I am now calling to order a regular meeting
of the City Council, Tuesday,
September 23rd, 2025 at 7:00 PM Please
stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America,
and to the republic for which it stands.
One nation under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.
Roll call Madam Secretary Councilwoman Rogan. Here.
Councilwoman McGee. Here. Councilman Dwyer? Here.
Councilman Bokey? Here. Councilman Newan? Here.
Councilman Lafferty. Here. Councilwoman Moore.
We have a quorum. Next item.
Next item is adoption of the consent agenda. So moved.
Support Lafferty. Discussion,
hearing, and seeing none.
I will call the question. Ms. Moore. Yes. Mr. Lafferty?
Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Noonan? Yes.
Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C as a? Yes. Motion carries.
Next item. Next item is adoption of the agenda.
So moved with discussion support,
Lafferty.
Discussion Ms. Moore? Yes. The first item removing 10 A.
That is supposed to be at a little later time
and we jumped the gun a little bit.
Um, adding item 13
E, which is,
Lemme find my
favor, sorry.
One sec.
13 E's consideration
and adoption of a resolution to award bid
and approve contract for city project ITBW 1558.
Dewatering, dewatering
and incineration improvements, um,
as item 12 B.
Uh, discussion regarding the elected officials compensation
commission and as item C.
Uh, legal action following closed
session, I believe.
Um, Mr. Um, Nunan, did you wanna add an item
for discussion? Uh,
Yes, I would. I'd
just like to discuss
where the Van D**e corridor plan is coming and, um, the,
Uh, Van D**e corridor implementation plan, uh,
that was put together by Wayne State University students.
That will be 12 D. Thank you.
Any other discussion? Chair?
What was 12 C?
Yeah, you can See legal action relo session. Ah, okay.
Hearing and seeing. No additional discussion.
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? Yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is six.
A calendar of pending matters motion to receive
and file support.
Lafferty. Uh, I'm satisfied with the information
that Ms. Michael sent over about Bork Warner,
so we can remove that item.
We will, we will do that. Thank you. Any other discussion?
Uh, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed?
Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is seven a approval of the bills
of the General revenue funds.
So moved. Support Lafferty discussion.
Mr. Fox? I had a question.
There's a $1.2 million check to Comerica Leasing.
Oh,
Richard Fox City Controller.
Um, off the top of my head, I don't know what that is,
but I can certainly give you a report
On it. Okay. We can
call you tomorrow. Thank you. You're welcome.
What? Mm-hmm.
Okay. I don't Thank you.
Any other discussion? Hearing and seeing none?
I'll call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes.
Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Uh, Mr. Nunan? Yes.
Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is? Yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is seven B.
Approval of the bills of the water and sewer systems.
So moved. Support Dwyer. Any discussion?
Hearing seen? None? I'll call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes.
Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr.
Newan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes.
Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is audience participation for agenda items only.
Is this the only one? Yep.
Uh, first is Georgia Durga.
And Ms. Durga, is your item for, um, an item from the agenda
or is it just a general concern? I have
Two general concerns.
One is about the, uh, flyer that went out.
So I don't know if that was on the agenda or not.
The other one is not on the agenda. No.
Okay, great. So you can speak for a total
of three minutes when I call
general audience later in the meeting.
Yeah. Okay. Okay. Thank you. That is the end of audience.
Next item. Next item is nine a resolution commemorating the
50th anniversary of the Warren Consolidated School's Career
Preparation Center.
So moved. Support Lafferty.
All in favor? Aye. I will read this and you opposed? Yep.
Go ahead. Whereas the Warren Consolidated Schools' Career
Prep Center CPC has for 50 years served as a cornerstone
of education and workforce readiness in the city of Warren
and surrounding communities.
And whereas since its opening in 1975, the CPC has
provided students with hands-on training,
technical instruction,
and career-focused education in fields such
as health sciences, engineering, culinary arts,
automotive technology, construction trades
and information technology.
And whereas the CPC has prepared tens of thousands
of students for both higher education
and direct entry into the workforce, equipping them
with valuable skills that support personal growth,
economic opportunity, and community prosperity.
And whereas through its partnerships with local businesses,
industries, and higher education institutions,
the CPC has advanced regional workforce development,
strengthen Warrens reputation as a hub of innovation
and opportunity, and
provided employers with a pipeline of highly skilled,
motivated graduates.
And whereas the CPC reflects the values
of the Warren community by fostering excellence,
opportunity, and success for every student
who walks through its doors.
And whereas the Warren City Council recognizes
and honors the teachers, administrators, staff, students,
alumni, and community partners whose dedication has
sustained the CPCs mission over the past 50 years.
Now, therefore be it resolved
that the Warren City Council hereby commemorates the 50th
anniversary of the Warren Consolidated School's Career
Preparation Center extends its heartfelt.
Congratulations on this historic milestone
and expresses its deepest gratitude
for the CPCs five decades of service to the youth
and families of Warren and surrounding communities.
Be it therefore resolve that a copy
of this resolution shall be presented
to the Warren Consolidated Schools career Preparation Center
in recognition of this special anniversary.
We, uh, I was, as everybody knows,
I was on the Warren Consolidated Schools Board of Education
for a while, and the CBC was just outstanding.
And at the back in the day, they had a watch repair, one
of the very few around.
And, uh, I don't think they have that any, uh, longer,
but that was really a successful program.
And, uh, kids, you know, learned to fix
and they would be hired by Rolex
and some really fancy companies.
And, um, they, I think the restaurant is still open.
Uh, and, uh,
and especially today, I think we're all realizing that how
we have to focus on putting kids through programs
and not everybody going to college.
Yes. Because we have a shortage of skilled trades. Mm-hmm.
And we should be supporting these sort
of programs every time we can, in my opinion.
Um, I have, uh, sad News
Manager. Yep.
I'm sorry, manager. Yep.
Uh, I wanted to just comment on that.
I was a student at the Career Prep Center
in my junior high year and the,
or my junior year of high school, I should say.
And I took the electronics course.
My daughter on Elise was a recent graduate of Warren.
Martin, took the EMS
and Emergency Services course where you can come out of
that, uh, out of that program with enough credits.
And, and I'm gonna get this wrong.
I would need Gary Watts to tell me, uh, the, the right,
uh, the right terminology.
But you get enough credits to be able to work for
an ambulance service.
It, it's incredible the type
of skills you've come out, come out with.
Uh, the, the course that that I took
with electronics have served me, you know, in home ownership
and knowing how to do, you know, things around the house.
It's, it's an incredible, uh, vocational education.
There's a lot to be said for it. Absolutely. Right.
Thank you. Additional,
And I'm sure I like to comment also. Oh, Uhhuh.
Go ahead, Mr. Roy. I'd like
to speak from a personal experience.
My, my son attended, uh,
that prep school while he was there.
Uh, he was in Instru instrumental his class in building a
home from scratch, uh,
the drywall framing and learned a lot.
Uh, he'd come home
and then he, uh, his, his topic was,
dad, you're doing it wrong.
But He learned a lot there.
And, uh, uh, he's older now and he takes those skills
and he still uses a, it was very good program.
Yeah.
Yeah. They've had many programs over the years,
uh, florists.
They had a flower shop. Mm-hmm.
People could learn to be, you know, flower arrangers and,
and all kinds of things over the years.
So I'm glad to see it's still there after 50 years.
Um, the next, um,
we extend our deepest condolences on the passing
of Sue Keffer, a devoted resident of our city since 1962.
Sue's life was marked by a profound dedication
to preserving Warren's history
and enriching its cultural life.
She served as chairperson
of the Warren Historical Commission, was a member
of the Historical
and Genealogy Society of Warren, where she led efforts
to protect and celebrate our community's heritage from
restoring land landmarks like the Bunner one room
schoolhouse, to advocating
for historic preservation across the city.
She was also deeply involved with the Warren Garden Club
and many other civic organizations, always working
to beautify and strengthen our community.
Beyond her historical and civic leadership.
Sue shared her love for the arts as a member of the board
of directors of the Warren Symphony Orchestra,
where her vision and commitment supported music
and cultural enrichment for generations of residents.
Sue ER's passing is a tremendous loss to Warren.
Her tireless contributions will live on in the stories we
preserve, the music we celebrate,
and the community she helped to shape.
We honor her memory
and extend our sincere condolences
to her family and friends.
Um, there will be a celebration of life
September 27th at 2:00 PM right here at the
Warren Community Center.
Um, all are welcome.
Um, they're going to have the, um, historical, um,
commission room open for the, uh, service, um, the Warren,
uh, symphony Orchestra.
There will be a string quartet from that, um, group.
Um, Mr. Lafferty is going to sing.
I'm not, I'm just going to speak.
You'll be glad to know that.
So, any, everybody is welcome and they would welcome.
If somebody wants to bring aside a dish to pass
or a dessert, that would be greatly welcome.
Um, one other item I wanna touch on.
We have a little time, um, but I do wanna talk about this.
As most of you know, um, on
November 4th on the ballot is a renewal
of our police and fire millage.
And the exact wording of that is shall section 9.1
of the Warren City Charter be amended
to continue the annual levy of up
to 4.6176 mills on taxable value
of property located in the city for five years
to sustain police
and fire safety protection if renewed,
this millage would renew the police
and fire safety protection millage levy expiring
after the 2025 levee, beginning with the July, 2026 levee,
and continuing through the 2030 levee,
the millage will raise in the first year
of such levee estimated revenues
of $21,332
and 963 million, pardon me,
million million $21,332,963.
And I would mention that when originally this millage was,
um, um, first went out, um, for approval was in 2012.
And since that time, the rate
of inflation is at 24 point
24% since that time.
So it's bringing us back to just about where we were then.
Um, and this past Sunday, uh, the president of the,
uh, Warren Professional Firefighters wrote an editorial
that I would like to read.
I can do that. His opinion. Can I do that?
The facts. I, Okay. Okay.
