I am now calling to order a regular meeting
of the city Council, Tuesday,
September 24th at 7:00 PM Please
stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
I pledge allegiance. Allegiance
To the flag Of the
United, United States of America,
And To the republic for which it stands. One nation
Under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice.
Justice for all.
Roll call Madam Secretary,
President Rogan.
Here. Councilman Dwyer?
Here. Councilman McGee? Here. Councilman Boyee. Present.
Councilman Nunan? Here. Councilman Lafferty? Here.
Councilwoman Moore. Present. We have a court.
Next item. Pardon me? Yep. Got it.
Next item is adoption of the consent agenda.
So moved. Support Lafferty.
Discussion. Hearing none? I'll call the question.
Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr.
Bokey? Yes. Mr. Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee?
Yes. Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is adoption of the agenda.
So moved with discussion support Lafferty.
Um, I would like to add, oh, sorry. Discussion. Discussion.
Uh, item, uh, 13 E.
Councilman Dwyer, uh, discussion of, uh,
update on the pride event
and as 13 F
resolution regarding police hiring
Makers of the motion. Comfortable
with those additions
Without objection.
What was 13 FI didn't hear Police, uh, resolution
regarding police hiring.
Thank you.
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 six a calendar pending matters.
Motion to receive and file support. Ty.
Discussion. Hearing none. All in favor? Aye.
Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next
Item. Next item
is approval of the minutes of the regular meeting
of September 10th, um, 2024.
So moved. Support Dwyer.
Discussion. Hearing none? I'll call the question.
Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr.
Bokey? Yes. Mr. Newan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes.
Grogan see a yes. Motion carries.
Next item. Next item is eight.
A approval of the bills of the General revenue funds.
So moved with discussion
Support Lafferty. Oh,
I don't, I don't need discussion.
Okay. Any additional discussion? Hearing none.
I'll call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes.
Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee?
Yes. Rogan Cs? Yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is approval of the bills
of the water and sewer system. So moved.
Support Dwyer. Discussion.
Hearing none. I will call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr.
Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Nunan?
Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C as a? Yes.
Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is audience for agenda items only.
Good evening everyone. Members of the audience
who would like to address this city council this evening may
do so by filling out an audience form located
on the right side of the stage.
This is a reminder that per our council rules
and procedures, you must write your name
and address on the audience form, or give your full name
and address at the podium.
You have three minutes and we have a clock in front
that will give you your time and
how much time you have remaining.
This audience is for agenda items only.
There is additional time at the end of the meeting
for general audience.
General audience. First up is Lori Harris.
Hi, Lori Harris. And I assumed
that somebody from the council would have pulled some things
off the consent agenda.
Um, I would pre, I would've preferred
that you pull off all the appointments to the commissions.
Um, I find that the way that this was handled,
these on the e packet, um,
the application process is way outdated
and is not consistent.
Uh, there are people that didn't fill out any information on
their application, just their name and address.
There are people with taxes due.
There are people with, uh, high water bills
that are in arrears.
I'm not sure that, you know, any of these are,
that are on the consent agenda, have those issues,
or if you, um, had already gone through
and taken out the ones that had issues.
Um, but could you address that at, at some point?
Um, so congratulations to everybody that just got appointed.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next is Jerry Burden.
Good evening, Madam President,
honorable members of the council.
I speak tonight as an appointee of the Housing Commission.
I also applied for the Election commission,
and I feel well qualified for both of these commissions.
So if this is accepted,
I will remove my name from the Election Commission process.
A part of my background includes
servicing the United States Army.
I'm the Finance Officer for American Legion Post
1 6, 1 Police
and Fire, a retired police officer firefighter for 34 years.
I have served a member on the board of Illegal Women, voted
for 50 plus years, A PTA member for over 25 years.
I was president of the PTA at the junior
high and high school level.
I received a council member of the year award
and the Michigan Life PTA Member Award.
I'm a member of the Warren Cert team
and a graduate of Warren Citizens Police Academy.
I feel at this time,
my energy could better be served on the housing commission.
As most of these positions have been dealing with people
not always under the best of conditions, I was able
to reason with them and come to a solution
that was beneficial to all involved in future actions.
I will work to the benefit of all seniors
and Warren as a senior at welcome your
support in this position.
In closing, when I was young, I was told,
if you want the job done, hire someone who's busy.
Thank you. And goodnight.
Thank You. Next is Pete Sutcliffe.
Okay.
Uh, good evening everyone. Uh, Pete Sutliff here.
I'm, uh, here to speak in support of item 13 D.
Uh, the Environmental Review Committees, uh,
report on the work on a climate action plan.
And, uh, when I first, uh, brought up the issue
of climate change to some candidates for Office
and Warren, uh, they listen politely, neither challenging
nor supporting the urgency of the matter
as candidates often do on issues
where polling numbers are not significant.
Uh, at that time, we, uh,
there were not many other cities drawing up climate action
plans in Michigan.
Uh, and the idea was completely off the table nationally.
Uh, but things have changed now where the, uh,
climate action is being addressed in many,
many cities across the country.
Uh, the, the, um, uh,
United States Conference on Mayors has, uh,
adopted an initiative, uh, for, uh, climate action.
Uh, I don't know if we're a member of the, uh, co conference
of mayors, but, uh,
there are certainly some resources available there.
And also, um, uh,
also there's obviously plenty of money available
through the Inflation Reduction Act, uh, both for, uh,
taking on the, um,
uh, taking on the, the, um,
Both, both addressing the, uh, changing climate
and to strengthen our infrastructure that has
to withstand these new challenges of climate change.
So as, as you probably heard
before, every year, the average temperature, uh,
is increasing higher than it was the year before.
And this results in, uh, stronger storms,
not necessarily more frequent storms
and changes in weather patterns like, uh,
in incredible amount of rain.
Uh, unusual amount of rain,
or unusual amount of, uh, of drought, uh, kind
of like we experienced this month.
Um, so I, I would encourage the city to,
uh, to go ahead and,
and, uh, actually draw up a climate action plan.
And the longer that we, uh, dither and fuss about whether
or not this is really a truly an emergency,
the more severe consequences will be okay.
And obviously we just, by the city alone, doing something
that's not gonna have a big effect.
But as I said, many cities are doing something.
So let's all be part of that group effort. Thank you. Thank
You.
Next is Maggie Hunton.
Good evening. I'm Warren Resident Maggie Hunton,
and I'm speaking tonight
regarding agenda item 13 D In support of it,
I had a couple of pages of remarks all set to go,
but today I finally read up on climate action plans
and I realized that my remarks were totally irrelevant.
The focus of my remarks was adaptation
to impacts of climate change.
And while some articles claim
that these climate action plans contribute to adaptation
by my reading, that appears to be a side effect.
The primary focus is always on reducing carbon emissions.
I don't oppose that, but I think that I see this
as a two-pronged problem.
And anyway, instead of ranting about Adapta adaptation,
I'm gonna share three things.
Thing one, red Adair,
who invented the Wild Well control industry had a favorite
saying about putting out oil wildfires,
which in my experience is true of all projects,
including replacing boilers in the
community center basement.
I can do it fast, I can do it cheap. I can do it.
Well pick any two
end quote thing two.
This sentiment appears in lots of climate blogs
and articles, but in much more technical language.
So I offer my favorite version,
and please hear this, the warmer it gets,
the faster it gets warmer.
Point three, I'm a pessimist.
I think the glass is half empty
because there's a crack in the bottom of it.
And over time, we're gonna lose what little we got.
Climate action plans aim to seal that crack,
but they don't fill the glass back up.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next is Jerry, be Mr.
Be there isn't an agenda item listed.
Can you tell us what agenda item you're addressing?
I have it on the form. Only thing you gotta do is look at
It. It's not on your form,
Mr. Bell.
It is. It's 13 a not on. It's right there. I just saw it.
Mr. Bell. You can 13 A is fine. Go ahead.
I'll share this with you so you can see. 13 A. Go ahead.
So how do we know that this process of,
uh, of appointing, uh,
someone to the, uh, election commission, how do we know
that process was handled the right way?
You know, I said to myself, I wasn't even gonna come
to this council meeting tonight,
but I hurried up and I got here.
Oh, you ought to see me going to get here.
I think this is more of your
guys at Shenanigans.
I understand that Jeremy Fisher, who happens
to be a Macomb County prosecutor, is one of your selectees.
Well, I have a problem with that because to me
and a lot of other folks, he's not qualified.
He's not qualified at all.
And the behavior that he has displayed to one
of our elected officials within the past year
is an embarrassment.
I think what we need to do when we're trying
to put in individuals like Jeremy Fisher to a commission,
we need to investigate them.
Matter of fact, we need to kill this whole process right now
of having an election commission until we feel
as though the people feel as though
that this is the right process.
Because I feel as though it's not.
I can tell you this, there's a young man by the name
of Paul Kardash, a veteran To me, a war hero,
someone who I know, someone who I've spent a lot of time
with, is one of those to be selected.
I think it's time that if you select someone, he needs
to be the one to be selected
as a part of this commission.
You all know him, Angela Roy, you know him too as well.
I hope you don't do what I think you're gonna do.
When you vote tonight, I can pretty much tell you I think
what you're gonna do, Ms. Roy.
So all of you up there, please
take in consideration if you're gonna do
something right tonight.
Let's be right about it.
Let's be right about it. Thank you.
Next is Karen.
Point of order. I thought it was important
that I do apologize to you, Ms.
Rogan Tea. Thank you. I wrote that on this form.
I do apologize. Thank you.
This one.
Hi, my name's Karen Keffer, and I am here
because I received a letter from Mayor Stone, um,
asking me to be or appointing me to the a DA commission.
She asked me if I paid all my taxes.
She asked if my water bill's up to date.
She asked if I'm a resident. I covered all that.
She also has a copy of my curriculum.
If I was gonna be formal,
I would've introduced myself as doctor.
But, um, so I'm very interested in being on
the a DA commission.
You can see some of the reasons why.
Um, I was also in charge of equity in Detroit Public Schools
before I retired.
And I know that DEI often excludes,
Um, physically handicapped people.
We talk about, about equality
and inclusion and diversity.
But sometimes people like me get left out.
So I just, um, I've been wheelchair bound.
I've used a walker for the last 10 years,
and it's just gotten to the point
where I almost always need my wheelchair.
And as I go around the city of Warren, I find places
with no curb cuts,
a playground I couldn't get into back here if my child was
injured, um, doors that I can't open.
So I'm hoping I can be a voice for some
of the other people that are in my position.
And I guess that's all the
excitement I have for the evening.
So thank you. Thank you.
And Dr. Keffer? Yes.
I saw that you wrote that on there. My apologies.
Oh, I only do it with people
that really irritate me or my father.
Thank you. That is the end of audience
Ne Yes.
She was approved on the consent. Yeah. Thank you.
Um, next item announcements. Madam Chair.
Uh, Madam Secretary. Thank you.
Uh, first, um, if probably everyone is aware, uh,
motor carrier Officer Daniel Eder was killed in the line
of duty September 20th, 24.
Um, and we would like to do a moment of silence
for him, please.
Moment of silence.
Next Item. Thank you.
Um, uh, I would like to sadly announce, um,
the retirement of two, uh, Warren, uh, police department,
uh, uh, officers with the police department, Jack Egan.
Uh, his effective date was August 26th, 2024.
And John Dahlin, uh,
his effective date is November 19th, 2024.
Uh, we would like to thank them for their service,
their dedication in keeping this community safe.
Uh, you leave behind a lasting legacy
and you will always be part of this community.
Thank you. Enjoy your retirements.
Uh, next, um, Uh,
while we're on the subject of retirements, um,
Gina Hensley is retiring
after 35 of years of service with the city.
We would like to congratulate her
and wish her much happiness and fun in her retirement.
She deserves it. She's done a wonderful job for the city.
Uh, and see, we had a battle of the badges last Saturday.
The Warren on Police Department played the Sterling Heights
Police Department, and Warren won
for the fourth year in a row.
Um, and it was just to, uh,
raise money for the canine unit.
The canine, uh, one of the canine dogs Rip was on hand
and they did a demonstration.
It was really great, but it was really, really fun time.
Uh, we have, coming up on October 10th at 11 o'clock,
this is the first meeting of the small business owners velo
of Through Velocity, uh, which is a, uh, uh,
project is supported by Federal Award number awarded
to Sterling Heights, uh,
their local development finance authority.
Uh, they offer grants, um, support for programming,
education, networking, eligibility
as businesses disproportionately impacted
by COVID-19 businesses from underserved communities
and populations, businesses seeking growth, networking,
or recovery resources.
