonight,
and anybody in the audience,
you can say whatever you want about the actions we take,
but there was a line that was crossed tonight.
There was no reason to make the comments
that were made to Ms.
Rogan. See, and the person
that did it should be ashamed of themselves.
And Mr. Nunan, I think you can post anything you want on
your personal Facebook page,
and you should not be criticized.
You didn't do anything as a council person.
You didn't say anything up here.
And you should not be criticized.
What you do in your personal life, what you choose
to say is up to you.
And these personal attacks on people are just not right.
And I think we should stop it.
The Michigan Municipal League allows us to do that.
And when somebody goes over the line,
they need to be escorted.
And I don't, I don't think we can ban somebody forever,
but maybe some people should.
And, um, I think it was despicable what was said to Ms.
rogenSi and it's, that should never happen again.
And the next time that happens, I'm gonna call for a recess
and we won't come back till that person leaves.
I'm not, I'm not gonna sit back and stand.
I shouldn't have, I shouldn't have sat back today.
I'm embarrassed that I didn't
because I should have said something at the time.
We all should have. And I don't think we should be
standing for that anymore.
There's, there's, that's no place for that here. I'm done.
Thank you.
And it is my responsibility as chair to make sure
that folks, um, depart the meeting.
My father's death anniversary is in a couple weeks.
So it, um, it's very raw time,
but I do wanna try to get it together as anyone
who knows anyone that's lost anyone, you know,
that there's times of grief.
It's just more, uh, harder to manage,
particularly when you're in a public space.
So, um, one, I wanted to say I echoed Ms. Kuman, uh, Ms.
Ano and Mr. Pepe's comments about, uh, the Pride Festival
and parade, and
that we're working towards a more inclusive community.
And also I think you can hold, uh, the inappropriateness
of things at the same time.
That those are not mutually exclusive things.
That it is a, it was an event that, uh,
is long overdue in the city of Warren.
And that there was also things that Ms.
Collegial pointed out in a number of other folks
that were here that were inappropriate
and shouldn't have happened, and that we should be working,
uh, to make sure those things never happen again.
Uh, additionally, uh, commissioner Nar, uh, said
that she disagreed with the decision of the board
regarding the DDA.
And I think many of the members, uh,
that we tabled have a lot to offer the city.
I also call a number of them friends.
Um, and they have offered a lot to the city.
I don't necessarily agree with folks
missing so many meetings.
And I also want change in the city.
Um, Ms. Bernard mentioned that we are one illness
and one paycheck away from a disaster.
And since Mr. Bell brought up, uh, my father, uh, I,
my father died on a Thursday,
and I was here at this council table on a Tuesday.
I had breast cancer and a,
a bilateral mastectomy, and I missed one meeting.
And so, while I understand we are one illness
and one situation away from everything,
and everyone's circumstances are different, um,
folks need to show up.
We show up, uh,
and we continue to do our work despite many,
many challenges that we have in our life.
And we should hold other folks to the same standards.
So, um, I look forward to having conversations to ensure
that, uh, those attacks, uh, don't happen.
'cause clearly it's, uh, rattled me today. So, thank you.
How do anything further?
Uh, Madam Chair, we have a motion on the floor.
Oh, yes. Thank you. Uh,
any other discussion about the motion
regarding the Pride Festival?
Madam Chair, I'd like to amend, uh, Ms.
Moore's motion to include the, uh, events
for the National Day of Prayer
and, uh, the inauguration of State Representative Maison,
uh, for any contracts, invoices, uh,
checks issued to the city as form of payment
and, uh, fee fee, fee waivers,
and fee waivers, uh, for all of those events.
I think if we're going to look at one event,
we should look at at least the last six months of events
to have a, a clear context
and perspective on all of the events
that have taken place that way.
And, uh, please include, uh, the Bengali festival
that is coming up, uh, as that, uh,
that contract was signed within the last six months as well.
Thank you. 10 days.
10 days. That's 10 days. Yeah.
Yeah, they, they'll have 10 days to produce it.
So that includes, uh, sponsorship,
All, all relative contracts, agreements, negotiations, uh,
and all memoranda associated with it
That the city has.
Okay. Right?
Yes. And Ms. Moore, you made that motion? Yes. And Mr.
Lafferty, you supported it? I do. Okay.
Recall the question, Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr.
Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes.
Uh, excuse Mr. Newton? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes.
Rogan sees? Yes. Motion carries.
Motion to adjourn
Support.
All in favor? Aye. Aye. Uh, any opposed? Motion Carries.
Thank you.