Um, I will just, uh, share some of the comments.
Uh, in Warren, public Safety has always been a cornerstone
of our community, families, businesses,
and neighborhoods thrive When they know help is just a call
away on the upcoming ballot, you,
the voters will decide whether
to renew the police and fire millage.
A measure that ensures our first responders have the
resources they need to keep us safe.
This renewal will not raise taxes.
Instead, it continues existing funding
that supports staffing, equipment training
and emergency response.
Without it, both departments face budget shortfalls,
that could mean fewer officers
and firefighters slower response times
and reduced readiness in emergencies.
The renewal continues the existing 4.6176 mill rate
that funds warrants, police, fire and EMS.
It costs the average household less than a dollar a day
with no increase.
The Warren Police
and Fire Departments are more than services.
They are lifelines every day.
These men and women put themselves at risk
to protect our families, our homes, and our livelihoods.
Strong public safety also makes Warren a more attractive
place to do business and raise a family boosting both safety
and economic growth when someone's having a heart attack
or when a family's home is on fire.
Seconds. Matter said, Joe Shearer, president
of Warren Professional Firefighters Local 1383.
This renewal ensures we have the staffing
and equipment to respond in time to save lives.
And I will end there.
And I am done with my comments. Thank you,
Madam Chair.
Mr. Dwyer. Yeah, I would just like to follow up on
what, um, Councilwoman Moore had to say.
And yes, the average household right now pays less than a
dollar a day to sustain police, fire,
and emergency services
with our current public safety millage.
Remember, this is only a renewal.
Voting no would lead
to at least 20 police officers being cut as well
as 20 firefighters do.
The residents really wanna roll the dice when the safety
and welfare of your family is at stake,
response times will be longer.
And if you or a loved one are in need of immediate attention
to an imp progress, crime
or immediate medical, medical attention for such things
as a heart attack or respiratory arrest
where every second counts, remember your vote,
your vote on the millage may very well affect the outcome.
I've been in law enforcement for nearly 40 years,
including time with the Detroit Police Department.
Needless to say, I have seen a lot.
I just want to ensure that all of us are safe and secure.
So please vote yes in November on the police millage.
Thank you.
Thank you. Additional announcements,
Uh, I do, I gotta bring it up.
I'm sorry,
Madam Sheriff, Go ahead.
Go Ahead. Go ahead. You can go
Far.
I'd just like to add a little bit more to the milage
and the police and fire.
Uh,
I Consider the milage like an insurance policy.
I mean, I, I don't like to put it that way,
but if you have an insurance policy for your car,
for your home, you may never use it.
But then that one time you need it, they are there.
And that's something to remember that, um,
I recall when an officer happened
to be in a hotel on Van D**e
and a young, uh, boy was started drowning in the water.
He was unconscious.
That officer be in there, saves his life.
Uh, so if you, if you think eliminating jobs, you know,
because you want to save a couple dollars,
my house insurance goes up every year,
my car insurance goes up.
I understand that. But the protection for the, the city,
the residents, their families, we have to keep that.
And if we lose that,
chances are we're gonna lose everything else the city holds.
And I'm asking that, uh,
Yeah. Can't, we can't say
yes or no. Cannot
Tell anyone how to vote.
Okay. So I understand that,
and I just want you to understand, uh, my,
my feelings towards this.
Thank you, Mel.
Hello. I know, um, I've received calls
regarding the property taxes
and just wanted to announce
that there will be a property tax town hall
on September the 29th.
That would be, that will be given by our own city
of Warren Treasurer, which is Lori Burnwell, along with, uh,
state representative Mike McFall.
It will be on the 29th of September on a Monday from six
to 7:00 PM um, located at the UAW region one.
Um, that's 2 7 8 0 0
drive in Warren.
So that will be on September the 29th. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Yep. Then I'll come back to you. Wendy.
Go ahead, Jonathan. Thank you Mr. Laff. Sorry.
On Saturday, a number
of us attended a picnic at Helmut Park, honoring Cert
and the number of, uh, members throughout the years, uh, we
were, were treated to, uh, a wonderful picnic, lunch
of hot dogs and hamburgers,
and then a presentation, uh, of awards for members
that had the most, uh, hours of service
and the most years of service.
And so this was a program that started in, uh,
the early two thousands.
I believe. One of our council members was, uh, one
of the founding members, uh, the class at one of the, uh,
uh, founding classes here, uh, Ms. McGee.
Mm-hmm. And how she got her start.
So, uh, uh, she shared a, a story with me with, uh,
Jules Soles as we, uh, we talked about the old days.
And these are the people
that you see directing traffic when the lights are out
and the police are racing towards a serious emergency.
Uh, these are the people that you see protecting an
area of a downed wire.
These are the people that you see, uh, directing traffic
for a big public event, uh, occurring in the city.
And we owe them every debt of gratitude.
They are an asset to our city,
and we thank them for their service each and every day.
They are a compliment to our public safety
and enable our public safety, uh, our police
and fire department to, uh, go above
and beyond each and every day.
So, uh, they are there to answer the Call of Duty,
and they are all volunteers.
So, uh, for their, uh, their annual, uh, picnic, thank you
for your service to the city of Warrenton.
Thank you, Ms. Moore.
Uh, Sunday, the, uh, Warren Police Department,
uh, faced off
with the Sterling Heights Police Department in a battle
of the badges baseball game at, um,
Jimmy John's Field.
Um, fifth year in a row.
Warren won, uh, they won 15,
15 to two this year.
Um, it was a very short game.
It, uh, it was, it was fun though.
Uh, the, uh, police honor guard was there.
They did a great job.
And, uh, commissioner Hawkins was there.
And, uh, deputy Commissioner Rushton
and lots of police officers were there playing,
but there were many there just spectating and watching
and cheering on the team.
Lots of kids were there. They had,
and, uh, the money that our share would, is covering, um,
the Explorer program, which is, uh, I think, um,
I think she's the administrator of that program, uh,
crystal Lajan.
Uh, so a great job to all of them.
The canines were there, that they were always a big hit.
Um, um, so that, and,
and one other thing I'd like to mention.
I would like to congratulate, uh, David Rent, who was, uh,
uh, approved tonight or,
or, uh, uh, not disapproved to be, uh,
continue his time on the Historical Commission.
He's been the chairperson
and they've, they've really been, had a lack of, uh,
members in the last couple of years.
They just do a great job.
And if there's anybody out there
that's interested in being on the Historical Commission, uh,
please come forward because it's really important that we,
we continue that work so that we can, uh,
I don't know if any of you have gone across the hall
and walked through the, uh,
historical commissions display
there, but it's quite interesting.
And, um, they, they work really, really hard
to preserve our history.
And also, congratulations to Carol Peterson
on her appointment to the Beautification Commission.
I think she has been on since the beginning.
Uh, and that's a very long time.
And, uh, she was chairperson at one time.
Uh, she's still a member.
And, uh, she happens to be my son-in-law's, uh, grandmother.
So she's, you know, sort of a family member to me.
So congratulations to both of them. Thank you.
Any other announcements? I have one quick one.
The planning department has
been leading the charge on the active mobility plan,
and they asked for me to share, uh,
that there'll be a public review of the plan
on October 6th at 7:00 PM in the community center,
which I assume would be in this room, but it wasn't clear.
That is the end of audience. Next item.
Uh, next item is 10 B,
which is a public hearing request to approve the demolition
of a house at 2199 Emmonds
through the Nuisance Abatement program
if someone from the city staff.
Mr. Lizza, could you summarize this for us?
You've got a couple, you might as well get comfortable.
I'm sorry. I also here, I dunno.
I, I will call for audience.
All good evening counsel.
This is, uh, kind of unusual house.
I've been working on this house for.
It's been a, had four hearings in the last year.
I mean, here's just a sample,
how many letters I've sent out on this property.
Um, it's a boarded house vacant.
It was kind of unusual when I first started this house.
When I came across this house on a complaint, I went out
and was ab boarded house.
There was someone, actually, when I went to post it, unsafe,
someone actually opened the door
and took the unsafe sticker,
unsafe structure sticker off the
door, and then closed the door.
So after I did have the hearings with the owner, um,
I guess it was a family member that had been staying there.
The water had been shut off at this house since 2017.
So there was no water service at this property.
It's completely boarded with some unusual graffiti
around the whole house, if
you've seen the pictures in the file.
And so I had hearings.
Our owner, the owner appeared at our second hearing,
and nobody fo showed up at our last hearing in April 24th.
So I had a hearing, four hearings on this once in October.
I had another one in November of 24.
I had a third hearing in, uh, February of this year, 25.
And then I had a fourth hearing,
and nobody showed up at that hearing.
And, uh, that was April 24th of 25.
But now I was un, I thought the house was going
to be in the tax revert list,
but there was one payment made a year ago, a partial payment
for taxes, which obviously kept it off the county
foreclosure list to be sold.
So as I, I went by there today, as it is right now,
water is off home is still boarded
and vacant. So
Thank you Mr. Lizza.
Yeah, ma'am. Are you the petitioner?
Do you live there? Are you in the neighborhood coming
to speak about the No.
Okay. So you are the petitioner, you're welcome to come up
and speak.
And if you could give your name for the record.
My name is Queen Chu,
and I have been going through problems with the home.
Uh, I did let a person of interest,
my kid's Father Robert Nichols live there.
He was supposed to take care of the property.
He didn't, I couldn't get him out.
I had been con contacting with Paul Za.
That's who I went through.
I did make a payment to try to save the house
because I did finally get him evicted.
He boarded up the house. He wrote all over the house.
He destroyed the inside of the house.
I just went in there today and looked, it is total.
But I do have help in getting the repairs done. Now.
I have a lot of people that's gonna support me
to get the house back up and get the boards off
and make it look like a decent home for that street.
Okay. So the way this hearing works is you have a seat.
You actually can't speak from the audience.
So if counsel has any questions
for you, we'll call you back up.