And that is going to be October 10th at 11 o'clock
at 2 3, 3, 4, 5 Van D**e Avenue.
Um, everyone is welcome to join.
Uh, we'll have this on the City Council, um, Facebook page,
and each of us will probably send out to people.
And, um, I'll send everybody a electronic copy of that.
Um, and let me see if I've got it. Oh, I forgot.
One of the most important ones.
Mr. Fox and his department, uh, applied
for a Michigan local, uh, retirement grant,
and they were able to bring back
$210,000 to the police and Fire Pension Board
and the General Employees Pension Board.
So, thank you Mr. Fox.
And I think that's it for me. Okay.
Any additional announcements? Yes,
Please, Mr. Nunan.
I, I was asked to make the announcement
that the community Emergency response team,
otherwise known as cert, is looking for, um, new volunteers.
And, uh, they can be
reached@warrencert.info.
And, uh, that would be, I believe, an email address.
No, that would be a, a website.
And, um, uh, I guess it'll have
to be a background check if you sign up for that.
But, um, these flyers, um, I,
I believe are up on the, uh, on the edge
of the platform next to where the public comment,
um, forms are.
So, um, please sign up for cert. It's a great organization.
They really help our, um, they're a police, uh,
force multiplier for our police department.
They do amazing work, especially in storms and trouble.
And, uh, thank you so much.
Any additional announcements, Madam? Go ahead. Okay.
I forgot one.
So Saturday the 21st, we spent, uh, several
of us spent the entire day with the police
at the Battle of the badges.
It was terrific to see the officers in such a joyous
occasion
That day.
Also marked homecoming weekend here in Warren.
For students at Warren Mott,
the Spirit Week activities signaled the beginning of a rite
of passage for high school students,
a triumphant Friday night football game,
win over the Falcons, an outstanding performance
by the cheer team, the dance team,
and the Marauder music machine.
It was a celebration for Mr.
Miller's last home game as director of music prior
to his retirement, seniors who were looking forward
to their final year in high school.
And this rite of passage with their final homecoming dance.
A night of fancy suits and sequin dresses
and pictures with friends
and family in front of their favorite garden
family gathering place,
or a tree that's deeply rooted in tradition.
Unfortunately, while these students celebrated
the simplest occurrence of a balloon popping
set off a chain reaction of panic and frantic calls to 9 1 1
and the eventual evacuation of the high school.
As a parent, I experienced the worst fear
that only a parent could know.
When I received a text message telling me
that shots may have been fired inside the high school,
my oldest daughter, amongst others, had sought safety
outside the building Instead
of worrying about their next exam or a pop quiz.
The next morning, our students, our children, live
with the day-to-Day fear of an unspeakable horror
that threatens their lives.
I am heartbroken for this sad and unimaginable reality.
I am eternally grateful
that this incident was without injury to our children,
parents, and staff, and our first responders.
I eternally thank our dispatchers,
the Warren Police Department for your response
and the mutual assistance of Sterling Heights
and Madison Heights.
Your response was nothing short of incredible.
You took command of the scene
and ensured our children made it home safely.
I want to express my sincerest thanks to the mayor's chief
of staff, Christina loi, who also has a student at Mott,
and took my daughter into her care
until my wife could arrive
and to the mayor for calling me on Sunday
for checking on the wellbeing of my daughter and our family.
It's in the worst of times
that our community shows its true beauty,
because we as a human family, care
and demonstrate compassion
for one another when we need each other.
The most thank you to everyone involved for coming together
to support our children so
that they can focus on the most important thing in life
for preparing their young minds for a future,
which should be and will be filled with nothing
but promise, prosperity, and hope for a better day ahead.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Madam. Chair.
One more item, um, as, uh, many of you have seen in the news
or heard otherwise.
Um, the mayor has made an appointment, um, for a permanent,
uh, police commissioner, Mr. Eric Hawkins.
And on October 3rd,
city Council will be having a committee meeting of the whole
so that we can, um, meet Mr. Hawkins
and ask, um, uh, spend some time
with him asking some questions before that happens.
And I've not met him and I don't have an opinion,
but I wanna take this time
to talk about acting Police Commissioner Rushton.
Um, I have seen such a transformation in the
last few months.
Um, the morale is unbelievable.
I've been to, it's just driving around as a resident, uh,
come across accident scenes and who's there?
Commissioner Rushton.
He's right in there in the trenches with the troops.
They so appreciate that.
Um, he is well respected
by the officers in the police department.
And not only that, but in the surrounding communities.
I hear it out and about always.
And there's some things that have been put in place people
are very, very happy with.
Um, and he even, uh, at the open house,
he sat in the dunk tank and he wasn't too big
and too proud to, uh, be there
and letting people, uh, dunk him into the dunk tank.
That says a lot about him, his character, his personality,
and he is one of them.
The police officers feel that way.
I get that feeling when they talk about him.
And I am sincerely hoping that he is going to be in a very,
very high position, uh, going forward.
Uh, it's the mayor's, uh, appointment
to make in the police commissioner, uh, that position.
I just want acting police commissioner rush to know
how very much we appreciate him, appreciate what he does,
and, uh, thank you so much for your service.
We appreciate it.
Thank you. Any additional
announcements? Uh, next item.
Next item, sorry.
Next item is 11 A,
which is an administrative hearing request appeal
of administrative ruling dated August 26th, 2024.
Suspending business operations of
Dkb two LLC conducted at 32,900
Dender Avenue, Warren, Michigan.
So just for the public, we usually have public hearings.
This is an administrative hearing, so there is no, um,
audience and the petitioner,
if they're here, will speak first.
Is anyone representing DK B two LLC? Here
Is this gentleman in the back,
I dunno. Joseph Thomas,
Joseph Thomas.
We don't have to take action
within 30
days from the city.
Okay, they've asked, uh, we're going to move on to
the administration since the petitioner's not here.
If anyone from the administration, hi Everett, uh, wants
to share, provide counsel an update.
Um, I did check the agenda packet, so I know that you
are aware of the warrant
and my sworn statement, which was used
to get the warrant to go in.
Um, it was, this issue arose from an anonymous complaint
that came in, um, just, uh,
about four o'clock on a Friday evening.
By the time the Chief mechanical inspector
and I did a little bit of research, um,
we called the public service director.
Um, he directed Adam to go out
and see if there was a lot of people there.
Um, there was not. So, um, Mr.
Muselli directed me to go back the next morning
because we felt if there was a lot
of people in the building, then we might have
to take immediate action.
Since there wasn't, we did wait till Monday.
We did get the warrant. Um, we went in,
we verified the CO2 was operating.
Um, they had knowledge
that they were not supposed to be operating.
It was printed right on the license.
So they, there's no reason they shouldn't know that.
And there's inspection reports from the Chief mechanical
inspector dated May of 2023
before that license was issued,
that they had already ignored the warnings from 2021.
So, um, the ordinance gives us two options.
One is to revoke, and we could have done that.
Um, the other one, it says we may revoke the other option.
It says, we shall suspend for a safety violation.
So we did suspend their license,
let them know we vacated the building for the evening.
Um, until I could, uh, double check with the city attorney.
We removed a lock
that was on the main shutoff valve on the main tank.
It was locked in the on position so
that it could not be turned off.
We called our property maintenance di uh,
supervisor over with bolt cutters.
We cut their lock off, we closed it, put our own lock.
So we felt the safety condition was, uh, uh, you know,
the health risk was now eliminated
because we locked the tank.
And after speaking to the city attorneys, um, I spoke
to the business owner's father.
Um, the business owner didn't return my call.
He had his father call me. And I explained to him
that he was allowed to go back in the building
to tend the plants only.
They're not allowed to do any transfers,
create any new plants, no product in, no product out.
Um, that's specific
to grow facilities on a suspended license.
Any other facility would've had
to have completely shut down operations
until counsel heard the appeal.
But in this case, they're allowed to attend the plants.
Only tonight's tonight for the appeal,
but apparently they didn't show up. So
Thank you.
I will, if you could state close Mr. Murphy, in the event
that folks have, uh, questions, I will entertain, um,
motion from council.
Madam President. Uh, I will,
I I did have a, a number of questions that I was going
to ask the appellate here.
And with them not being here, uh, I have several questions
for Mr. Murphy.
And, but I do want to ensure that
a motion is prudent, uh,
at this time based on the, uh, the appellant not
appearing tonight.
Uh, before, before taking action, uh, through the chair to
Mr. Schroeder, I don't know if would action by counsel at,
at this moment be premature
Through the chair.
The ordinance says that the counsel is to have a hearing,
public hearing within 30 days of the notice of appeal.
This is the date and time that was set for a public hearing
that took place within 30 days.
The ordinance also says, following the hearing,
the city council determines that the administrative
non-renewal in this case, that's a non-renewal
of the license was arbitrary.
And the license applicant is in compliance
with the ordinances and may grant reinstate
or renew the municipal license.
Otherwise, um, it doesn't say that
that has to happen at this meeting.
Um, council at its discretion could table this
to hear from the, the petitioner if it wants,
but, uh, the public hearing takes place within 30 days.
So you followed the ordinance.
Um, you can only reverse this if you find
that the city's actions were arbitrary.
And, uh, that would be the standard of review
for the council, saying that the, the actions were arbitrary
by the city to not renew this license.
Thank you. Mr. Schroeder.
Does the, does the statute
say anything about default judgment
or failure to appear on behalf of the business?
It's the city ordinance. There is no, um,
reference in this particular, um, ordinance about failure
to appear or judgment.
There's no judgment. This is an administrative appeal
where the counsel has the authority on the ordinance
to reinstate the license.
Like I said, only upon the finding
that the actions were arbitrary.
And arbitrary has a very specific legal meaning.
It has to mean it's almost, without any reason,
almost completely unjustified, whimsical
or, you know, off the wall with no, no basis.
So it's a really high standard
that the petitioner would have to meet.
And if they're not here to explain why it's arbitrary
and you find the, uh, sworn statement
of Mr. Murphy.
Um, and his statements here today.
He was a well-respected, um, zoning inspector
for many years in the city, then there's really no basis
to overturn it.
Now. If you want to hear from them, um,
that's something the council wants.
I, I don't see it why council
couldn't table it to hear from them.
But, um, as it stands today, I believe
that the council has met its obligation under the ordinance
to set the hearing to hear from both sides
and then, um, make a decision.
So based on your explanation, it sounds like it is more
so counsel's evaluation of Mr.
Murphy's official determination in his capacity
as building director
or chief chief inspector, chief zoning inspector,
chief zoning inspector,
Uh, I'm sorry I gave you a promotion tonight.
No, you're welcome.
So you have to find that his Mr.
Murphy's determination was arbitrary
and that the applicant was in compliance
with the city ordinances at the time.
You have to find those things understood.
So it's hard to do that without the petitioner
or appellant being here to explain
their version of the story.
We do have a one page letter
to the council, um, that doesn't really make any,
um, arguments other than being grandfathered in
or something, which I don't understand.
So, um, that's really, if the counsel wants
to hear from them and table it
and give them a another notice,
that's your, at your discretion.
But I believe
that counsel has met all his obligations under the ordinance
setting this, uh, hearing within 30 days
and given the opportunity for both sides to,
um, make a presentation.
Thank you. I, that gives me clear direction, Madam Chair.
So I will ask a, a few questions of Mr. Murphy.
Good evening, sir. Good evening. Thank you for being here.
And so, in looking at the information,
this license was issued on October 12th, 2023.
Is that correct?
Uh, I believe that is the date.
Okay. Yes.
And looking at
the, the license itself, it states, uh,
on the second line under adult use marijuana growing
establishment, mc, class C, no, CO2 enrichment.
Uh, could you please explain what CO2 enrichment is?
Uh, enrich.
CO2 enrichment for a grow facility is where, um,
they have electronic controls that will maintain a certain
parts per million of CO2 in the grow room itself,
plants absorb CO2, um,
and then they release oxygen.
That's not the scientific
term, but you know what I'm saying.
So, mm-Hmm. A higher amount of CO2, they feel
that it gives them, uh, more yield, more product.
Alright. So there are supposed
to be safety controls put in place
and uh, those controls are not in place.
Alright. And, and that's kind of where my, the second part
of my question was going to go.
Uh, in order to receive this license, you would have
to receive approval of fire zoning, plumbing,
mechanical, and electrical.
Those five inspections, correct.
And zoning? Yes.
Fire zoning, plumbing, mechanical, and electrical
Building as well. There's six.
Okay. Six. Six being the,
the building being the final overall approval.