Okay. Um, but you can have a seat close by so
that if we have any questions for you, we can.
Okay. Okay. Okay.
Is there anyone, um, who from the audience who wants
to speak on this matter?
Okay. Hearing and seeing none,
I will oppose the public hearing
and turn it over to Council for action.
Madam Chair, Ms. Moore, I would, I would like
to direct a couple of questions to the homeowner if I could.
Please, can we get a motion in support first, um, um, motion
to approve with this support with discussion.
Thank you. Discussion Ms. Moore. Thank you, ma'am.
If you could come to the podium again.
Um, I have a couple questions.
One, have you, um, do you have an estimate of the cost
of repairs to the home?
Um, in the inside, the drywalling was going
to be about 3000.
I have to put in a new toilet, a sink.
I have to correct the, um, kitchen area.
I have to do a circuit breaker
because he took all the circuits out of the box.
So I have to redo all of that.
I do have someone, well, the electrician part, I, I have
to get a contractor for that.
But as doing the drywalling
and all that stuff, I already have
someone to do that. Okay.
What, do you have a timeline for that?
Um, I'm starting the drywalling next week,
and, uh, this Friday I'm doing Terminex for the Racons
that live there.
Okay. So,
Thank you. Thank you very
much, mayor. Mr. Lizza has some can add,
I got A question to that.
Well, the issue we have is post to vacant house.
So the first thing we would need
before we did any work on the house would be a city
certification special, permanent issue.
I mean, just the, just the permits are gonna be
800 or a thousand. I mean, by,
I mean, for us, we, I mean,
but I guess the, the owner's first step would be to come
to the billing department and get, if, if it she was
to work on it, we would have to have a city certification,
then we would, all our trades would come out building
plumbing, mechanical, electrical zoning, come out,
do their violation reports, and then those are the lists.
We'd work off that any permits required per violation sheet,
just like standard procedure.
So can't start working until we do get city certs on that.
It's one thing I wanted to make clear.
You have to start drywalling a house without,
Right.
I know. You have to get a inspection for the drywall nails.
Mm-hmm. Thank you, Mr. Lizza, Ms. Moore. I'm, I'm done.
Okay. Ms. McGee, my
Question, um, had you not
received the letters that were sent,
You can come, you can come back up to the podium.
He said he sent out several letters and,
and you had not shown up for,
They were sent to 2 1 9 9 Amons
and that's where he was residing.
Okay. So he basically took all the mail and just tore it up,
or like he said, he posted things on the house,
but I had no idea until I went to one meeting
and he showed me the pictures of how the house looked.
And I was telling Mr.
I'm, I'm literally was scared to go over there
because he used to threaten my life all the time.
So the mental state was, well, I'm, I can't go over there.
So he told me how to get him out the house,
and, which I did.
And when I went in, like I said, is
he did some damage. Um, were
You aware that you had to have this certification, um,
because no one showed up to the meeting?
No, but I'm willing to do the certifications.
Okay. Madam President,
Mr. Unen,
Uh, you say you, oh, sorry.
You, you say you have, um, raccoons
and, uh, you want to, uh, get terminex to, um,
rid, rid you of the raccoons.
They said they'll put traps down to catch 'em.
Do you have any idea how long
the raccoons have been there?
Um, my neighbor, um, like I said,
when I first went over there to really see the house
after he got out, my neighbor let me know
that she had seen them about a week ago.
She has seen a family of them.
Okay. So you really don't know
how long the raccoons have been there?
No. Okay. Because, uh, the reason why I say that is
because my mom let raccoons live in the attic
of a farm she had in, um, Emmett Michigan.
She let them live there for years.
She was somewhat eccentric in that regard.
She cared more about four footers than two footers.
And, um, I found out that there's a type of virus,
which, um, raccoons can carry.
It doesn't mean the ones in your house have carried it,
but, um, it, uh, becomes more
and more airborne the longer it's been there.
And it, it dries out and it can send people to hospitals.
And so we had to tear down the house
because, um, the house became actually a health problem.
And, um, I, I'm sorry to say this
because I feel that you're very attached to this house
and, um, sometimes the city council is lenient
and says, well, you have up until like two months from now
to get X amount accomplished.
If you get that accomplished, then we'll consider, uh,
holding off or changing, changing course.
But right now, uh, the motion is
to approve the demolition of your house.
Okay. And, um, so you say
that you're willing to go through the process of, uh,
what Mr. Lee said, um,
The certifications Yeah.
The city certification.
Um, so, uh, you're believing
that there are various people who are willing to help.
I'm sorry. Uh, you have to find out all the, if you,
if you're gonna do this, you'd have
to find out all the permits that were involved
and, um, be sure to get them
and get the work started, I would say.
And, um, would, would, uh, two months be
satisfactory to hold off on this?
I mean, Uh, okay.
I'm not seeing any, um, I, I would
Agree to a month ago.
I need to know if she's gonna complete it with this Mr.
He's got, okay. He's got questions. Yeah.
And John, Mr. Lafferty has
Some question. Okay. I'll, I'll,
uh, I'll drop this point for now
so I can hear from the other council people.
Okay, Mr. Lafferty.
Thank you. Good evening, ma'am. Good evening.
I'm looking at the, the tax history.
And it appears that taxes
have not been paid since 2020.
Yes. 'cause he was there.
So, but the taxes are in arrears,
at least there are sporadic history prior to that from
2015, uh, con,
pretty consistently unpaid 20 20 15 on,
uh, and the current year is also due.
So this, this house is in arrears of taxes, 10 years.
Um, when I went to put down on the taxes,
she said I only owed 1,400.
I I can see Because I took 1500 to her
and she told me my balance was 1,400 and something.
Alright. Yeah. The,
and most of the times when, when it's going back this far,
these, these records are with the county.
So you may have additional taxable burden that you have
to satisfy, um, which is going to add to the total
that you need to invest into this home,
um, somewhat substantially.
So I'm, I'm concerned there.
And then the Mr.
Lizza, you said that the, I'm sorry. Thank you, ma'am. Mr.
Lizza.
Okay. So you have not
been inside the house?
No, I have not. Okay.
So you've got just a visual on the outside.
Yeah. Once, once a home becomes bordered in the city,
it becomes an unsafe structure.
Cannot border a residential home in the city without now
it's, now, it's now unsafe
Structure. Mr. Lizza,
I didn't hear what you said. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. The house. We have a, the,
I have not been inside the house.
No. Okay. But obviously, I mean, when I'm listening
to the owner, it sounds like it's, I'm not sure what,
you know, there was like, like she stated, um, the guy
that was there, he was very combative,
but anybody came around, kind, understood, kind thing.
Understood. And obviously didn't take care of the property.
Okay. So The, the way I, I prefer
to approach this is to have Mr.
Laze perform an inspection, get access to the house,
perform an inspection,
and understand if the, uh, if the structure is worth saving.
Mm-hmm. I, I need to understand the bones of the house
and then get the reports back.
That is the only thing that I'm willing to, uh,
delay on at this point with the, the taxes unpaid
and the other repairs.
Uh, that's, that's a whole nother story.
Uh, so I don't have much confidence at the moment
that these, these repairs are going to be made
and the city be made whole at this point.
So that is, do
You wanna make that motion, Mr. Lafferty? No.
There, unless
I just have, I just have a couple more questions.
I'll, I'll wait to, for the tabling motion,
and I'll select a date here
while Ms. Moore gives her comments.
Okay. Um, Madam Chair. Mm-hmm. Um, Mr.
Lae, was this home listed as a,
was it registered as a rental?
And were the taxes, uh, changed to non-exempt
or, uh, homestead?
No, this, uh, was not a rental.
This house has been vacant for quite some time.
It was posted, vacant,
I believe in my spec sheet. I have the
Information. Yeah. How long's
it been vacant?
This home was posted vacant 10,
I believe, 10 years ago. I
Inspection 10 years.
There has been, the water was shut off in 2017.
Here's my,
all right.
So I basically went off the water usage
of the vacancy for eight years.
There were city cts
that were issued way back in, what did I write on?
15 and 14, 15 and 16. Nothing ever happened.
Nothing ever came of those.
So this house has basically been
vacant for probably 10 years.
I'll probably say an estimate.
The water was sh actually shut off
and has made off since 17.
Mm-hmm. They, I, I just don't see that the history is,
doesn't give me any confidence that somebody,
something is gonna be done.
Now. It's not fair to the, uh, uh, neighbors.
And especially if we have, um, vermin, uh,
raccoons in the house, um, I know what kind of damage
they can do to a, a home and I don't have any confidence.
I think the inside of the house is gonna be just a mess.
And I'm not willing to, uh,
let this go on any longer for this neighborhood.
We have too many places around town
that we're spending years and years
and years where neighbors have to look at vacant houses,
boarded up, not taken care of.
And, you know, this is just going
to get kicked down the road
and we're gonna end up voting to demolish it in six weeks
or eight, whatever it is.
I think we just, um, need to approve this tonight
and just end this suffering.
Thank you.
Uh, Mr. Lafferty,
I'm, I'm Gonna make a motion.
No, I was just
gonna say that. Thank you.
I just agree with you.
Um, um, Councilman Lafferty,
that we should at least get an inspection on the inside
of the home.
That's, I understand that it's behind,
but we should at least have, um, Mr.
La Jose to take a look at the inside the home.
And that shouldn't take more than 30 days, right?
I was gonna ask. Yeah. Electrical is 6, 6, 8 weeks out.
Madam Chair. Yes. Mr. Lty.
So, Mr. Las, one more question, Mr. Lizza,
how long do you need to get into the house
and have, uh,
have the violation reports written up in a structural,
structural reviewed performance?
Well, if Ms. Tu was to come in
and pay the 300 for the city certs, I imagine we, we have
to, we have to arrange for all five.
Basically. The owner would've to arrange
for all five our inspectors to get in
to do all their inspections,
which probably would be in within a couple weeks.