Um, it takes all six trades,
yes. You know, to be approved.
Alright. Now I was, I did some research on BSNA
and I looked into the approvals
and I was rather shocked to find some information here, sir,
I show fire was approved on May 22nd of 23.
Zoning was approved on May 22nd, 23,
as well as plumbing.
They did all of the inspections on the same day.
Electrical was not ready as
of August 9th, 2023.
And mechanical was the final disposition was listed
as disapproved on the 2nd of August, 2023.
Which only leads me to one question.
How did a business that didn't achieve all
of its certifications
and inspections receive a license from the city
signed off by then Director Jim Cummins.
And that license, as you said,
was issued on October 12th, 2023?
Correct. In the letter
that was sent to us by Mr. Thomas, it states that,
and he's speaking for their client, DB dkb two LLC,
that they applied for
and obtained all necessary permits for electrical, plumbing,
hvac, and all other systems presently in place at the
premises, and have been lawfully operating under such
permits since the day it commenced business
now based on the inspections
and the status of those inspections.
Is that a true statement, sir?
It can't be. Thank you.
And it goes on further to say,
and I'll, I'll quote the appeal letter.
It indicates that this business is, quote,
ostensibly grandfathered under the requirements
that were in place at the time it obtained the permits.
Now, it doesn't say anything about the requirements,
but was there for these reports where,
let's say the mechanical was disapproved on August 2nd,
were there any warnings issued
or notes issued to them about the use of CO2 exposure,
uh, potentially harmful
or hazardous hazardous conditions for employee safety?
Um, yes, as was in the sworn statement, um,
there were warnings in the inspection reports in
that statement I re referred specific to specifically
to the one from May 8th of 23.
Um, the inspection report,
which the applicant would have received, uh,
it says management was warned last year about compliance
with CO2 requirements
and has ignored the warnings must comply,
or CO2 will be locked out from use sea inspection
January 21st, 22.
Um, it also has a remark.
There are no changes from the inspection on
January 1st, 2022.
The CO2 fans are exhausting into the common corridors must
be shut down until ducted outside
as it presents a safety hazard
to all employees and visitors.
Uh, it also says that they needed to install alarms
of CO2 rooms.
Standard operating procedures must be posted
and a method to manually purge as required.
So in your expert's opinion,
based on the documentation that you've just cited that's
scanned into our systems
and is legally binding, is it your opinion
that this business was, uh,
officially given notice, put on notice?
Uh, perhaps more than once that they had conditions
that were not suitable for their employees
and could pose a danger?
Um, I'll qualify myself first.
I actually started as a mechanical
inspector for the City of Warren.
So I can speak to mechanical issues.
If there's any other trade, I would say we need to refer
to them for a definitive answer,
but no, reading the mechanical report and understanding it
and being certified to interpret this
report, they were warned.
And so in, in
today then with the lockout of the, the CO2 tanks,
they are, they're unable to turn that system on.
The building is safe for entry at this point.
And as you said that they are able to maintain their plants,
they're not able to do anything else
but maintain their, their existing
number of plants, correct? That's
Correct. Alright.
Uh,
I have a couple more questions
and then I'm going to make a motion.
Who is responsible for the cost of these inspections?
I, I noticed you went there on a Saturday there.
It, this is going to result in multiple re-inspections.
Uh, is there a cost recovery that, uh,
we could potentially leverage
In the ordinance? Um,
it's 19.5 dash four.
It's cost recovery. And if you give me just
one second, I'll locate it.
Okay. Uh,
I brought the ordinance just in case.
Uh, to the extent permitted by law, the city may seek
to recover costs for an emergency response event related
to any marijuana business
or facility regulated by this chapter.
That's pretty clear.
Based on the, based on your testimony, uh,
I do not find that this decision was arbitrary.
Building department is, uh,
Uh, you Know, acting in the best interests of,
Of The, the city to ensure the safety
of residents each and every day.
And as it relates to our businesses, the safety
of the workers, the visitors that might, uh,
might come into a, a facility.
Uh, Who was, did you
or someone else from the building department before I,
before I make my motion, did you
or someone else from the building department speak
to the petitioner?
Were they served notice
of the hearing? How were they notified?
Well, we left a copy of,
which is in the agenda packet.
It's a, it even shows up a little bit pink,
but this was the notice of license suspension
and on the back is their rights to appeal from there,
it was up to them to send a written
request to counsel for this hearing.
So we would have no more communication regarding that,
um, until notice of the hearing.
Alright.
Let me go make sure I've a asked all of my questions.
Go ahead. Alright.
Alright. I'm going to make a motion, uh,
based on the testimony
that we've heard tonight.
I make a motion to deny the appeal of DBK two
and uphold the findings of the city of Warren.
And until such time that all cost recovery for required use
of city building inspection resources are recovered
from Friday, August 23rd until the date
that all inspections has been satisfactorily completed.
And either, number one,
the building department further certifies that
Dkb two LLC has a safe and operating CO2 system
and subsequently advise the city council
that the suspension can be lifted.
Or two, the building department certifies
that all CO2 infrastructure is removed from the premises
and advises city council that the suspension can be lifted.
Support with discussion. Discussion. Mr.
Bokey, just a follow up question, Mr. Murphy, uh, the,
uh, the zoning department, uh,
has jurisdiction over, over this.
Does the fire department assist you on that also? Or
Fire department did in assist?
They did. Yep. They brought in, uh, uh,
there was at least two.
I think there was more than that, but I
know there were two for sure.
And they brought, uh, their own CO2 detector so
that we could get accurate readings. Okay.
Because I don't know if the CO2 is combustible
or not, you know, but, uh,
I know if you store enough oxygen, it could be combustible,
but I, I don't know, not necessarily know about Seal two,
but they were, they assisted you and I appreciate that.
Thank you. No further questions.
Thank you. Any additional discussion? None present. Mr.
Newan,
I see in the affidavit for administrative search warrant
under three the facts establishing probable cause, um,
or the Browns for search are, um,
and then a couple lines down, it says the license was issued
with the condition that there would be no CO2 enrichment.
And to me this means that they violated,
that they endangered, um, anyone
who was in the building when the CO2 was present.
And they're basically seemed to be in a scoff law position
where they're ignoring, um,
deliberately ignoring how to, how to operate safely.
Uh, I don't, I don't see that there.
Um, also it seems that if the mechanical
was disapproved and there was no electrical inspection,
then they haven't been operating legally.
And how they got the permit seems questionable too.
So I I think I'm wondering whether the, um,
council is being overly, um, permissive, if you will,
to allow them to continue to operate. Um, I'm,
We're, we're denying their appeal, so we're,
we're not allowing them to operate.
But even in the future, like, uh,
what I'm hearing Councilman Lafferty say is if they install
a proper CO2 system, then they would be allowed
to continue functioning.
Or if they took out the CO2 altogether,
that might be an option that I might feel would be safe.
But anyways, I I see that the honored, uh,
administrative Mr.
Laff point, I yield the floor to Mr. Lafferty.
Mr. Lafferty? Yeah. To clarify Mr.
Noonan, my motion indicates that
all inspections have to be satisfactorily completed,
Right? In
addition to the decision of whether
or not the CO2 enrichment system
or infrastructure remains or is removed,
Okay?
You can't get a license without being certified
by all of the inspections.
Mr. Murphy said it himself.
Okay. So to some degree we're, pardon me?
Go ahead, Mr. So to some degree, we're, uh, counting on
this operator, um, to,
uh, operating on an honor system to some degree to, to,
uh, to get all this done.
No, we're making sure
that the inspection inspections are done.
The administration is responsible for making sure
that they've, um, dotted all the, i's crossed all the t's
At Correct? At this? Yeah,
at this moment their license is suspended.
Okay. Okay. Mr. Murphy,
Just to clarify, I wanna make sure,
can they still operate under the rules of suspension,
which gives them the ability to just keep the plants
that they have alive? Okay.
Absolutely. And we can monitor
this valve is in plain sight.
We can see if our lock has been tampered with
and if they turn it on.
So we are going by on a regular basis
and making sure that that lock, uh, our padlock we have,
the key they do not is, has not been cut off of that tank
so they can turn that valve on.
So we would know if they did that.
So to clarify, so everyone's clear, Mr.
Lafferty's motion is to continue to allow their license
to be suspended.
So we're denying the appeal until they've met all
of the inspections
and the administration has agreed that they are up to snuff
as far as running their business,
and that we're allowing them to operate under the rules
of suspension, which is to keep their plants growing,
however that happens.
Uh, but they're not allowed
to have people in the building and so on and so forth.
Well, they have to have people in the building
to keep the plants alive.
Um, that is the only facility that has that caveat.
If, if you were anything other than a grow facility,
they would not be able to operate at all.
Nobody in the building. Um,
but they have to have employees come in
that was put in place, obviously,
because if they're not there, those plants could start
to die within days.
Right? So that was put in there to let them do the minimum
to keep them alive until they could be heard.
Okay? So we'll strike my last portion of that summary.
That is what we're voting on. Any additional discussion?
Okay. Hearing none, I will call the question Mr. Lafferty?
Yes. To deny Mr. Bokey Yes.
To, to deny Mr. Dwyer?
Yes. To deny Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee?
Yes. Rogans he is. Yes. Motion carries. Next item. Next
Item is 12.
A consideration
and adoption of a resolution approving the 20 24 20 25
emergency housing assistance
and related supportive services agreement
with the Oakland Livingston Human Service Agency.
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 12 B.
Consideration and adoption
of a resolution approving proposed resolution authorizing
and agreement between the city of Warren and Care House.
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. Noonan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes.
Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries. Next item. Next
Item is 12 C.
Consideration and adoption
of a resolution approving proposed resolution
authorizing an agreement between the city of Warren
and Harts for homes so moved.
Support, uh, support Noonan.
Uh, any discussion? Hearing none. I will call the question.
Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Nunan? Yes. Mr. Lafferty?
Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Ms. McGee?
Yes. Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is 12 D consideration
and adoption of a resolution, approving
and agreement between the city of Warren
and the Oakland Livingston Human Service Agency
for administration of a tenant-based rental
assistance program. So moved.
Support Lafferty Discussion,
hearing, and seeing none. Ms. Moore?
Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes.
Mr. Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Ancy is a yes.
Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is 12 e consideration
and adoption of a resolution approving proposed resolution,
authorizing and agreement between the city of Warren and St.
Vincent DePaul. So Somo
Support Dre Discussion Lafferty.
Discussion Lafferty.
Thank you. Uh, through the chair to Mrs. Hensley.
Before she retires, I would like to
have a, uh, we just passed these, uh,
the last four items in the last, uh,
one here of the agreements.
Uh, you bring these to us every, every year, every
Year, And we've done our allocations to all
of these wonderful partnerships in serving the community.
Could you please briefly summarize
all of them together for us? All
Of them together? Okay.
Um, the ones from,
and I have a little frog in my throat,
so you'll have to excuse that.
The ones from the Oakland Livingston Human
Service Agency serve.
All of the clients that we serve are low,
low to moderate income.
And the Oakland Livingston Human Service Agency does short
term rent and utility assistance, move in assistance,
tenant based rental assistance.
The other ones are homeless prevention.
Um, hearts for Homes and St.
Vincent DePaul are Homeless Prevention Services
where if you have a utility bill that you can't pay
or you're late on your rent
or something like that, they'll help assist
families in, in that respect.
And then Care House, you guys are well, no well aware
of Care House that they help, um, abuse children, uh,
help them, the forensic, uh, appointments
and stuff to help get that all situated.
So yeah, they're all really good agencies.
They do really good work for the city.
It's, it's been a pleasure working with all of them.
Thank you, Ms. Hensley. Thank you.
I I can recall from the, my days working
with the Macomb County
and I was on the Board of Commissioners
and our time that you
and I served together in the Junior Chamber of Commerce,
that was a, a time ago.
I we're date we're dating ourselves. Yes.
But, uh, you know, it was a few years ago. Mm-Hmm.
And so we, we've, you've had a, a storied career in service
to the community, and I want to personally congratulate you.
Thank you. And thank you for your service to service
to humanity, which is the best work
of life according to the jcs.
And you've embodied
that your entire career. Thank you. Thank
You very much. It's very,
very nice.
And it's been a pleasure working with
everyone at the city of Warren.
So the citizens and the, the you guys
and all the other employees.
So thank you. I appreciate it.
Thank you. Any additional discussion?
Hearing none. I will call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr.
Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Lafferty.
Motion to table? I'm kidding.
Yes. Bring her back next week.
Mr. Boye? Yes. Mr. Newnan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes.
Rogan C is a yes. Motion. Curious.
Congratulations Ms. Hensley. Next item.
Next item is 12 F proposed resolution authorizing a lease
agreement between Selco Partnership, DBA
and Verizon Wireless and City of Warren.
And City of Warren Downtown Development Authority
and grant of easement policy, police Corridor
Communications Tower consideration
and adoption of a resolution. So moved.
Support Lafferty
Discussion.
Hearing none? I do have a question. Ms.
Michaels, maybe it's appropriate for you.
So while I know that we're not in the,
the council is not in the business
of negotiating the contracts,
the 30,000 a year seems really, really low
with 1.5% increases on their lease.
I feel like it's, you know,
probably a pretty valuable asset.
I don't know that for sure. But I would wondering if you
could just enlighten us on how we came to those terms.
Years back. We had a study performed back when we, um,
developed the PI contract at the Warren
Wastewater treatment plant.
And these rental payments are in line with what the,
at least the consultant that we engaged.
I can't recall his ex, ex exact figures,
but they weren't too far off.
And this is comparable to what we negotiate, actually,
it's almost exact to what we negotiated
with, um, new singular.
The difference there is
that the rental payment starts in year one
in this contract, whereas it started in year three
because new singular actually helped us with the height
of the, of the tower, which saved us money
with FAA compliance.
Thank you. Appreciate the explanation.
Any other 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 13.
A consideration of applications
and the appointment of one person to serve on the city
of Warren Election Commission.
Um, motion to appoint Jeremy Fisher
Support Election with discussion.
Discussion. Um, Madame Secretary?
Yes, I would just like to explain the process.
Uh, we did ask for applications, um,
applications were sent in.
Um, we made sure that each of the applicant applicants, um,
met the criteria of being a registered voter.
Um, and they weren't default to the city.
We also obtained just as a, a measure, um, the voting record
of each of the, the applicants.
And they're all very dedicated voters.
And, um, everyone not one is in default to the city.
They were all very good.
Um, uh, applicants, we appreciate, uh, everyone
that did apply.
Um, and, uh, um,
after thinking about it for a long time,
I think Jeremy Fisher is just the perfect person at this
time, uh, to, to take on that role.
Thank you.
Any additional discussion? I'd like President.
Mr. Bokey, We do have a little concern.
Um, Mr. Fisher is a Macomb County prosecutor.
Uh, the election commission is an important position.
Uh, he may come, it may come a time where he may have
to vote on something, uh,
that may result in his office being involved.
I think that's a conflict of interest
if the council is inclined to go ahead and appoint.
As I know we have an election coming, I, I would like
to amend the resolution to include,
we get a legal opinion from the county
prosecutor's office in the city if there's a conflict.
And if there isn't, then it's, it's a, it's a closed deal.
Uh, any other discussion?
Uh, I'd like to, um, say that I would expect
that Jeremy would, um, Mr. Fisher would recuse himself
if he was ever in a position where there was a conflict
of interest, is, um, I'd like to refer that to our attorney,
Schroeder, to see if that would be something
that would be acceptable.
Probably in, in the, uh, in the situation of the, uh,
functioning of the elections office.
We can certainly, um, look into that
and, you know, report back on any potential conflict.
But, um, I guess, you know, it's,
it's a statutory role here in Warren, in the charter.
Um, if there was a conflict, first of all, um, Mr. Fisher,
like Myself's a member of the state bar
of Michigan, he's an attorney.
So he has a heightened, um, not only awareness,
but legal obligation to not get into a conflict.
He represents the people of Macomb County
as a assistant prosecutor
and this aspect, he would be representing the people
of Warren as a election commissioner.
If there was any conflict, he would be duty bound
to not participate in any sort of conflict.
I think it would be unlikely, uh,
in most cases for something to come up.
Um, but if there are scenarios, I think he would
be duty bound to not participate in any decision
where there's a conflict as an attorney.
So whatever legal research would need to be done,
we certainly could do that.
Uh, another question from Mr. Schroeder.
Um, does that seem like something that would, uh,
hurt the functioning of the elect of the election commission
if one of the members was unable to participate in a vote?
The Election commission needs a quorum of two.
'cause it's a three member board.
Um, there's, uh, a issue we've had in the past
where the clerk or the, um,
city attorney can appoint someone in their
place if they're absent.
But we, the Charter now says
that this person is the appointee
and there's no picking up, there's no alternate to show up.
I will mention, you know, in the past
we had the city attorney sitting on the election commission
was voting to allow his boss,
the mayor, to continue on the ballot.
There are all kinds of allegations of conflict,
but, um, I would think that,
and hope that no one would
get themself in a conflict position.
And keep in mind, I remind the council,
this person is appointed at the will of the council.
So if somebody does something on this election commission
that's illegal, unethical, improper,
the council can remove them.
They serve at the will of the council. It's an appointment.
And that's in, that's language that was in the charter.
Okay. And so it's not for a term of office.
It's at the, it's a, an appointee of the council.
Furthermore, this appointment is required to be reviewed
at the end of the term.
So when a new council gets elected in, gosh, 2027.
Wow. When a new council gets elected, they would be at
that first organizational meeting of the council.
It would be required to be reviewed at that point. Okay.
So this is all, all in the charter.
So, um, I would think that, um, conflicts would be,
um, not permitted.
Now, if there was an involvement of the Macomb County
Prosecutor's Office, I would assume maybe if something was
referred from the Election Commission, let's say
that a candidate did something
and there was a referral for a prosecution,
I would assume at this point that Mr. Fisher,
if you were involved, he would not be involved in
said prosecution.
If he was the referring, uh, part of the referring body.
I don't think that would happen.
I don't know that that would be his assignment anyway,
with my understanding how the office is, uh, there.
But let me know what further research you need.
We'll do that and follow up. Um, Councilman Bokey as well.
I, I'd like to further say that I feel confident that, um,
we could go ahead and, um, accept Jeremy Fisher tonight.
I I don't see, uh,
there would be any substantial legal problem,
uh, with his appointment.
And I think that he would make an excellent, uh, person on
that com commission.
So, uh, that would be my recommendation.
Thank you, Mr. Nunam. Mr. Boe?
Yes. Madam Present. I'd like to respond to Mm-Hmm.
Uh, through the chair to Mr. Schroeder? Uh, yes.
I'd like to have a, a written opinion on that.
Um, it is, it's very, the election, uh,
integrity is very important
and I don't want anything ending up, um,
coming back to us.
Okay. I, I, I also recommend, uh, that that resend a letter
to the county to see if it's a conflict on their side.
I understand. They don't even have to respond,
you know, I understand that.
But, uh, uh, like I said, it's a,
it's a very important position
and, uh, if even if he was
to excuse himself of vote,
that doesn't stop him from arguing a
point with the other members.
So his influence is, could be,
you know, a conflict.
Certainly, uh, Councilman Bokey, certainly.
Um, the typical conflict rules,
and certainly the conflict rules that apply to the council,
um, would be that you don't even participate in the discuss.
If you have a conflict, you are not
to participate in the discussion period.
Uh, that's come up at council a few times, um, where
if you have a conflict, um, I know we've had a past chairman
who passed the gavel 'cause there was a conflict
not involved in the discussion.
The expectation would be that if he had a conflict,
he would not be involved in the discussion there.
But, um, certainly I think it would be unlikely.
Um, but in the case that it happens,
he's duty bound under his ethics as an attorney
to not be part of a conflict.
And certainly, like I said, you can review that, excuse me,
at any time this
appointment, the counsel, if there's an issue.
But we can follow up with legal research
and, um, the correspondence as you suggested,
Madam Chair, Mr.
Bokey, you still have the floor yield back. Okay. Ms. Moore?
Um, it seems to me, I, I know we don't have a, um,
an appointed city attorney at this point,
but historically we have had an
appointed city attorney.
And under the charter, the city attorney reports
directly to the city council.
So that's never been seen
as a conflict when the city attorney makes decisions
concerning his bosses, right.
That have been, if one of, if one of one of us,
it won't be me running for reelection.
Um, some issue came up.
The city attorney has always weighed in on issues
of sitting council people.
And I, I think if there's any conflict, it would be,
if something was sent to the prosecutor's office,
and Mr. Fisher couldn't work on that case.
That's the only conflict I would see. Not locally.
I can't see where an issue would be a conflict
with the day-to-Day duties of the Election Commission.
But you can, you can do that analysis.
But it just seems to me that if that were the case, then
we shouldn't have the city attorney whose boss is us
and the mayor,
they shouldn't make decisions on their right.
So I, I don't know,
The, the city attorney and every official takes an
oath to uphold the charter.
Sometimes there's honest
disagreements about what the charter means.
We've been through that. That's fine.
Uh, but if there is a true conflict of interest,
and, uh, then Ms no,
no commissioner should participate in it,
let alone someone who's a licensed
attorney, who's a prosecutor.
So, I, I think it's very unlikely,
but we absolutely will follow up with the requested research
and, um, letter as requested.
Thank you Mr.
Mm-Hmm. Mr. Bokey,
Just one more question, uh, statement
to, to Mr. Schroeder.
Uh, as you, as you well know, sometimes, um,
a conflict doesn't come until a lawsuit hits the courts.
So he, he could be involved in a ruling
and the person that thinks he was wrong files a lawsuit
and identifies him
and his argument and his brief.
And there we have the conflict again.
So saying that, uh, he could not vote on it,
he has the potential of a conflict later on.
Am I correct? Is it possible if he's part
of a decision on the election commission?
In my experience, which goes back, I don't want to say
how long, 22 years my first election commission lawsuit,
it was a councilman, no, it was a candidate for council
who claimed he lived in the city, but he didn't.
And, um, the election commission made the decision.
They sued the election commission
and the clerk, typically the lawsuits against
the commission as a body.
Um, just like the council, as a body has been sued,
it's highly unlikely as an individual he would be named,
even when the clerk is a defendant,
the clerk is being sued in her capacity as the clerk.
So I would agree that there's a potential
for decisions that would be made.
And this is all during city election season when candidates
for council, treasurer, mayor and clerk are filing,
and there are determinations to be made,
and also ballot proposals.
Um, those are really the, the decisions
that the Election Commission makes.
That would be cause a, a lawsuit.
But he could be, I don't think he would be
individually named in a lawsuit.
It would be the commission. And certainly any comments a
commissioner makes in a meeting or a motion made
or a reasoning behind a decision could be
the subject of, of a lawsuit.
Um, but those are civil lawsuits.
Um, I don't know that the prosecutor's office would be
involved as it mostly enforces our criminal laws.
So I don't know how the, um, streams would cross
between the civil lawsuit with the, um,
election commission criminal obligations
of the prosecutor's office, unless there was a referral due
to some candidate, um, you know, violating election law.
Also, keep in mind, they could refer, uh,
election law violations to the
Michigan Attorney General as well.
It doesn't have to go to the prosecutor's office. Thank you.
Yield back to chair.
Any additional discussion?
Hearing none, I will call the question.
Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer?
No. Mr. Bokey? No. Mr.
Newnan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes.
Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries five to two.
Congratulations Mr. Fisher. Next item
13 B Reappointment of Paul Jersey
and Charles Englin to the zoning board of appeals for a term
to expire September, 2027.
So moved with discussion
Support Lafferty.
Discussion Ms. Moore? Yes.
Uh, thank you. Uh, neither
of these gentlemen are in default to the city,
and they've done just a really,
really good job on the zoning of appeals.
We're lucky to have them and I wholeheartedly, um,
support their reappointment.
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 the next item.
Next item is request of the Crime Commission
to be exempt from audio recording requirement
of the open government ordinance.
So moved with discussion
Support Dwyer.
Discussion Ms. Moore.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Under section two dash 4 0 4, the recording requirement
of the open government ordinance states, any board,
commission or authority that acts in an advisory
capacity only may apply to the city council
for an exemption from the audio recording requirement.
And the city council may approve an exemption
by adopting a resolution.
They fit this criteria.
Also, residents come
before the crime commission at times
and bring concerns they have sometimes about their neighbors
and things going on in their neighborhoods
that they would like to be remain anonymous.
Of course, minutes are kept,
but people are not identified
who make complaints against their
neighbors for their safety.
Um, they have asked not to have an audio recording,
and I certainly agree with that.
And it's, you know, we, we've made this clear
that any border commission that feels it's too cumbersome
or they have other reasons not to be audio recorded.
Our, our main objective in audio recording
and video recording is that those commissions
that are expending large amounts of money,
and we wanna have a handle on that
because we can't be there all the time.
And then, and people should see
how their money's being spent.
And thank you.