I'd say we we're probably not booked out longer than that.
I would imagine that all five could get out there building
electrical, plumbing, mechanical, and zoning,
and then they can all create their violation sheets.
And then the owner would have a list,
would have her five lists to go off of.
Alright. If I gave you until the 28th of October, would
that be sufficient for you to get reports back to us?
Yeah, I'm sure that would.
I mean, I think we'd be able, if, if the owner is willing
to come in and pay for the city certs
and get us out there, they, we could get them done by then.
I don't see any issues with that. Alright.
That's all on one week on our owner.
But, but the, the caveat to that is that the homeowner
come in and make all of those arrangements prior to
our next meeting.
Otherwise, I will be more than willing
to entertain bringing this forward at the next
meeting to disposition this.
Mm-hmm.
But We have to have some assurances here
that this is going to happen.
Yes. I have one more question, ma Madam chair,
if I, may you yield?
Can I ask a question? Uh,
Go ahead and ask a Question. Uh,
Mr. Lae, when the city certs were applied for in
whatever you said, 20 whatever was an
inspection done at that point?
Yeah, there were, there were inspections, nothing ever.
There were only origi only initial inspections performed
and nothing was ever fixed.
But, but we have The, I'm not sure if our current
owner was the owner then.
She may not have been. I'm just, I'm, I'm going off.
What I had in the system, which was the most recent was, uh,
almost 10 years ago, four, 2014, where there
asserts issued 15, there were SEARCHs issued in 16.
Nothing was ever passed in any of the inspections.
Nothing passed as of that was 10 years ago.
Yeah. Well, nothing's gonna get better in 10 years.
I gu I guarantee you, if the sit a house sits vacant,
it just deteriorates and deteriorates and deteriorates.
So, thank you. That's all I have. Mr. Lty.
I move to table this item
two to date certain.
I did have a question. Tuesday, October 28th, Ms.
Mr. Lafferty, Mr.
Bokey had a question that he wanted to ask. I
Didn't want to interrupt earlier.
I'm, is it, I will withdraw my motion to
Take. Thank you. We
will let you give it again in a moment.
Mr. Bokey, go ahead. If
You could approach those notices that were sent, um,
were they all to one address or did you try other addresses?
No. Yes. I after, um, basically
after our first one, then finally Queen and I spoke
and then I got her home address.
So then I was able to get her phone number
and send her the notices to where she was living.
Okay. And that's when she did inform
Me that, when did that Occur?
Somebody had been living there. She was trying to evict them
and she sent me the papers for the court to try to get
that person out of the house.
'cause she couldn't even get to the house. 'cause the
person was very combative.
And, uh, we had our third hearing
where she was still in process of removing
that gentleman then.
So we delayed all the way to our fourth hearing,
but nobody showed up at the fourth hearing.
I did have discussion with the owner on March 3rd.
And, uh, that's when I got sent to Court docks
to remove the gentleman who was staying there.
So we held off the hearing until April 24th.
And that's when, uh, nobody appeared at that hearing.
So the hearing officer declared it a public nuisance
and scheduled to come here in front of counsel.
So with that information,
you had contact with the petitioner?
Yes. 'cause I was, uh,
after our first hearing, I finally, I did get, uh,
find out her actual residence was
able to send letters to her.
I feel it's sufficient notice to the petitioner.
I'm not inclined to, uh,
give any more leaveway on it. Thank you.
Thank you. Now, Mr. Lafferty, please. Thank you.
I'll make a motion to table this item
until Tuesday.
Uh, October 28th.
Support noonan. Okay,
I will call the question Mr. Lafferty
Yes. To table. Mr.
Noonan? Yes. To table. Mr. Dwyer? Note
To table.
Mr. Bokey? No. To table.
Uh, Ms. Moore? Absolutely not. Uh, Ms. McGee? Yes.
The table Rogan C is a no.
1, 2, 3, 4, 4 nos. Motion does not. The item is not tabled.
I renew my motion to approve.
Support. Support. Mr.
Bokey, I will call the question.
Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr.
Lafferty? No. Uh, Mr. Nunan? No.
Ms. McGee? No. Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries.
Thank you. Thank you. Next item.
Next item is a public hearing request
to approve the demolition of a house in shed at 54 58 fer
through the Nuisance abatement program.
Mr. Laze, could you summarize this matter for us?
All right. All
have fire damage Home.
This fire incident occurred April 2nd, 2 0 2 5 this year.
Um, we posted it unsafe on the 10th.
Um, I believed that the owners
of this property are deceased.
And I believe I did get some information today.
But basically somebody's been basically squatting in this
house for a long time since the owners have been deceased.
Um, the house right now, the house remains fire damaged.
Um, I did notice when I went there today
that there was a winterization, uh,
letter on the front and a lockbox.
So I did call the winterization company
and, uh, spoke with them
and told 'em that there was a hearing for this.
So I found out from a property manager,
obviously hired from a mortgage company
that is in pre foreclosure,
but the house still remains in fire damage condition.
It's a block from the school
and nothing has been, nobody has contacted me on this.
And that's where we're at, where the gas is pinned off,
electrical meter is removed, and, um, it's, it, you know,
it's fire damaged property.
I believe it. Maybe the bank is working on this property,
but not nobody, it's, it's clean,
but still fire damage boarded on safe structure.
Thank you. Mr. Lizza.
Is anyone from the owner's, uh,
petitioner from this property here to speak?
And can you give our your name for the record?
Uh, my name is Robert Briggs.
Uh, I do contract work for ZVN Property Preservation.
Uh, we're the ones who enterprise the property
and we have been inside.
Okay. Um, you can have a seat and,
'cause you're not the actual petitioner, correct?
You're just a vendor doing the work? Well,
I, I work with ZBN and I am a licensed contractor.
But you're not the owner of the property? Correct. Okay.
Thank you. Is there anyone from,
is there anyone in the audience
that would like to speak on this matter?
No. Okay. I will close the pub. Sorry, a chair.
Do you, you don't wanna speak? Okay.
So I will close the public hearing and entertain a motion.
Um, motion to approve. Thank you.
Of support with discussion. Discussion Ms. Moore.
Quickly, uh, are there taxes owed on this property? Mr.
Lizza?
I am showing in my spec sheet the taxes are paid.
Thank you. Which is unusual about this house
is I believe the owner.
What I heard today was it may have been a family member.
Somebody had passed. A family member had been living
there, I think with a boyfriend.
The family member had passed.
I believe this boyfriend had been living in this free house,
basically maintaining and living there.
But I've heard that it was pretty bad
or there were some issues there.
Now it burned down. Burned
down. But we had a fire down. Yeah,
It's pretty bad. I heard
That's where we're at right Now.
Okay. Okay. Thank you.
Any other
discussion, hearing, and scene?
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 10 D,
which is an administrative hearing,
which was tabled August 26th, 2025.
Demolition of a house at 72 15 Jackson
through the nuisance abatement program.
Need to remove this from the table.
Motion to remove from the table. Support. Thank you.
Uh, Let's see. I'll call the question. Ms. Moore.
Sorry. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. It's a room at the table.
Ms. Moore? Yes. Uh, Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr.
Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes.
Motion or item is off the table?
Public administrative hearing.
Uh, we can get an update from Mr. Lizza.
Yes. I spoke with both our economic developer, I,
hunter Menkis and the proposed buyers, which are,
I think they're at our last hearing,
the licensed contractors from Structure Construction.
And right now, I believe they're drawing up the documents
and getting ready to propose a closing date.
So these, so the licensed contractors can buy the property
from us and repair it.
What do you suggest we do? Table it.
Sorry. It's okay.
I mean, we could, we could table it.
I mean, this, obviously right now I believe in legal.
They're preparing a closing day. Okay.
That's where we're at with that. We as well
Deny it. Deny it. Mm-hmm.
Just deny it.
Motion to deny support to deny.
Any other discussion, hearing and scene? None. No.
Call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr.
Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Uh, Mr. Nunan? Yes.
To deny Ms. McGee Yes. Rogan. C as a Yes.
Next item. Next item is 11.
A proposed ordinance amendments to chapter 22.
Criminal offenses relating to domestic assault
and protective order violations.
Second. Reading. So moved. Support Dwyer.
Discussion Here. And scene None.
I call to 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 11 B.
Proposed ordinance amendments to chapter two, article six.
Division four. Purchasing. First reading.
So moved with discussion support, lap discussion Ms. Moore?
Yes. We're going to schedule a, a committee meeting.
The whole in between the second reading.
This is, um, as you'll remember, perhaps, uh, in the 20,
in the 1920 to 23, uh, council term,
uh, we passed a responsible contracting ordinance.
Um, when we came into office in 23, we were asked
to put a moratorium on that and we did.
So, uh, now unfortunately, it's two years later.
I'm glad to see this because I'm the one
that's gotten the heat the whole time.
I get every union member calling me
around why this has not been on the agenda.
I checked almost a year ago
and said, let me bring in the, you know,
the contractor, see what's going.
They said, oh, that was done a year ago.
So why it's taken two years, have no idea.
But I'm glad we're at least at some point where we can talk,
start talking about this again.
We'll set up a, a committee meeting the whole,
'cause this is pretty comprehensive
'cause we're changing the whole kind of thing.
So, uh, we'll, we'll set up a committee meeting the whole
sometime before we do the second reading.
And, um, maybe we can combine that with the bandaid court
or that shouldn't take long.
Any other discussion? Okay. Hearing and scene? None.
I'll call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes.
Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Newan? Yes. Ms. McGee?
Yes. Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is 11 C, which is request to approve the 2025.
2026 Emergency housing assistance
and related supportive services agreement
with the Oakland Livingston Human Services Agency.
So moved. Support Lafferty Discussion.
I have a question that's probably for Ms. Michaels.
Um, is there any provision in the contract that
would protect if protect us if HUD clause back funding
or, I don't know, HUD decides to not exist anymore.