Any additional discussion? Hearing and seeing 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 C is a yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is 13 D Council member Henry Newan.
Discussion, Inre Environmental Review Committee
update. So moved.
Thank you so much Support,
No support labor.
Thank you. Support And discussion.
Discussion, Mr. Newman?
Yep. Um, yeah. Okay.
So, um, now
that the planning department is set on creating an RFP
for a contractor to write our climate action plan,
we still need to establish the criteria we would ask
for from the consultants who would respond
with competitive bids.
Um, other matters that the, um,
environmental Review Committee has, um,
have been deferred to us, uh, on EVs, we have found out
that the DDA is planning to put in several fast charging
stations accessible to the public for electronic vehicles.
And, uh, the new tree ordinance seems to be mostly ready
to be sent over for council vote.
The Council's Environmental Review Committee is just
performing our final reviews.
Thank you.
Any additional discussion?
Thank you for the update, Mr. Nunan.
We will, uh, move forward with a motion to receive
and file, which this more Mr.
Lafferty. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay.
Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is 13 E,
which is Councilman Dwyer's update on the PRIDE
event Motion to approve
Support Property.
Thank you. Discussion Mr. Dwyer?
Okay. I just wanted to update everybody on the, um,
pride event that occurred on June 29th.
As many of you know, there were certain things
that were, were flawed.
I mean, the, the event was advertised as a family friendly
all ages event where in light, the problem was that a couple
of the vendors displayed sexually explicit items in plain
view for Al to see the location was
between the splash pad and the food trucks.
So you had little kids running
between the splash pad and the food trucks.
And here's these two vendors
with these sexually explicit items out there.
So at that point, I had many questions for the mayor
and the organizers, uh, about what went on.
And, um, I did get a response from the mayor's office
through the Acting City attorney.
One question was, who was responsible for the event
and who should be held accountable?
Well, the organizers
and the administration should share that the fact
that the Cultural Commission supported the event
and our city logo appeared on social media,
including Facebook as well as flyers.
And our city website holds the administration
accountable to a certain degree.
Another question is,
did the organizers take out an insurance bond?
No. That was waived
and covered by the city,
making the city liable for the event.
Next question is, did we get any proceeds from the vendors?
And the answer is no.
Uh, were any fees charged at all? The answer was no.
Um, who paid for the use Subsid property and city amenities?
The organizers did not.
The city provided the atrium and stage setup,
but they, they covered that.
So the organizers didn't have to pay for that as well.
The who paid for the setup breakdown
and rubbish removal, the organizers did take care of that,
who covered for the cost of the police presence.
Organizers say that they paid for one police officer.
Well, there were six police officers assigned to that event.
Three for the parade and three for the festival itself.
And some of those officers were getting
paid time and a half.
So it appears that certainly the taxpayers did put the bill
for some of the costs.
Next question is, who vetted out the vendors
and police The area
where sexually explicit items were being displayed?
The organizers had said they were shorthanded
and were not able to police the area as
that, as they had hoped to do.
Um, were any city of Morton code of ordinances violated?
I believe that there were,
there was at least one report filed
with the police department
and forward to the prosecutor's office,
but it was not furthered, but
because it did not meet all the elements of the crime,
had a parent on behalf of a minor filed a report
with the police department,
and they, they were present at that event, it would've been,
probably went through the prosecutor's office
because it did meet all the elements of the crime.
In closing, I, I can say
that the organizers did admit responsibility to much of
what occurred and did say that moving forward,
it will not happen again.
So that's pretty much the response that I got. Thank you.
Any additional discussion?
Thank you for the update, Mr. Dwyer. Uh, all in favor?
Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you.
Next item. Next item is 13 f uh, resolution
regarding police hiring.
Motion to approve with discussion support Lty.
Discussion Ms. Moore. Thank you.
Um, Madam Chair, we discussed this a couple,
I don't know if it was last meeting, a couple meetings ago.
Mr. Bokey brought it up, maybe Mr.
Uh, Councilman Dwyer as well.
Um, concerns about hiring
and the lack of, um, uh, enough police officers.
And so we do have a resolution to read,
whereas the purpose of this resolution is
to streamline recruiting
and hiring to provide the Warren Police Department the tools
it needs to reverse the current dangerous downward trend
of active police officers.
Whereas as the legislative body of the city,
the city council, as the representatives of the people
and taxpayers adopts the budget,
which establishes the priority
and fiscal policies of the Warren Police Department.
Whereas the City Council desires
to help the Warren Police Department attract the best police
recruits while maintaining high hiring standards,
which is an approach that better aligns recruitment efforts
and makes Warren Police Department more competitive in a
highly competitive job market.
Whereas Warren Police Department officers work
to protect the community are tasked with upholding the rule
of law and protecting life and property,
and put themselves in harm's way to fight crime,
get drugs off our streets,
and protect Warren residents and visitors.
Whereas Warren Police Department
and other large local law enforcement agencies continue
to struggle to meet annual hiring costs.
The City Council desires to create a welcoming environment
that attracts quality officer candidates.
Whereas the City Council has since fiscal year 2020 fully
funded Warren Police Department's recruitment plans
and supports the department.
Whereas for fiscal year 24 25,
the city council has budgeted 175 police officer positions.
And currently there are 23 police officer vacancies
and nine dispatcher vacancies with more on the horizon.
As we mentioned, two retired I mentioned today.
Whereas the city council
and taxpayers have worn expect a fully staffed police
department to protect the safety
and welfare of the residents
because the residents pay a dedicated police millage.
Whereas the human resources does not have the staffing
resources to certify passing police officer candidate names
in a timely manner resulting in applicant's going elsewhere.
Therefore, be it resolved.
The City council requests the establishment
of a hiring incentive program to provide bonuses
for entry level and lateral police officer hires funded
by salary and benefit savings from vacant Warren Police
Department positions to better compete against
regional jurisdictions.
The city council demands improvements in the hiring process,
including streamlining
and shortening the process with best practices such
as timely personal acknowledgement of application receipt
and successful test completion.
The City Council is committed to a process
of regularly reexamining the approved budget to determine
how best to allocate resources
and seeks to improve the recruitment
and retention initiative in a manner that focuses staffing
resources and eliminates potential barriers
that impede the hiring process.
The City council request that the administration
transfer the Warren Police Department hiring process back to
the Warren Police Department for a period of one year.
And after this time, the process may be transferred back
to Human Resources Section 7.25 of the City Charter
permits the Council by Ordinance
to describe additional powers
and duties to be exercised
by appropriate administrative officers, departments,
and boards or commissions.
And the city council may adopt an ordinance with respect
to Warren Police Department hiring
and tra transfer such duties if necessary.
The city council believes that it is in the best interest
of the city to allow the administration an opportunity
to address this problem
before adopting a permanent ordinance.
Therefore, the city council requests
that this resolution be transmitted to the mayor
and all relevant departments for action.
Any discussion, Madam President?
Mr. Bokey? I want to thank, uh, Councilman Dave Dwyer
for his input and supplying, uh, quite a few
of this information and this resolution.
Uh, we worked on it.
Uh, it was forwarded to our attorney, Mr. Schroeder,
and I owe all the credit
because it's very well written, corrected,
all my grammar and stuff like that.
Um, getting back to the situation, uh,
since I've been in council, every council meeting,
every other council meeting,
you've been hearing about the shortage of police.
Um, we still haven't gotten nothing
back from the administration.
Administration on a true number of people be, uh, vacancies
and how many they hired the posting for police officer is,
uh, as of last, last week was it even posted on a website?
And I believe we're currently down to two
from the last list.
I I don't know where they're at in the process.
Uh, this, this is a temporary fix.
Uh, we don't want to burden the police department with that,
but, uh, something has to be done
and we're hoping that this solves the problem
and getting recruits, good recruits on the police department
and getting them up to par with staffing. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bokey. Any, uh, additional discussion?
Not Ms. McGee.
I wasn't here on last week, so please forgive me.
Um, my concern is, uh, regarding the resolution is,
um, did not the, prior to
it being taken over by the mayor's office
and the Human Resource Department
that did not the police department not have issues with, um,
trying to get officers hired,
was there a recruitment retention process already in place
of which, um, they could not hire police officers?
Acting Commissioner Rush, are you able to speak to this?
Angela, bring your mic.
Apologize if everyone could not hear me.
My question was, prior to it,
moving over into the Human Resource department,
did you guys did struggle with hiring
police officers, um,
before it was turned over into the human resource
department for the City of Warren.
Police departments throughout the nation are struggling
right now to hire police officers.
Uh, the last, um, list that the police department completed,
we had 18 candidates on there.
Um, as, uh, Councilman Bokey said, uh, this list we're down
to one candidate, uh,
that's in the background process currently.
Okay. So my question is,
we came up with a resolution.
How would it change if it was turned back into the hands
of the police department?
Um, do you guys have a new recruitment
and retention process already
that you planning on putting in place?
Yes. Uh, again, the, the police department does have,
uh, a training division.
Part of their, uh,
job duties is recruiting new police officers.
Uh, retention, the only way to,
to address retention would be through,
uh, contractual issues.
Uh, obviously the police and fire con,
or I'm sorry, police fire
and the police command union contracts are all up next year.
Is that I, I know it's a struggle all over,
but I was looking recently at the salaries.
We pay a pretty good salary for our police officers.
Um, and it still had not attracted the number
of officers that are needed.
So by taking it out of the hands
of the Human Resource department,
which I'm sure they don't have enough people that can cover,
um, I'm just concerned about
how would it change for the better.
Um, and, and you may not be able to answer
that question right now
because you're gonna do, I'm sure you're gonna do all you
can to make sure that it happened.
And I can trust that.
Um, I'm just concerned about putting something in place,
a resolution that may not work.
And again, the only thing I could say is
that we handled hiring, uh, up to a year ago.
And, you know, we, we did it for several years.
Um, again, we're willing to either assist the, uh,
human resources department
or if it is sent back to the police department, uh,
we'll handle it like we did before.
Uh, the best thing the police department do is obviously we
can speed up the process a little bit.
Uh, we're cutting out the middlemen, basically, or,
or women in this case.
Um, so we can get those, uh, the background done and,
and things like that a little faster.
Okay. Thank you, Madam President, vice President McGee.
Just a few. Um, Mr. Newan then, Mr. Bokey. Okay.
Thank you. Action Commissioner.
Your action Commissioner Rushin.
Um, some of these, some of this resolution, I'm not sure,
um, whether
what the police department has already been doing is
what it's calling for.
For instance, on the second page,
it says, therefore be it resolved.
Do you have a copy of this?
Uh, I do not. I obviously listen to it. Read. Do we,
Do we have an extra copy of this to give
to acting commissioner?
No. Okay. Well, uh,
it says the city council requests the establishment
of hiring center program to provide bonuses for entry level
and lateral police office officer hires funded by salary
and benefits savings from vacant WPD, uh, positions
to better compete against regional jurisdictions.
Yes, sir. I, I'd like you to take a look at that
and see, um, does that make sense to you?
That's different from what you had been doing?
Is that something that you would know how
to implement as written?
Uh, yes. There's, uh, several other jurisdictions
that are offering these type of incentives currently.
Um, again, we are, uh, as
of last week an accredited agency throughout the state, uh,
being part of it, a accreditation process.
We can share policies that with other departments
and they share them with us.
Uh, we would be able to look at other department's policies.
I believe the incentive would be a contractual issue
that you would have to follow up with the union, you know,
the, the POA.
I'm glad to hear that. And then, um, the next, uh,
paragraph says on the second page, uh,
the city council demands improvements in the hiring process,
including streamlining
and shortening the process with best practices such
as timely personal acknowledgement of application receipt
and successful test completion.
Those seem like, like standard procedures
that everybody should be following.
Um, do, do you have ways of, um,
improving the hiring process, including streamlining
and shortening the process with best practices in mind that,
uh, so it would be better than what the,
the police department was doing before?
So, currently right now, if we went back
to the process in which we were doing,
it did shorten the time by several weeks
that we could get an applicant through the process.
Um, one of the complaints is,
and it's not a complaint, it's a competitive market.
Uh, Warren is a very good police department,
but we know there's a lot of very good agencies
that surround us and are Macomb County or Oakland County.
So getting that recruit through the process faster
gives us a better chance of, of hiring that recruit.
Excellent. So in other words, um, you would use every,
you would, you would examine the best current practices
and do your best to improve on what you had been doing
in line with what's, what's competitive?
Yes. Excellent.
And, um, let's see.
Also, I noticed that, um, in the second to last paragraph,
I think, where was it?
Um, this is supposed to last for one year
and then perhaps transfer back
to human resources.
Um, do you, do you think it should be, this should, uh,
remain in the hands of the police department, even if the
HR department, uh, gets enough staff?
Or do you think that that would be an encumbrance on the
police department and you'd like to see it go
to the HR department when they get fully staffed?
I believe the, it should go back
to the HR department once it's fully staffed.
Um, again, we don't know what the trends are gonna show one
or two years from now and what retention
and hiring's gonna be like.
Right. Um, you know, when I tested for the City of Warren,
I competed against over 750 candidates.
Um, now we have, you know, 10
or 15 people put in for the job, along
with many other really nice cities around us.
So it's just a different marketplace.
I can't predict what the
marketplace would be in a year or two. Okay.
Well, I just want, I want to know
that you welcome this task.
If they would like the police department to,
to do it, we could handle it.
Okay. It, I mean, it's a,
no matter who's doing it, it, it's work. I mean,
I'm not, it needs to be done. And
I, I, I hope you great success in, in bringing up the,
uh, um, police staffing to Par. Thank you so much.
I yield Mr. Bokey.
Uh, just a couple follow up questions.
And I'm not gonna, we had a committee
of a whole meeting on this.
Uh, there were 14 hires, uh, that,
that were made in.
Majority of those were off the prior administration's list.
Uh, the wording
for streamlined we're not gonna take shortcuts
or anything that, that wasn't the intention.
Um, it's all, the testing will be the same
as it was before.
But what, what I'm seeing and experiencing,
and I'll ask the commissioner, uh, if that's true, is
that it's taken so long that applicants are going elsewhere.
Um, there's, there's a, a, a span from maybe your, you know,
written test or physical whatever, whatever procedures.
And it's taken too long in between.
And the applicant's not hearing nothing.
Well, they're already certified
through the academy and they're going elsewhere.
First department that calls. Is that true?
That has happened, yes.
Okay. That's, that's, thank you.
Any additional discussion, Mr. Um, mayor Prom Dwyer?
Yeah. Just one quick question.
Um, regarding staffing levels, isn't it true
that the mayor's office earlier this year had you guys
in a hiring freeze?
I think that was documented, correct.
Uh, during the portion
where the hiring went from the police department, which was
doing it up until, um, approximately December,
maybe January, uh, when it switched over back to hr,
there was a, a short freeze in the hiring.
Okay. Thank you. I,
I can't honestly tell you how long it was.
Madam Chair. Um,
Madam Secretary, thank you.
Um, hiring went much faster
under the police department.
We know that, um, it, things have slowed down so much
that people are taking jobs, otherwhere, uh, other places
also, there's not even a job for a police officer posted
for the city, not in anywhere the city posts
or at MCOs or anywhere else.
So they're not even posting the jobs.
And you're not gonna get an applicant if you're not posting.
And we don't have electronic application.
So is somebody from Grand Rapids going to drive over here
to put an application in person when they can go to Holland
and or Southfield or Clinton Township and do it online
and find out that way?
I know people that have applied that never hear,
they don't know if they passed.
I know there were applications, I mean, put in
for the police commissioner
and people didn't hear for eight months.
They applied eight months ago and then got a letter.
Um, so things are just stalled, it seems
to be, um, right now.
And we just, you know, we're just, they're retiring,
you know, we've moved two, two steps forward, one step back.
So I, I just don't think we can take the chance
of leaving the hiring the way it is right now.
'cause I, we're gonna get to a, a crisis situation
in dispatch and some of the other places if
the positions aren't filled.
And people can only work overtime so long,
and it gets to be burdensome.
And so I, I, I think we have to do something now.
We just have to, you know, we're not, we're gonna have
to think about retire healthcare
and all those kind of things going down the road.
Be just to be competitive.
We raise our rates and Madison Heights raises theirs.
So that's everybody just climbing over each other's backs
to get candidates.
And so we have to be fast and on the ball
and use all of our resources.
And I think the police actually has a better network out
there to attract police officers.
And we, you know, if you have police officers come to PD
and apply or go through their interview process,
that's an opportunity where the PD
can sell candidates on us.
They can take 'em through the police department,
meet other police officers, have them talk and,
and say positive things about us.
They can't do that in the, you know, uh, HR department
because they just don't have, it's not the same atmosphere,
it's not the same field, it's not the same
information imparted.
So I think that's one of the things
that makes it more attractive
to go to the police department.
Certainly at this time, once we get things more stable, um,
you know, maybe somewhere down the line we'll have an expert
comes into the HR director that deals
with first responder hiring that has
that kind of experience.
Maybe, maybe it'll be a retired police officer that comes in
that goes and gets an HR certificate.
I, I think we don't, we have a, somebody in the department
that has a degree in city administration.
I think we have a couple people. Yes.
Right. So it's very easy, not easy, but you can go
and get a HR certificate
and, you know, maybe some down the, where down the line,
we have somebody that can handle this stuff
and maybe it stays there.
I don't know. But I think in the, in this short term,
we do have to do something.
And I have confidence in
The meeting, Mr.
Newnan, and then we'll move on. Okay.
So, um, acting, uh, commissioner Rushton,
um, I'm concerned about the quality of the people we hire.
I don't wanna rush through, uh, skip any steps,
but we have had settlements for, um, police.
I guess misbehavior might be a way of putting it.
And, um, uh, everybody likes good policing.
Nobody likes excessive use of force.
I was wondering if you can put any extra safeguards in
their, in your hiring when you're hiring, if, since that's,
I think, the direction we're going here, um,
do you have any ideas on that?
One of the, uh, most recent things is M Coles,
which is a state licensing board for police officers, uh,
has tightened the rules on disclosure from old departments.
Um, we were a victim of on at least one of these cases
that you're speaking of, that I know we were the victim,
victim of that department not disclosing a pass,
uh, that we should have known about.
Um, again, when you do a background, it is expected.
Now, if I go to another agency
to do a background on somebody, they are required by law
to give me all the information on that candidate.
Um, instead of picking and choosing.
I think that'll help us out a lot in the future.
I feel that's reassuring.
And I feel that the change in administration is a,
is a beneficial thing in this regard.
I hope that we don't have any more of those settlements
to pay, um, at least during my tenure.
So thank you very much for your, for your, uh,
conversation. And I yield
Thank you. And thank
you. Uh, thank you
for taking questions on the fly.
I know you were not
necessarily prepared for this, so thank you. Yep.
You're welcome. You're the rain.
Uh, I will, any additional discussion?
Madam Chair, Mr. Lafferty? Uh,
And I know we, we talked about this, uh, couple
of weeks back, uh, relative to the, the hiring process.
It, it remains my, uh, hope that, uh,
wherever this is placed, uh, I do have a preference
that police know their industry the best
and know that what to do, who to look for, how
to recruit, how to retain.
Uh, I think, I think this is very well placed,
but I am, I'm still very focused on the process.
We have a process today comparing it to other municipalities
and ensuring that we are in line
with their competitive process so
that we can be equally competitive in ensuring, you know,
when they're, these candidates are, um, you know,
out there looking for, for a job that, you know,
they get one or two or three offers.
That we are right there with all
of the other municipalities trying to get the best talent
that we possibly can to serve the city.
Thank you. I will call the question Ms. Moore.
Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr.
Bokey? Yes. Uh, Mr. Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee?
Yes. Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is 14 a veto filed
September 14th, 2024.
Request of the library director to award bid ITBW 1322,
printing, bundling, and shipping the Warren Winter Program
guide booklet to Grand Printing ink in a total amount not
to exceed $37,660 consideration
and adoption of a resolution.
Motion to override the VITA with discussion
Support. Lafferty.
Discussion, Madam
Secretary. Thank you.
Um,
this request came over from the mayor's office for us
to approve a contract to, um,
authorize or to create,
send out advertisements for the library
and the parks and recreation.
The mayor vetoed that action.
Now, if we can override the veto
and we can go back to our,
the way our motion is,
but if we let the veto go through, it will deny any funding
or any advertising at all.
So the mayor vetoed, she requested we approve something
and she vetoed our approving her request.
So, in essence, if we uphold
and let the veto stand, then
that is disallowing
the ads to go forward.
So, I mean, I think we,
I we would be doing the mayor a favor if we override the
veto, but if we let it stand,
then there's no advertisement that goes out.
So I, at this point, would sort of like
to help the mayor out a little bit,
and the departments to get the advertising out and over
and override the veto so
that we're not left without any advertising.
Is it
Madam Chair, Mr. Lafferty?
Thank you. And part
and parcel of the the veto was her objection to
an amendment that this council passed unanimously, which was
a simple method of oversight
and oversight, which would typically lay with the,
uh, with the mail-in Publications commission,
which is not seated,
or the Communications Commission, which is not seated.
It doesn't exist. And so,
and, and it was, uh, legis, it was, uh,
I think it was quoted as legislative overreach.
And this is just an effort in transparency.
We are not trying to, uh,
exercise our rights beyond the charter.
We're not trying to overreach
and say that, you know, we, we must be the, the arbiters of,
of all publications, given the history
of these publications.
We want the courtesy of seeing the final draft
before it goes to print.
I didn't, when I made the amendment two weeks ago,
I did not say we want three months to
see every single page compare the font type, the font face,
the style, the colors, the photos that were, we want
to see the final product, plain and simple.
And that will ensure that
this body has awareness of a publication that's going
to go out, nothing more, nothing less.
And the mayor is quite clear that none of us,
and I think herself included, none of us want this, uh,
these publications to be used as a political tool
or self enfranchisement, self, uh, uh, endorsements.
And so I think with that mutual understanding,
I am in full support of overriding the Bedo Tonight.
Madam Chair. Uh, Madam Secretary
and I, I think in the absence of having a pub,
the publications commission working
and the communications department, we suggest
that they be combined.
And I don't know if we're waiting on something from the
administration on that, or they're gonna do an ordinance.
Madam Secretary, I can't hear you speak up.
Sure. Certainly. The question was, this Council has voted
to request the combination of something known
as the Publications Commission and Mailings Commission,
and the City Communications Commission,
Councilman Lafferty referred earlier
to these two commissions.
The publication and mailing commission has been in the city
ordinances since 1967.
Um, this was, uh, a piece of legislation passed
by a council long ago intended to make sure that any
mass mailings or publications paid for with tax dollars,
which can be very expensive, are, um, done.
Uh, you know, it relates
to a matter matter of public concern.
It's fair, it's objective, it's accurate
considering the purpose and subject matter.
Um, whether the cost is justified
and to, of course, ensure there's no partisan political
or other types of messaging in these flyers.
It's not a legislative overreach in any way.
I mean, we can look up the state level.
Um, I think a lot of, uh,
residents get updates from their state
representative and senator.
Those mailings that you get with legislative updates,
those are mailings sent, uh,
by your legislator at taxpayer expense.
But there's all kinds of procedures they have to go through.
They can't just write, you know, anything they want
and mail it out at taxpayer expense.
Look at all the state agencies.
You go online, you see all these publications.
There's a whole process and procedure to make sure that
mass mailings and documents paid for at taxpayer expense are
truthful, um, objective and accurate.
And it's not that people are intending to violate the rules,
but it's a check and balance in the system to make sure
that a, a mass mailing at public expense
meets all the requirements.
So in this particular case, the council added this
as a caveat to the motion to approve,
because there is nobody sitting on the
mailings and Publication Commission.
There is nobody sitting on the Communication Commission.
These appointments haven't been made.
There's, they're the laws, the law,
and the city are, sorry, our ordinances are laws.
These aren't optional.
These aren't, uh, well, you know,
maybe one day we'll follow it in the future.
No, these are our laws in the city. We have to follow them.
So, um, that's, that's the background to it.
So it, it would not be a legislative overreach.
And I think one of the things, sorry, Mr.
I was, I I was Oh, you, sorry. Sorry. Go ahead.
Um, one of the reasons that we want
to see it is this is the first time we've done things this
way, and we had talked about many different models
and forms of sending out ads comparable to maybe
what the community colleges do for their, their, their,
their curriculum and things like that.
We just wanna see that's this first attempt at this sort
of mailing to see what it's like if it's
what we envisioned when we budgeted that item.
And I don't think anybody's looking to hold up anything,
or we would've upheld the mayor's veto
tonight if we wanted to do that.
So did you have something else, Mr. Nunan?
Sure. So, um, there are a lot
of different ways this could go.
And what I think you're saying is
that we want at least on the first one to see what
to see of the final draft
and to get an idea as to how, like
what materials would be printed on.
And, um, we're not interested in, um,
getting involved in editing
and, uh, but I think we would also like
to see these two commissions combined and seeded.