'cause the money is coming from hud, correct? Correct.
So is there anything that would protect us with
the vendor if HUD were to claw back funding?
Yes. If the, this is the landlord situation,
obviously it's subject to availability of funding.
So if we're cut off, then our obligation ends.
Okay. Thank you Madam Chair. That's good. Ms.
Michaels good. Just to clarify,
we're basically a third party administrator
of funds that we get.
We don't, we're not funding it ourselves.
We are using the federal government money
to get it out locally, correct? Correct.
We're an agent of the federal government, right?
Yes. Okay. Thank you. Any other discussion?
Seeing and hearing none? I'll call the question. Ms. Moore?
Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr.
Newnan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is? Yes.
Motion carries. Next item. Next item is 11 D.
Request to approve the agreement between the city of Warren
and the Oakland Livingston Human Service Agency
for administration of a master leasing plan.
Somo support Newman,
discussion, hearing, and scene.
None. I'll call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr.
Uh, Newnan? Yes. Uh, Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr.
Bokey? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes.
Motion carries. Next item. Next item is 11 e.
Request to approve the 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.
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.
Next item is 12.
A legal update. Mr.
Thank you. Uh, just a couple items today.
Um, first on the housing commission, um, reform, uh,
to the ordinance and a potential agreement between the city
and the housing commission for the operation
of the housing facilities.
Um, I received Ms.
Michael's markups to the draft ordinance
and we're getting close to being able to present something
to both the housing commission and the city council.
Some long overdue reforms
to the way our ordinance is drafted, uh,
vis-a-vis the state law that authorizes housing facilities.
Um, we do have a housing commissioner, uh, who did receive,
uh, correspondence from the city clerk
that said housing commissioner, um, has $55,700
in arrears to the city for various fines.
And, uh, what we call in default to the city,
the clock is running on this commissioner to pay the city.
Or at the end of 30 days,
that position will be vacant, uh, per the charter.
Uh, so we're monitoring that situation.
Um, we also have some marijuana
ordinance reforms coming.
Councilman Bokey sat in a meeting we had several months ago
and there's a lot of, uh, cleanup
and different things we need to do
to the marijuana ordinances.
Um, and, uh, that should be coming soon.
And, uh, finally, um, there's another project in the works.
Um, there's a long-term project, uh, uh, potentially
to bring a lot of housing
to the city workforce type housing to the city.
Um, and, and,
and just through, um, my work on the Land Bank with, uh,
Councilman Lafferty
and Councilman Moore, um, we've seen that, um,
there's a lot of sort of infill lots in the city.
Meaning there's a lot of lots where there's no home.
It's in a neighborhood, it's a buildable lot,
uh, but they're not all together.
They're sort of scattered throughout the city.
So, um, there's a developer who's gonna bring
what we call a pilot project to develop two homes.
And the city council will have to approve some
of the agreements that go along with this.
Um, and we're hoping to get these two homes in front
of the council at some point
before the end of the year to approve them
so they can be built next year.
And if it's successful, there could be dozens, if not dozens
of hundreds of more following if this works out.
It was very exciting. Um, I had meetings last week
with the attorney's office,
the assessor's office, the planning office.
And, um, so we're working on, you know, getting
the Land Bank input, city council, everybody.
So that's going very well so far.
So we'll be bringing that soon.
Mad Madam Chair, just to follow up just on, uh, what Mr.
Uh, Schroeder was saying.
One of the things I'm finding,
I've been attending conferences on Land Bank
and it's a lot of infill and you have a small lot.
And one of the things that almost everyone does is change
the zoning so that you can put a little house on a small lot
or maybe a multiple.
I talked to Ms. McGee today.
One of the things I found I thought was really exciting, um,
was that the Land Bank had built some duplexes
and they sold it to one person.
And so that, that person immediately had
an income property next to them.
And I thought that was really a great idea that
that could really lift someone's life up.
And there's really some cool things, you know, to do.
And I'm, I'm learning a lot.
I'm picking up every, everything I go to.
I, I'm no expert by any means,
but I'm, I am learning a little bit.
And all of these things I think are gonna kind
of work together.
This group that's coming in to do some infill projects.
There's a lot of incentives right now
'cause there's such a shortage on workforce, um, uh, housing
and there, there's incentives for, you know, pilot and,
and gap and insurance
because one of the things we're learning,
and I, I learned at the Land Bank,
no one can build anything right now at market rate.
The price is so high to develop.
You have to have incentives or nobody
will be able to build anything.
There is some talk about lifting, uh, tariffs
on some construction materials
and things, whether that's gonna happen, none of us know.
But that would ease things a little bit, I think.
But anyway, there the state has come up with some tools
to help developers, so that's kind of a good thing.
And we'll have, probably have more information on that,
some of these things later. Yeah. Yep.
Just respect to the zoning
and, um, I've been monitoring some
of the ZBA meetings as well.
Um, you'll see in some of the older section of the city
that you have like these setbacks and you have a small lot
and it just, it doesn't fit without getting variances.
So we're working with a very potential creative solution
to allow this housing, these houses to be built without
a legal proper way
to do this without having everybody come get a variance.
And so the planning department, the deputy, uh, planner,
Michelle, um, KA kapos.
Mm-hmm. So she had a very, very creative idea
and we're working on that too.
So this is good stuff.
Terrific. Thank you.
Um, motion to receive and file the legal update.
Motion to receive and file support. All in favor? Aye. Aye.
Any opposed? Thank you, Mr. Shorter. Next item.
Next item is, um, a discussion
regarding the elected officials Compensation Commission.
Motion to approve support lty. Thank you.
Um, Madam Chair discussion.
Um, I, I might need Mr. Schroeder to, uh, help me on this
to understand, um, the, the, uh,
elected officials Compensation Commission is actually
governed by state.
The state mandates when the meetings will be.
We have it in our charter.
Um, the rule is that the commission
must meet in every odd year.
The commission has not met,
to my understanding since 2017.
Um, when the new mayor was elected, within a couple of days
of that, I approached the mayor
and told her that that was the first, one
of the first things she needed to get done was that had
to meet in 25.
There wasn't much time,
but you know, I didn't know where we stood.
There were members already on that commission at that time.
Um, but here we are. Fast forward.
All of us have had conversations with the mayor.
Um, we have suggested, uh, commission, um, uh, uh,
potential commission members.
Um, and there is, state law says
those commissioners must be appointed
before October 1st.
And since the city council has to confirm them,
they are not appointed until council confirmation.
So we are beyond the point where this commission
can be appointed and meet this year.
So we are in violation of state law again,
and these decisions may not be made in a special meeting.
It has to be a regular meeting of the council.
And I'm very disappointed
because it has been two years since the mayor knew
about these requirements.
And we have all tried to help so
that we are not in violation of state law.
And I got a call from someone,
I think we all got a call from someone that had had, uh,
an interview, uh, to be on that commission, was told
that those appointments were going to be sent over.
They were not sent over.
And so now we have missed the point
where we can confirm those appointments.
And once again, so now the next time
that commission can meet and has to meet is 2027.
It has been nine years, I believe 10.
Since any raises have been given to any elected officials
or any consideration of a afterwards,
they're supposed to meet every 17.
They don't have to give a raise every two years,
but they need to look at it.
The city council, all appointees in the city,
all elected officials.
We follow the UAW unit 35, I think it's still unit 35, Mary,
um, Ms. Michael, sorry.
Um, and we follow their, um, benefits and,
and that, I mean, I so assume it would make sense for us
to look at what those follow the raises that
that bargaining had unit and to follow through
because none of the elected officials have been given, um,
cost of living raises or anything else.
We know how every expensive
everything has gotten these days.
We all give up a lot. We miss work to cover things.
And in two instances,
the deputies are making more than the elected official.
And that really shouldn't be that way.
So I don't know what the answer is.
I can't physically make someone do something.
Um, send over something for us.
I think some priorities need to get straightened out,
that we have to look at the charter
and make sure we're following every,
almost every single thing we look at
that comes up as an issue.
We find some mistake that the bylaws are 20 and 30
and 40 years out of date,
and they're not, nothing is taken care of.
It's been how many years to the housing?
Two years since it probably was brought up.
And, you know, we, we've gotta,
the charter has to be followed.
It's not just, oh, you know, it's not a guideline.
It's the law for us. So I'm very disappointed.
Um, you know, I don't know what to tell you all.
I've, I tried my best.
I know the rest, everybody tried to get people to, um,
apply and you know, I sent people to apply
and you know, I heard like, oh, we only need two people.
I sent people to apply, but I didn't get a word back saying,
oh, we still need one.
And so there's just, it's just this lack of communication
that is very, very disappointing and frustrating.
Uh, certainly in, uh, you know, something like this.
Once again, we're in violation of state law
and it's unfortunate.
Thank you.
Why mayor? Any Madam Prison? Any other discussion
There? There's no point in
trying to go
to the Michigan Attorney General
and get some kind of exception.
That wouldn't be a possibility, right?
I mean, there's no real exception to the law, right?
The law gives an obligation to the city
to appoint this commission by October 1st.
In an odd year, they shall meet, it says shall meet.
But if you don't have members you can't meet, right?
So, um, you need to have at least a quorum
of members in order to meet.
So there's really no, um, remedy here.
The Attorney General has no jurisdiction
to make an exception.
Um, it's a very clear cut path to do this,
and it just hasn't happened.
Okay. Question,
Ms. McGee, Could you not have,
I know I asked you this already, secretary, um,
could you not have like a emergency meeting for us
to verify within 30, like 24 hours that she was submitted
to us tomorrow so that they can meet on October 1st?
Like Microphone?
I'm saying if they submitted the applicants to us tomorrow
to tomorrow to verify, um,
and they can, we all agreed we can move forward
by October 1st for their first meeting.
Jeff, I'm sorry, I can't hear you.
Your microphone. Regular
Meeting. You'll have to look there.
You need to look.
Um, your microphone. We couldn't hear you.