Right. And is
that something the mayor can do without further, um,
uh, effort on our part? Or do we need to do more?
We would have To go, we, we need
to combine them, right?
Um, two Attorney Schroeder
Through the, yes. So
there's two separate commissions.
The commissions have separate duties, but they're related.
The idea was if there's two vacant commissions,
one has three members, one has five, instead
of finding eight people to point,
let's combine them into one
and maybe make it a five member commission so that,
um, we can move forward.
So, but that would require legislative action by the council
to amend and,
and, you know,
probably delete the publication mailing commission
and transfer those duties to the communication commission.
I think that was sort of the direction.
But that amendment has to come to the council
for a first and second reading.
It has to survive a veto or a veto override.
It has to go through that whole legislative process for it
to be final.
So I'm thinking that, um, until that
that happens, maybe the council should be looking
at the final draft.
If it's awkward, if it, I don't want
to affect the timeliness of the publication,
and I, I think that would be unfair.
Agreed. Okay.
Agreed. I think we're all in agreeance
that we don't wanna affect the timeline,
which is why we're likely going to override the veto so
that the publication can go out
and based on, uh, the, the existing commissions
that are vacant could be appointed by the mayor.
Presently, there's nothing precluding Okay.
The mayor from appointing those commissions.
What we're suggesting so that we
can create more efficiency is to legislatively combine them,
which we need to do here.
But there's nothing precluding anyone from appointing those
folks now in that commission being seated. Mm-Hmm.
Okay. So, um, if the,
if the mayor seats those commissions,
then they could have the, uh, the task
of overseeing the publications
and we could get out of the publication review process.
That is their role, and we would certainly like that.
Uh, but I think that the, um, head of the library
and the mayor might, you know, feel otherwise.
But, uh, if, if they want to get rid of us, uh, in
that position, we don't, we don't want
to particularly be reviewing, um,
the library newsletter going forward.
But, so that would be an amendment to the motion to override
to v override the veto.
And go ahead and, um,
uh, is that all one motion?
Uh, and, and award the, uh, money.
How does that put, we already approved that.
The, uh, $37,660.
I probably, I would, uh, refer back to, uh,
distinguished Councilman Lafferty
since you're, you're really good at this.
Madam Chair. Mr. Lafferty,
What we voted on two weeks ago is,
was vetoed by the mayor.
So her veto stopped, suspended the action of counsel. Right?
That was her action. Okay.
So we voted
to approve the two mailings from Parks and Recreation
and the Library Commission, right.
Uh, in a, in alignment with our budget amendment
that we, that we made.
As I explained two weeks ago, we eliminated the,
the high cost of the news beat,
and we gave the money to the two departments
that have the most need to communicate with residents.
We approve that with the amendment, that we would have, uh,
the opportunity to review the final draft
before it went to print.
So if we override the veto tonight, we are essentially
undoing the mayor's veto, which allows
that action to go forward.
Oh, that's all we have to do.
That's all we have to do. Thank you.
Any additional discussion?
Okay. Hearing none, I will call the question.
This is a motion to override the veto. Uh, Ms. Moore? Yes.
Mr. Lafferty? Yes.
To override Mr. Dwyer? Yes. To override Mr. Bokey?
Yes. To override Mr. Noonan
Absolutely override? Yes.
Ms. McGee? Yes. Grogan. He is a yes.
Vito is overridden. Is that a word? Ridden? Can be, yeah.
Thank you. Next item. It is no,
14 B, which was table 9 10 20 24.
Request approval of the reappointment
of Oscar Zamora to the DDA.
I would suggest that stays on the table.
We're still kind working on, um, the direction of the DA.
Um, so we're just kind of wanting to put nothing against Mr.
Zamore at all. We're just trying to keep everything on,
on the table till we get everything figured out.
Okay? Next item is, oh, no, sorry. Your next
Item. Yep. Yep. Next.
I don't care. Go ahead.
14 C, which was table 9 10 20 24.
Request approval of the appointment
of Shaniqua Sanders Pierce to the Sidewalk
and Tree Commission with a term expiration
of June 30th, 2024.
Motion to remove from the table.
Support to remove from the table.
All in favor to remove from the table. A
Aye, Uh, mo motion to deny the
approval based on being in default to the city.
Excuse me. Support.
I, I didn't, I didn't
Hear point of order.
Just wait. You say if you can't hear
Point of order. Point of order.
I, I didn't
Hear. Ms. Moore, can you repeat
your motion?
Motion to deny based on the fact
that she is in default to the city.
Okay. Which by charter,
we cannot approve anyone in default to the city.
And that was supported by Mr. Lty?
Yes. Any discussion?
Hearing none. I will call the question. Ms. Moore?
Yes. Mr. Lafferty?
Uh, yes. To deny
Mr. Dwyer?
Yes. To deny Mr. Bokey? Yes.
To deny Mr. Nunan?
Yes. To deny Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes.
Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is D, which was table 9 10 20 24.
Notice of reappointment of John Perry
to the Civil Service Commission
with the term expiration date of June 30th, 2027.
Motion to re. Motion to remove from the table.
Support to remove the table.
All in favor to remove the item from the table. A
Aye, Aye. Any
opposed? Item is off the table.
Motion to approve his appointment.
Support To approve. Support.
Discussion. Anyone hearing now? I'll call the question.
Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr.
Bokey? Yes. Mr. Newan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes.
Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries. Next item.
I'm not sure we had to actually approve Mr. Perry,
but we're not denying him.
Receive, receive and
File. Ah, thank you.
Receive and file. That's witness.
Well, he got an extra, yeah.
Extra vote of confidence this evening. Next
Item. Next item
is 14 e Notice of appointment of Anthony CAA
to the position of Parks and Recreation Director. So moved.
Support Lafferty with discussion.
Discussion Mr. Lafferty?
Thank you. Being a, uh, ex officio to Parks and Rec
and being heavily involved in the Parks
and Rec, uh, area for quite, uh, quite some time now with,
in my first term, uh, the first four years
and now, uh, this term, Mr.
Cassan, uh, had had some rather large shoes to fill and Mr.
Trudo, uh, did the best he could with, uh,
the resources that were allotted to him.
Uh, Mr. Cassan coming from Macomb County, uh, again, someone
that I happened to work with, uh, when I was on the Board
of Commissioners, he was in Parks
and Rec department for Macomb County.
And so he's brought his expertise here
and the, the, uh, the spirit he brings to the office
and the the new ideas, the fresh approach is, uh,
is going to be a huge benefit to the residents.
And I'm very much looking forward to seeing what, uh,
what else he'll surprise us with as he, uh,
expands the offerings to Warren residents.
So I think this choice is, uh, well placed. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Any additional discussion?
Yes, I hardly concur with, with what Mr. Lafferty said.
I don't have the length of experience as he does,
but, um, I'm very impressed with Anthony Ca Cato.
Thank you Mr. Newan.
No additional discussion. Okay.
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
14 F. Notice of appointment
of Tracy at ALARM
to the City Crime Commission with an expiration
of term June 30th, 2024.
Motion to deny
because the candidate is in default to the city.
Support Discussion.
Hearing none? I'll call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr.
Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes.
Mr. Newnan? Regrettably. Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan.
See is? Yes. Motion carries. Next item.
14. G. Notice of appointment of Eric Quarter
to the village, his historic district commission
with an expiration of term March 31st, 2027.
Motion to deny for the same reasons.
Support to deny Discussion.
Hearing none. I will call the question. Ms. Moore.
Yes. Mr. Lafferty?
Regrettably. Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr.
Nunan With regret. Ms. McGee A ancy is a yes.
Motion carries. Next item
14 H. Request to
reappoint Eric Hunter
and Susan Celia to the tax increment finance authority
for a term to expire on June 30th, 2027.
And to approve the new appointment of Kabir IED for a term
to expire on June 30th, 2028.
Motion to approve with discussion
Support Lafferty.
Discussion. Madame Secretary.
Thank you. I would just like to clarify
that Susan Celia is actually not a reappointment.
She has been serving on the Tiff tfa,
but she was never officially, uh,
counsel was never notified.
Um, but she does a great job, so I don't see any reason not
to officially appoint her,
but it is a new appointment, not a reappointment.
Thank you.
Any additional
discussion? Yes. Mr.
Confirmation? We have to
Yeah. Approve
all, do we need
to break them apart? This motion to approve? Was
That it? Motion to approve.
Okay.
Yeah. Alright. Okay. Do they need to be broken up?
No. Okay. We can approve it in one motion.
I just wanna make sure it was in
receipt of that. Yeah. Thank you.
Uh, Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes.
Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes.
Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries. Congrats Mr. Ahmed.
See, we're getting there. Mr. Bato, we're
Close.
I just Wanna say thank you guys
and I didn't know there was gonna be today.
You, thank you. Yes. Next
Item. Next item
is 14.
I request of various departments for the reappropriation
of funds for equipment, vehicles, services,
capital improvements,
and grant expenditures
that were approved in the prior year's budget,
but not received or completed
by June 30th, 2024 in the grand total
of $33,284,592
89 cents.
Motion to approve with discussion.
Support. Lafferty Discussion. Madam Secretary.
Thank you. This is something we do every year
once we get into the new budget
and we have money that we haven't, we were supposed
to buy a firetruck and we have
$2 million to buy a firetruck.
Now we're buying the firetruck.
Now we take the $2 million to pay for the firetruck.
So this is just catching up on money
that was left over in the bank, so
to speak, for expenditures.
We do this all the time. Seems like a lot of money,
but it's just a natural thing we do every year.
Additional discussion, Madam Chair, Mr. Lafferty, uh,
Ms. Moore, this,
this seemed like this was a little later this
year. I'm not sure if
Maybe Mr. Fox was a little slow
on the drop today, this year. I
Don't know.
Aren't we all? Good evening, Mr. Fox. Good
Evening. Richard Fox, city Controller.
Uh, I think we are maybe a meeting, um, later than
what we've done in the past.
But again, Ms. Moore explained it, uh, very well.
And it's, uh, to reappropriate monies
that were in the budget,
but they weren't spent the last fiscal year.
And we're just bringing 'em forward so
that the money's available for those items.
Like a fire truck or like a road project. Mm-Hmm.
Yeah. And, and we've been incrementally making, uh, budget
transfers and, and light item transfers from the last, uh,
you know, from the budget between then and now.
Uh, you know, I, it was more just an observation that
it seems that we're just a little,
little later in the year making the master re appropriation.
We got the auditors in right now, so it's, we're,
we're pretty busy, but
Ah, it's the auditor, so, okay.
Fun times. Well that explains everything.
Alright. Thank you, sir. No, you're
Welcome.
You can go home now. Any additional discussion?
Hearing none? I will call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr.
Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes.
Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries.
Mr. Nunez stepped out. Next item
14 J Proposed ordinance amendment
to the Commission on Disabilities enabling ordinance Chapter
two, section two dash 2 65.
This is a second reading motion to approve with discussion.
Support Lafferty. Discussion. Madam Secretary. Thank
You. I believe Mr. Schroeder
has the language
that we want to adopt.
Certainly this was passed on a first reading, um,
and the council, um, did make a motion to delete a sentence,
which was, all members shall have a demonstrated interest in
fostering inclusion and removing barriers
for people living with a disability.
Um, that discussion was based around, you know,
maybe the commission could have more members than that, uh,
with other interests as well.
Um, so the motion should be to approve
for a second reading with the following amendment.
I did get, uh, Ms. Michaels,
I don't know if she's here still. Um,
I can never see her. She hides
Back there. She is hiding.
Uh, I did discuss this with Ms.
Michaels today, um,
and we were in agreement the first sentence,
it should be stricken and shall read.
The commission shall consist of seven members appointed
by the mayor subject to Section 7.6
A of the city charter.
And that, um, it was council's, uh,
prior motion to delete the sentence.
All members shall have a demonstrated interest in fostering
inclusion and removing barriers
for people in with a disability.
So the, the motion would be to approve for a second reading
with those two amendments.
I could not edit what we had because it was a PDF copy file.
We didn't have the word document, but I can work with Ms.
Michaels to ensure
that the proper language is in the final version that's sent
to the clerk for publication.
If the council is amenable to this change in the reason
for the change on the, um, the appointment, uh, is
that we're trying to be consistent
with the changes we made previously to council's ordinances
where, um, appointments are made by the mayor, subject
to 7.6 a of the city charter,
where the council then receives notice
of the appointment like we have tonight.
And so the language is consistent.
It was just awkward, very
Awkward. The
first it was, but we've made it consistent.