We'll have to look into that. Thank you.
Take a recess. Yeah, mayor, make a motion
to recess for 10 minutes.
Support. All in favor? Aye. We are, we recessed
The mayor's secret.
Make more than the council Mr. Good call.
Yeah, it takes forever to get this stuff done.
All right, we are back. Next item.
Next item. Actually, we, sorry,
we are still on the election commission.
Yes, the Compensation Commission. Thank you.
Do we want to motion to receive and file
or do folks have additional matter?
Chair? I would just note that we have asked, uh, for a call
to be made to the mayor
and invited her to get that information over to us now.
Um, and uh, we have, we did find out that, uh,
maybe Mr. Schroeder wants to explain it,
but, uh, we thought we had to go by our city charter,
but state law preempts that,
and you could explain that perhaps
The elected officials compensation commission is
a creature of state law.
It's not a creature of the charter as such.
It replaces the charter.
Um, and what's interesting is an ordinance was passed
to allow the charter to be circumvented,
um, under state law.
This happens a lot. It's called the
notwithstanding provision.
And, um, so the procedure here is that
there are seven members on this commission in the city
of Warren because we have a population of over 20,000,
we members have
to be registered voters in the city appointed by the mayor,
subject to confirmation by majority members
of the city, of the city council.
So it's not one of those appointments
where the mayor appoints and the council can terminate it.
It needs city council approval.
Um, there's no requirement
that it be done at a regular meeting like, uh,
the city charter provision about administrative appointments
by positions created by charter.
So this is a bit of a, um, a maze at times
to look at state law and the charter and our ordinances,
but very confident that this is, uh,
the state law prevails here.
And, um, you know, the council could have, could approve,
but you need a majority members of the, of the council.
So you would need four votes of city council to approve each
and every member that would be appointed.
And this needs to be done before October 1st.
And, um, there's no exception.
Great. Thank
You. Thank you. Thank you.
And, um, uh,
one more question Mr. Schroeder.
Does, would, does this follow the same procedure
that the clerk has to be notified first or not?
No, the clerk would not have to be notified first,
although it would be a good procedure.
Um, the state law does not require that.
Again, this is not a charter based appointment.
It's a state law.
Yeah. And I would, um, also state that
to have a special meeting, we have to have five, uh, people,
uh, present at a, um, special meeting
and, you know,
and we have to have 18 hours notice,
um, to call that meeting.
So, we'll, we'll try to work
that out if the mayor sends that over
People.
Right. Okay.
Yeah, I mean, I would think that
that would at least give us time to make phone calls
and vet the people that are being, um,
because I do have questions, um, about them.
'cause I've heard some comments that were made
during their interviews and I would like
to confirm some of the things I did hear.
Okay. So, I mean, I may not be present,
so somebody else will have to ask my questions for me.
But, um, I will certainly try to be here,
but I'm working on California time this week,
so it makes it a little difficult for me, but, okay.
So I will make a motion to table this item. Okay.
Support to table
Ms. Moore? Yes.
Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr.
Newnan? Yes. Ms. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes.
Item is tabled. Thank you.
Um, the next item is, uh, 12 C,
which is legal action.
Following closed session, um, I would make a motion
to hire the firm of cot ster
to represent the city in the matter
regarding a city facility per discussion in closed session
on the same terms
and condition as the firm's current engagement
with the city so moved.
Support Lafferty.
I will call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Lafferty?
Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Noonan? Yes.
Mr. McGee? Yes. Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is 12 D. Um, Mr.
Newan has asked for an opportunity
to discuss the Van D**e corridor plan. Motion to approve
Support Lty Discussion. Mr. Newan?
Thank you kindly. Um, so to my fellow
city counselors, I've asked Mary Camp
to forward the MSU Practicum, Warren
and Van D**e corridor implementation plan,
um, which she's done.
And, um, there's a link down near the, uh, start
of the conversation where you can download the
implementation plan.
When, um, I originally challenged our voting in favor
of the Van D**e quarter plan, it was, it was just, I wanted
to know that it was gonna get implemented.
I didn't want it just to be, um,
a fancy document floating out there.
And, um, they went to great effort to figure out how
to implement it with the help of Wayne State University.
Um, and I think that some of your answers for the question,
outstanding questions you might have might be in that.
So I'd ask you to, uh, to download it and take a look.
Um, also, uh, I'd like to ask,
are there any outstanding questions that you know
of right now that I could take down and, um,
and help get considered?
Anybody have any outstanding questions about the Van D**e
corridor plan that's holding them up from, uh,
wanting to approve it?
Madam Chair. Uh, Mr.
Newan, the discussion that, uh, I suggested that we have,
and this was following our initial discussion, our committee
of the whole, when it was initially presented to us is
that we come back to a committee of the whole
and we have a thorough, uh, review
and presentation by the planning department.
Uh, we also include, uh, the, uh,
representative from Beckett and Rader
and we also have representation from
the City of center line.
Uh, if you recall, there were a number of, of issues
that we didn't understand how our portion
of the corridor plan connected with center line,
what their plans were when they
were considering implementing.
If they were considering implementing.
And so there seemed to be a, a lack of vision
and, uh, across the, uh, that section,
at least our section from the neighboring businesses.
And, you know, what were we, uh, going to approve if
we didn't know what the plans were for the commercial?
You know, the commercial lots, we, we had many questions at
that committee of the whole all were left unanswered.
So it absolutely not right for council, uh, discussion,
at least not in this form,
but a committee of the whole, where we can have a more
thorough and thoughtful discussion.
I see. That sounds great. Okay.
Thank you for, um, eliminating this,
this realm. I yield
Any other discussion?
I don't think this item needs a motion. No. Okay.
Receive a file. Yeah, receive and file. All in favor? Aye.
Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Next item.
Next item is 13 a proposed resolution
and agreement with Clinton River Watershed Council
for storm water community education services, consideration
and adoption of a resolution. So moved.
Support Lafferty
Discussion, hearing, and scene.
Then 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 13 B requests of the police department
to award ITBW 1683
to furnish four electric police patrol mobility scooters
to Trike Tech Inc.
In the a total amount of $53,392 consideration
and adoption of a resolution.
So moved with discussion support.
Dwyer, Madam Chair Dwyer. Discussion Ms. Mark. Thank you.
I, uh, uh, deputy Commissioner Rushin is here, uh,
to answer our questions.
I do understand, uh, that this is a grant
program and that's what is allowing us to purchase these.
I call 'em Paul Blatt mall things, but I'm not,
Yeah, we researched these, uh, approximately 18 months ago
while researching it.
We looked into funding, um,
and were able to obtain a community policing grant,
uh, to purchase these.
Um, some of the uses for 'em,
obviously it'll be the large events we have like the
firework show we just had a few weeks ago,
the drone shows and stuff.
It allows us to get through a crowd of people
where there's heavy traffic and events like that
or city fairs, um, more safely.
Um, and the officers can obviously, uh, respond to
emergencies if we had one, uh, quicker.
How fast do they go? Uh, just about 35 miles an hour.
So we can't catch it with those little smart Alex on
their, uh, dirt bikes running through town.
Well, I don't know if we wanna race any of them.
I know they find it quite amusing at times when they
sneak in places we can't get with a pro patrol car, so.
Okay. I just want everybody to know this was a,
this was a grant and, um, we'll look forward to,
they're kind of taking the place of bicycles.
They are. And they're more, again,
because of their speeds, uh, that they can go.
And again, for safety reasons, they're actually an upgrade.
It's the new, the new thing in policing, uh,
replacing the bicycles.
Great. Cool. Thank you very much. Any other discussion?
I have a quick question.
Is, uh, as a part of the grant, are there any maintenance
or, um, cost included
or is it just the cost of the scooters themselves?
It is the cost of the scooters.
They do come with a warranty
and offhand I do not know the length
of the warranty. Okay. I
Apologize. Thank
you Madam Chair.
I did hear that from some, some other people that had these,
that there are can be some costly maintenance issues
with them, but that may have gotten better over the years.
I'm sure they have. Thank you.
Any other discussion? Okay. Hearing and scene? None.
I'll call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr.
Bokey? Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee?
Yes. Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item is request to approve the reappointment
of Joseph Chupa to the Police
and Fire Civil Service Commission.
So moved. Support, uh,
support Bokey.
Any discussion? Madam Chair? Mm-hmm. Just to thank him.
He's been on here for a long time and appreciate his service
and, uh, his willingness to, uh, take on another term.
Any other discussion, hearing and scene? None.
I'll call the question. Ms. Moore? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr.
Lafferty? Yes. Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Nunan? Yes. Ms. McGee?
Yes. Grogan C is a yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item. MS 13 D.
Request to approve the appointment of INE Hicks
to the Senior Healthcare Commission for a term to expire.
June 30th, 2028. So moved.
Support Lafferty. Discussion,
hearing and seeing none.
I will call the question. Ms. Moore. Yes. Mr. Lafferty? Yes.
Mr. Dwyer? Yes. Mr. Bokey? Yes. Mr. Newan? Yes. Ms. McGee?
Yes. Rogan C is a yes. Motion carries. Next item.
Next item to MS 14,
which is audience participation
for general. Did I miss something? Yeah,
Point of order.
Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Mr. Fox.
The next item is 13 E,
which is consideration
and adoption of a resolution to award bid
and approve contract for city project ITBW 1558.
Dewatering and incineration improvements
to the low bidder FH Passin, SN Nielsen
and Associates LLC in the adjusted bid amount not
to exceed $110,300,000 and authorizing the mayor
and clerk to execute a contract. So moved.
Support Laffer. Support Lafferty. Discussion.
Discussion Mr. Lafferty?
Thank you. Through the chair to Mr. Fox who's at podium?
Good evening. Good evening.
This is, so we've got the, the SRF funds already secured.
Correct. And we approve the bonds at,
uh, what, two meetings ago?
That's correct. So the bond and the debt service.
So this is the award of contract? That is correct. Alright.
And the only question I had with the, the resolution, you,
there's a pay item number three
and the, the modification
for pilot testing results for 200 grand.
I'm gonna let Donna handle that
One. Alright,
Good evening counsel. Donna
Esky. Um, um, um,
Good evening, doctor.
Good evening. Um, to answer
your question, thank you for your question.
To answer the question, this was a contingency item, um,
that was included in a bid.
However, upon review, um, by, um, state, um,
by Eagle Department, it was determined by them that, um,
at the bid time this item did not qualify for funding
because it was contingency item
and it was pertaining
to an ongoing pilot testing it's related to emissions.
Um, so, um, it was determined by Eagle that if
during the course of construction that item
becomes warranted, then we have to approach Eagle
and, um, seek approval of that item for, um,
under the SRA funding.
So it's so, um, probable that if
it became needed during the course of the contract,
that they will consider review and approval of that item.
Um, but at that time when we were bidding,
they said no contingency, um, at
that time was, was not eligible.
Okay. That, that makes sense.
I just wanted to ask if,
and you already answered, you know, the first part
of the question, we can approach them.
They might, they might say it's, uh,
an eligible reimbursable
expense. Is that how that would work?
That that is correct. Okay.
Depending on the results of the pilot test,
which was happening at the same time
while we're bidding the project.
So the results of the testing
of the pilot testing were not available.
Um, but once, um, we know the results,
which test is still pending.
Um, and if it becomes needed during the cons course of
construction, that we have the right to approach e golf
for consideration under the SRF funding.
Okay. So, and then to Mr. Fox,
this will be a budget line item that will have to account
for contingency in the water department budget?
That's correct. Uh, so just to cover it,
'cause that will be sunk cost
and then we'll seek reimbursement if we get it or not.
Otherwise we're paying for it. You're right. Okay.
Thank you. I have no other questions. I thank you both.
You're welcome.
Okay. Any
other discussion Mr. Lafferty? Are you
I'm done. Okay, thank you.
Any other discussion?
Okay, hearing and seeing none, I will 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 now.
Audience participation for any item or no item.
Members of the audience who would like
to address city council this evening may do so
by filling out an audience form located at
the right side of the stage.
This is for general audience. I, um, general audience?
Yeah. General audience items? Uh, there is a monitor.
You have three minutes. Um,
if you need a countdown, I'm happy to do that.
First up is Georgia Durga
and you have three minutes total, um,
to talk about both the things that you wanna chat about.
Um, first I wanted to address the flyer that we got
and um, the article that was in the Warren Weekly.
And he just had a concern about, um,
the planning commissioner being asked to resign
because he was talking about property taxes.
And, um, I'm sure you all know property taxes are a big
issue for us that pay them
because they're pricing some of us pretty close
to out of our homes.
So, um, if misinformation is a problem,
there is some misinformation in your flyer
and it, uh, the flyer says it costs approximately
70 cents per day.
Um, and from what I un from my math, it shows that
that would equal a property value of $55,000.
And I can tell you no home
or condo in my neighborhood has a value of $55,000.
So, um, the way I calculate it, my daily value is $4.
So I think it should read something like an average is,
and I would say my condo is probably an average.
Uh, it's not gonna be 70 cents.
My other concern is, uh, I live in a neighborhood
where we don't get garbage pickup or recycling.
We have been trying to work with the council and the mayor.
I've lived there for four years.
We get passed from department to department department.
We've spoken with Mr. Lafferty.
We've gotten no, no really consideration.
So I am here to beg for your help.
We understand that we need to revise our pud.
We, once we start talking about that, we get passed
around from department to department, no help.
So I am asking what we need to do to get our garbage
and recycling picked up.
We did a study and found
that we have paid the city in the last several years, close
to a million dollars for absolutely no service.
One of my neighbors had asked for a dumpster
and they wouldn't even give her a dumpster to put out
for our own garbage trucks.
Our trucks that pick up now that we pay
for are the exact same size as the trucks that are,
are used by the city.
So that was one of the concerns. So that is not a concern.
We're willing to sign a waiver, um,
that we were asked to do.
And we still have no garbage pickup, no recycling.
And I can also tell you,
if you are at all concerned about green initiative,
I can almost guarantee that a lot of the garbage
that is put out would be put in a recycling dumpster if
the people had one.
So I'm begging, I'm asking if you can direct me to someone.
Mr. Lafferty, we've talked to you a number of times.
I've sent an email a year ago
with no response from anyone including the mayor.
Uh, September 8th last year.
I sent that, um, asking for help.
So I'm, I'm just here requesting some help
and some guidance as to what we can do to amend our put
to get our garbage and recycling picked up. Got it done.
Thank you. Next is Gary Watts.
Good evening. So what a surprise to learn tonight
that our mayors in violation of the state law
on the elected compensation officials compensation.
What a shock. Wonder how much other money that's cost us.
So anyways, I wanted to talk about the millage a little bit.
As you all know, there's three people out there
that are shoveling out disinformation on the millage
and they're comparing us to places like Troy.
You know, we have a $39 million budget in the fire
department, full-time firefighters.
And Troy has 10 and full-time inspectors
and a fully volunteer fire department
that's not compensated.
They have a $7 million budget.
There's no comparison to that.
I pointed that out to the individual that's spewing that out
and he will not listen.
So it's like banging your head against the wall, uh,
comparing us to Sterling.
If, if you look at the budget numbers on both
and the manpowers the crime, we're a totally different game.
And we, we have to have this, we it's gotta pass.
I think it will pass. But what
what brings me here again tonight is
I emailed the mayor about this and I got no response.
And we have two of those three people setting on commissions
and to go against our city like this
is so unprofessional.
They don't deserve to set on those commissions or boards.
And the one of 'em has a history of having to,
of being behind in his taxes.
And he's, last year's is delinquent
and it looks like this one's,
this year's gonna be delinquent shortly.
And, you know, I sent the mayor,
I think it's been about 30 days, haven't heard anything.
So I guess she'll probably be in violation of the charter
for not taking action on that either, which is really sad.
You know, you, you guys took action on another problem
and that should be coming up.
So we really should take a look at this
and somebody might want
to take a look at all the boards and commissions.
'cause in my spare time in the evening
and between watching TV
and what have you, I've been doing my annual, um,
look at water bills and taxes
and there's some eyebrow raises.
So, um, some people that are not within the, the charter.
But anyways, let's think positive on the, on the millage
and, uh, let's think positive on some hiring. Thank you.
Thank you. Next is Douglas Rice, and after Mr. Rice is
Lori Harris.
Um,
I'm a, uh, 16 year resident here in Warren Live on,
but Street Barn Road between 14 mile and Masonic.
It's a pretty nice neighborhood.
There's a lot of pride in ownership in
that general subdivision.
People keep their homes up their yards up.
A lot of families, young families moving in now.
But I've been there 16 years and in 16 years
and three of those 16 years I've been retired.
So I'm home all day.
I'm in the yard doing things in the backyard, doing things.
There's almost zero police patrol presence on that street.
And mind you, there's two schools on
that street in the section that I live in.
The speeding that occurs on that street is off the hook.
I had enough yesterday, I was out in the yard all day
and there was two kids racing rounding cars doing a minimum
of 65 to 70 miles an hour up
and down Barnard multiple times
through the day called the police.
Nobody showed, as far as I know,
they may have run a car down there once or twice.
I've called the police before I've talked to
and emailed the traffic division on suggestions to use one
of the two speed signs they have available to 'em.
You put it up, you drive past it,
it tells you how fast you're going.
Statistics show that those signs reduce speed
rather dramatically.
Um, I would say the average speed of
the driver going down Barnard at any given time of the day
is probably 35
to 40 miles an hour in a 25 mile an hour residential area.
Somebody's gonna get killed, a kid's gonna get run over,
an elderly person's gonna get run over.
And uh, we've had some of our own pets run over out there.
I dunno, I I just can't see why the city council
and the city law enforcement traffic division can't find it
within themselves to buy, spend $18,000 to buy one
of these full service traffic trailers to do everything
but write the ticket for you.
We got expensive flock cameras
and cameras at every single intersection in the city
where there's a traffic light.
For the most part, each one
of those flock camera systems cost a minimum
of 3000 per camera, plus the labor and installation.
I think the city should purchase at least one of these
Speed limit monitoring trailers,
and it basically has a flock camera on it
and it takes the information you need to process
and write tickets if they follow through on it.
You drive around the city of Warren
and at least 10%
of the flock camera intersections that are out there.
You're, you're at time, sir. There's
burnouts underneath the cameras. You're
You're at time. Thank you.
Yep. Next
is Lori Harris.
And after Lori Harris is Heidi Zimmer. Ziner Zimmer.
Sure.
Hi, Lori Harris and I, um, would like to,
uh, thank the gentleman for speaking.
Mr uh, Wright, was that your name? Yes.
Um, and I am positive that almost every place in our city,
we're all dealing with this problem.
And it is very frustrating.
It's frightening, uh, when people go
that fast on your residential street.
Um, I don't know what the solution is
and it's really not the priority, um,
because it's not the most serious thing
that the police would respond to until there's a tragedy.
I think it's terrible that we need to wait for tragedy.
Um, and I wanted to talk about this,
the millage renewal.
And I've been pretty, uh, proactive at responding
to people trying to correct their misinformation,
uh, in Facebook.
Um, and I'm, I'm finding that the, uh,
the desire to have, uh, the taxes only go for things
that people want them to go for, that seems to be an issue.
So someone wants our taxes only to pay for education
and parks and good things like that.
Um, and not the police.
Um, I am paying taxes so their kids can go to school,
even though my kids are all done with school,
there are people that don't have kids
that are paying taxes for schools.
So our children in our community can be educated,
but we also deserve to have public safety.
And I, I'm not sure how else we can get the message out.
Um, especially, uh, in a community
where there could be a language barrier, I'm hoping that
rational thought will happen.