So, um, that's the reason for that.
Thank you. Any additional discussion?
Hearing and seeing none? I will call the question.
Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes.
Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Yes.
Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries. Next item,
14 K. Proposed ordinance
to amend Chapter two, article five,
division 2.5 of the code of ordinances of the city of Warren
entitled Downtown Development Authority.
This is a second reading. 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. Nunan?
Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes.
Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is audience participation regardless of topic.
Thank you. First up is Yvonne Pao.
I don't know if I said it correctly again.
I'm, I'm trying three minutes. Okay.
Good evening. I would like to say thank you to the board
of City of Warren Council for acknowledging the,
uh, communities complaints.
I also would like to thank Sergeant Brian Stanko
for a fast response.
Most of all, officer m uh, Paraic
badge number 0 3 1.
Excellent job. The guy needs a pat.
I tell you on his back, our community does have heart.
I'm gonna be cheerful. Honesty about our feelings, bad
or good e for the motions of our park being rebuilt.
I never seen so many people so happy.
A, for awareness of, um,
we are happy that things are being done around our community
are for the relationships of our unity,
despite all of the conflict and chaos that's been going on.
And teamwork. Thank you for Mr. And Mrs.
Drunk Wayne, uh, Wesley Arnold,
and Robert, uh, Baco.
Mino. I just wanna say thanks
for not giving up on our community,
and thank you for listening to our community's complaints.
You have a good night.
Thank you. Next is Lori Harris.
I wrote out my speech so I could be succinct.
Uh, but I have a couple other things I need to add.
So this marijuana business on Dender, I recall Mr.
Uh, Murphy saying that when it was re-approved in 23,
they already were aware that it was non-compliant since 21.
Okay. Why did we approve it? Why?
And it actually didn't get all the way approved. Right?
Thank you Mr. Laverty for looking into that.
So it didn't pass.
And they still knew it wasn't in compliance
and nobody enforced it.
This is, this is a problem
and it's not the only problem in the city like this.
We have to do better. Um, I wanna remind you, hi,
Tony and Dorothy Baker.
Thank you for fighting for a DA compliance.
And I hope that we can keep moving
and getting the city to do the right things, but mostly, um,
and, and I am very grateful that Mott Warren Mott,
um, the kids were safe.
And I'm sorry that you had to go through that. Mr.
Um, Lafferty. It breaks my heart.
So I would like to convey a message to the mayor.
Um, oh, I also would like to say, um,
that it's really interesting to start looking up, um,
who is managing campaigns?
Who gets invited to do things in the city.
Um, I think we need to pay attention.
Maybe also pay attention to who's, um, who's in default
to the city in our different, uh, boards, commissions,
uh, et cetera.
But I wanna convey a message to the mayor.
I've supported you and I know you,
and you aren't giving the citizens a reason to trust you.
We need to be able to trust you,
that you will be transparent, that you will be trustworthy.
And here's what I've learned about your time in office.
You have reached out to others in the community
and provide lots of photo opportunities for yourself
and others, yet you don't respond to citizen concerns.
You say you have staff to handle issues,
yet you continue almost a year with people
as acting directors of departments who are not qualified
and who have been proven to have made decisions
that were not in the best interest of the city.
You appear to surround yourself only with people
and gatherings that support your political party.
As our mayor, you can run in it, you can run in your party,
but your job is to include all the citizens
and not be so partisan.
Your outreach director made a mistake by sending out emails,
promoting a listening meeting about police Chief.
Not sure where he got all the email addresses,
but he didn't blind copy.
He didn't use a city email address for city business.
I emailed your office, never even received
a thank you for a concern.
Um, your decision to choose the police chief outside
of the state is your decision.
Will it be the right decision?
I don't know, but your refusal
to provide information, ah, turn the
Page. We're outta time. Thank
you. Ms. Harris
Is more telling about your lack
of trustworthiness. Thank you.
Your time is up. Next is Jerry Bell.
All right, Jerry Bell here again.
Uh, this time I want to talk a little bit about, uh,
the letter that the council received from the ACL U,
that six page letter that you received
September 11th, 2024, in regards
to your rules,
council rules and procedures.
Uh, basically trying
to silence some of us.
I told you that you all were wrong.
The A CLU pretty much ruled in our favor.
And right now, even if the people don't know this,
the A CLU can very well take the city council
to court and they will win.
Why? Why do you want to go to court?
Why would you want to go to court just to try to silence us
from speaking our mind, coming here to this podium,
speaking our mind, holding you all accountable?
I look at some of you in your faces today
and I can't believe you all would vote on it.
The right thing to do was to table,
table this issue.
You guys are making bad decisions
or are gonna make a bad decision.
I can say you have made some good decisions, counsel.
I can't give you that credit, but this is a bad decision.
Why do you want to go to court? Just to try to silence us?
I'm trying my best to not involve the courts
in this matter pertaining to you
all trying to silence us.
We have a voice as residents, we're gonna speak.
I'm gonna speak. I'm not gonna be afraid to speak.
And that's our right, that's our constitutional right.
That's our first amendment right?
And you want to take that from us.
So I would like to know from you, the council,
and any one of you can respond.
Well, Angela, you can respond
'cause you're the only one that can tell us where we're at
with this situation tonight
because when I leave here, I like to have some clarity.
'cause the moves that I will make starting tomorrow,
it's not the moves that I would like to make
'cause I try my best to keep our city out of court.
So please explain to us what you're gonna do
to address this issue. Thank you.
Thank you. Next is Salvatore Aiello and Dave Vanny Hall.
I had like to address an angel problem.
I've lived in the city of Warren since 61
in the house I'm in.
I've been here 45 years,
and the problem consists of a storm sewer
that will not drain after a heavy rain.
The street will flood and cell's got pictures of it,
and the streets flood so bad.
The water level goes right up
to the brick line of the houses.
My beefs on walls is starting to crack the house,
house next door to me.
Basin on walls cracked.
There's least four or five houses in the sewer
range that are cracked.
I talked to mayor about this three years ago.
He gave me his personal phone number to,
and sent the head engineer out from engineering.
He listened to me and he come back on his own time
after heavy rain and seen what I was talking about.
He told me, he says, I got good news for you and bad news.
He says, good news is I believe you.
He says, the bad news, the city council
won't pay to fix the problem.
His opinion at that time
was the pipes in 1962 when the subdivision was built,
the pipe was not laid correctly.
Having said that, and this is the only sewer in the
subdivision that does this,
and the water level gets so bad,
even a fire truck wouldn't drive through there.
One time, this is my neighbor Sal.
He lives right directly across the street
and he'll confirm it.
Two weeks ago, I called a brand new mayor
and she spent five minutes and she fluffed me off.
She hung up on me flat, didn't want to believe me.
I'm sick and tired of getting scammed and lied to.
They even set an inspector in my house
from Sterling Heights.
Now that one I'll never understand.
He had a schematic of the sewer system on Sterling Light's
letterhead, and he proceeded
to tell me the problem was on 14 mile, which is a quarter
of a mile away from the sewer.
I'd like to know that as of tonight,
the city council is my last resort to address this problem.
I'd like to know what your people would like
or plan on doing, and if they have any doubts,
my neighbor's cell will back up
what I'm, what I'm telling you.
Thank you. Uh,
certainly we can take down your information and follow up.
Uh, this is, I think probably the first time
of her hearing of it.
Uh oh. It's for new counsel.
So the res the response to, uh,
that council wouldn't pay for something.
I, I don't imagine that is the case.
Uh, I can't speak to that specific situation,
but we have put more money in
roads the past few years than probably councils before us.
Uh, so we can take your information, um, Ms.
Camp can, and, uh, we can follow up with you.
And one of us will personally follow up with you
to make sure that your situation is addressed.
Like I said before, I have exercised every option
available to me at the city level and absolutely no response
And I apologize for that, unfortunately, uh,
that you had to come here tonight.
And we will collectively do what we can to try
and figure out what, what response, uh, the city has
as far as your situation.
So if you could, um, Sal, perhaps, uh, you can talk to Ms.
Camp and get your phone number. Thank you. Thank you.
Next is Joel Vander. Linden.
Joel Vallen, longtime born resident.
We had a lengthy discussion here today about the hiring
practices of the police department,
which was un blemished
for years until Mr.
Fout said No more hiring.
We went through a one year thing,
or no, police officers were hired.
Then we're jumping through hoops to try
to get police officers hired.
And what happened? Commissioner Dwyer took over the hiring
of a, of those police officers.
He streamlined it. He didn't take shortcuts.
He streamlined it. He got the top man.
He could, he got him in here,
but we had more retiring than he could hire at that time.
But he did a hell of a job. What happened to Mr. Dwyer?
Well, our defunding mayor who wanted
to fund all the police departments when she was in the
house, she came to him with Jackie
and said, Hey, either you quit hiring
and let Jackie do it, or you're fired.
And she fired him.
Now we all know that all the vacant spots
are in City Hall.
I say well over a hundred different positions.
A lot of that comes down to Jackie.
I don't hear any of you talking about Jackie.
I don't hear anyone talking about the mayor
and her social democratic group wants to
defund the police officers and everything else.
Let's put the blame where it belongs.
Now, this new police commissioner coming in,
you guys are gonna have a little quarry
with him and talk to him.
I got a question I'd like you guys to ask.
If the mayor wrote the law, would he arrest her?
If he says yes, tell him to do it
Because she owes $500 to the county.
There's a warrant for her
and her, uh, finance report is a
freaking mess.
The last time I looked at it, which was just a few days ago,
she didn't pay her $500 fine.
She hasn't updated or put in her June one.
The stuff in the past was, uh, was horrible.
I don't know. She's trying to hide money.
I know that she was involved
or associated with my z
So were you, weren't you Mrs.
Uh, Rogan and my Z's sister, uh,
is being investigated for, uh, uh, taking
of 230 some million dollars from her own people.
Are you guys trying to hide all the money
that she gave to you guys?
You're at three minutes. Fiscal
is a campaign finance report.
You're at three minutes. Thank you. You, you very much.
Next is Glorias you have a good day.
Good evening counsel.
Lately more and more Americans are begging on
the streets of Warren.
It's heartbreaking. I wanna tell them, go
to the Texas border, tell them
that you're an illegal immigrant
and you'll be given housing, healthcare, a driver's license,
plane tickets for travel and education if you are in school,
and you will be promoted to the next grade,
even if you can't speak English.
But for homeless American veterans,
they are being kicked out of hotels to make room
for illegals In New York, the veterans are found
sleeping on the streets while the illegals are pampered in
hotels getting room service.
Amen. If you vote for Kaela, that's
what you'll continue to get.
It's already being done.
As for us older Americans,
she wants government issued healthcare.
No more private insurance,
and she will raise taxes to make us even poorer.
Her new plan is socialism.
That means government controls everything.
No more individual wealth.
We are in a brink of a third world war.
An amateur wanting to run for fame and glory. Can't fix it.
If you go for a job interview, you have
to answer some questions.
Like one, tell me about a problem you solved.
Biden made her the border, are
she did not stop the illegals coming over the border.
Consequently, we have some 15 million
illegals in our country.
They will deplete our jobs, healthcare, housing,
education, et cetera.
I'm glad none of you are looking at me.
Evidently, you know all of this.
And two, tell me about a time you took
the lead on a project.
I'm not aware of any. Are you? She has no new ideas.
Three. Do you have skills to keep our country safe
in Afghanistan?
She and Biden took out soldiers first
and left Americans and others behind as hostages.
And four, how would you turn the economy around?
Well, her answer is, raise taxes
and take away our private insurances.
And why should we elect you?
I can't come up with an answer, can you?
And six, what makes you the right person?
These are simple interview questions.
You are asked when you are seeking
employment from the debate.
None of these questions were answered.
We still don't know what our policies are.
This is not a time to get on the job experience.
A third World War is leaking by our enemies.
You're out of time, Ms. Anchor
To take our country down. Have a good evening. Watch
Who you vote for you.
Next is Kabi Ed. Thank you.
Good evening council. As well as audience.
I wanted to be part of a speaking in the podium.
I just wanted to know the many of you guys know me.
I'm Kir Ahmed. You guys already consider me as a TFA
commission, but thank you so much
and I'm a long time resident as well.
Thank you all. I really appreciate council as well,
mayors. Thank you.
Thank you. That is the end of audience.
Next item. Council response to audience.
Anyone have anything this evening?
No. No. Okay. Hearing none. Next item.
Motion to adjourn now.
Uh, support Ms. McGee at support. All in favor, aye. Aye.
Any opposed? Motion carries.
And I We are adjourned.