Um, and they will understand that, you know,
we need our police and our fire
and we need them staffed even better
than we have them right now.
We are running them ragged.
Um, and I also wanna mention the library.
Um, I don't know if the contract was signed
yet for the new library.
Um, there, there was some, uh, discussion I think
between at the attorneys,
but I'm hoping that will happen very soon
and some progress can be made.
Um, and we're also, there's also been a, a add out
for a new library director.
So if anybody knows someone in this, in the area
or out of the area that, uh, is looking for a library job,
we'd love to meet them.
Thank you.
Next is Heidi. I think it's Zimmer.
And then after Heidi is Joel Vander Linen.
Heidi Zimmer, 1 7 4 6 8 Tenison.
Hello, counsel. In regards to the issue of the property
and Church of Pastor and Mrs.
Oosh, harvest Time, Christian Fellowship nine Mile
and Van D**e, I am asking that the city of Warren,
the City Council of Warren, and any
and all commission boards can cease
and desist all, all harassment toward them.
I have been on the property several times,
quite a few times, yay, even many times
while food was being distributed,
but I was not there to obtain food.
I was there on different business 100% of all the times
that I observed this process going on.
I was highly impressed with the orderliness, cleanliness
and organization with which this took place.
I used to watch my grandpa fixing watches when I was little.
Each wheel or spring would fit perfectly into the
next progression of motion.
So it is with harvest time.
Volunt help carry boxes
and bags to the cars of those
who were needing to obtain food.
Everything is cheerful
and refuse is being placed into the trash bin.
Everyone stands in line peacefully like a row
of obedience school children.
Nothing illegal is going on.
If I were there around 5:30 PM
pallets were being removed off of the parking lot
and they were all cleaning up after themselves.
They have a good system going.
Food distribution is an important mission to them
and to the community.
Please foster and support useful
and positive events in the town.
IE harvest time, food bank distribution. Thank you.
Thank you. Next is Joel Vander. Lenin after Joel Vander.
Lenin is Clark Corey, I'm not sure if
that's first name, last name
Joel Lin.
Long time born resident.
It really makes me sick.
I see a wor resident come to this microphone
and beg for their taxes
to be used properly
and to have garbage pickup at their home.
But that should be no surprise
because you have so many citizens coming to this microphone
and begging that we have police officers
patrolling our streets
because we don't have enough hired.
And it's been this way for a while for 30 men understaffed.
Do we have enough, uh, garbage trucks?
Do we have enough cans? Yes. Why isn't this being done?
That goes to the power of the city. That's the mayor.
She's not doing her job.
Now, this council brought up today
that the mayor is breaking the law.
She doesn't have this committee, uh, put together
for possible raises for elected officials.
I have to laugh that you guys all gave her
secretaries raises, which this year on the,
on the budget, and they're making three times as much
as you, you are the second most powerful position in
the city of Warren.
And secretaries are making more than you.
Maybe next time.
We should lower all their wages
and not pass anything until she comes to terms
with everything you want when it comes to the budget.
Next July, We want this, this, and this,
or else is a line item thing.
And your department sucks.
Now, there's a story in the McCone Daily about,
uh, Mr. Rush.
Officer Rushton,
maybe leave him more now.
Personally, I don't want Rushton to leave.
He's on top of his gain.
He's worked through all the stress and everything else
and his whole career.
He's on top of his game.
This is when you want him the most
to teach all these new people coming in
how to be an officer.
10 seconds. Mr. Vander Lenin. I'm sorry. 10 seconds.
And then you see what we have.
Uh, uh, Eric,
what we can do without Eric?
We did fine. You're,
You're At time without Mr. Hawkins, Mr.
Van Lin and Mr. Hawkins can go.
You're at, at time. Mr. Van Linn. Thank you.
Who brought Hawkins in? Thank you. The mayor.
Next is Corey
Clark or Clark Corey.
Not, you'll have to clarify.
Hello, name is, uh, Corey Clark. Thank
You.
Um, so I'm here to, I've been trying to purchase
a lot for almost four years now.
Um, I, I go down to the city building
and I, I talk to the, um, the staff there about it
and it, like, I just keep getting a run around.
Um, I mean, I even have like documents here.
I, the property is at
2 7 0 2 0 Sylvan.
Uh, the parcel number is one three dash 15 dash
3 8 0 0 3 4.
Um, I signed documents, um,
and I did everything that they told me
to do for the property.
And, you know, here it is almost four years later
and I still don't have it.
I, I don't understand, uh, why does it take so long?
And, um, when I go down to the city, uh, when I go down
to the city and they keep bringing up, you know,
about the city, uh, they're gonna pass this and that.
So I'm just here to see, you know, I'm just, I need,
I want some help about what can I do to get this property.
I, I don't see why it takes so long and I'm,
and I'm just asking for help.
We, uh, the members of council can't respond Okay.
To audience except for me. Mm-hmm.
Um, but we happy to chat with you after the meeting. Okay.
Thank you. Mm-hmm. Uh,
next is Gloria Sanker
With the death of Charlie Kirk.
Kirk, there's been a lot of talk about free speech
in warn Free speech is given in three minute intervals.
The audience's free speech is monitored
and rarely listened to
since you are usually distracted by other things.
When we get up to talk, we feel you don't regard
what we say as something important or useful.
When I invite other residents to come up
and speak, they say, why they never listen to us anyway.
You need to have a form where you consider what is said
and determine the usefulness of it rather than ignoring it.
Our three minutes are mostly monitored by the clock
with your eager anticipation of us getting it over with
as quickly as possible.
It's as if you really have,
it's already you have your mind made up.
And our contribution adds nothing to change it.
There are a lot of fresh ideas coming from the audience
that could be useful, but none are taken.
Our three minutes is a three minute censorship.
That's all it is. And
that is why you don't see new faces come up here.
They don't feel welcome.
We who do speak at satisfaction from the residents when they
see us, they say, thank you for speaking in our behalf.
Two weeks ago when I was driving in a neighborhood,
I saw a lady arranging flowers in her yard.
I stopped and complimented her
and she said, I recognize that voice.
You speak at council meetings. I said, yes, I do.
And I hope you approve of what I say. Oh, she said, oh yes.
And I never miss a council meeting when you spoke,
I knew I heard that voice that made me smile.
There are compliments given to us from time to time
as we come here to speak for the good
and the welfare of the city.
Trying to do good for the public has its own rewards.
But it would be nice if you would appreciate it
by listening to us.
Just as two of you aren't listening,
now you're talking to each other.
Free speech is what makes America great.
That's what Charlie Kirk died for.
If we could get the politics out of it
and the dislike for the speakers who come here,
we could accomplish so much more.
After all, aren't we all here for the same purpose?
To make Warren a better
and a good community to live in worship?
Thank you.
We're here for the Thank you. That is the end of audience.
Next item. Next item is council response to audience.
Madam Chair, Ms. Moore.
I, I would just like to state, um, that, um, we all have
to be very careful about comparing cities.
Um, for one thing, of the three cities that seem
to be compared or someone's trying to compare, Troy Warren
and Sterling Warren is very, very old.
Compared to the other cities, we are ne not going
to have the housing growth that either of those cities have.
Because we have been here so long
and we're developed, we, what we have left
to develop is mostly infill.
I mean, there's some larger parcels,
but not like the other cities have.
And if you look at Troy, we talked about
that they have a volunteer fire department,
but they're also newer.
If you go down like the 16 mile corridor, all
of those buildings are new.
So they are built with different cons.
They're constructed with different material,
which I would venture to guess are much better.
In the case of fire, they're almost every one
of them have irrigate, you know, sprinkler systems.
So they're just a totally different comparison.
We have our own wastewater treatment plant.
Nobody is comparing water rates.
I would, I would ask anyone to check water
and see what they're, what,
how much they're paying for that.
And Sterling Heights, the residents
have private trash pickup.
We have, we have our own sanitation, we have our own jail.
So there are a lot of things that Warren has
that the other cities don't.
And you have to compare other things as well.
We also have the, if not the second, very close
to the busiest district court in the state.
Second, second. And
that means we have the highest crime rate
that we have to deal with.
And much of that we are dealing with Detroit.
We are a border to Detroit,
and we are a buffer from between Warren
and Sterling Heights.
So comparing those three cities is not fair.
Also, it was brought up about the, um,
how much it costs a day that was built,
that was based on the average SEV of homes
and Warren, that that is the average.
And, and some people are gonna pay more.
Some people are going to pay less.
And we, you know, we understand that.
Going on to a different subject.
Um, I would remind commission members that
you cannot be in default to the city
and continue on the commission.
If anyone one is in default, you need
to clear up that default.
You have 30 days, um, from the time you are notified,
that means your water bills have to be up to date and paid
and not behind as well as your taxes.
Or if you have a property maintenance, fine,
that must be paid
or it's against the charter for anyone to be allowed
to be on a commission that is in default to the city.
Um, I would ask, I see Captain Beck is here.
Maybe we could throw up a radar over on Barnard
if we haven't done that already.
Okay, thank you. Yeah,
and we did, we did just, um, I don't know if we purchased it
yet, but we did put in the last budget for an additional,
um, what are they called?
Radar, I'll call 'em a radar checker or speed checkers.
But we did purchase an additional one
because we understand that there are complaints of racing
and, and I think that anybody that's paying attention, um,
the problem is in a lot of situations, uh, people that are,
uh, racing and speeding, our police go to stop them
and they run away from the police.
And then that is creating a chase situation.
And, you know, we have to be very judicious on
how we're dealing with that.
Uh, people don't wanna be stopped.
Oftentimes when they're speeding, they have warrants out
for their arrest for all kinds of things.
So we understand there's a problem
and you know, we do the best we can,
but you could only be so many places at one time.
No matter how many police officers you have,
they can't be on every single street
and be there to pre, you know, preempt any sort
of crime or violation.
Um, I think that is, uh,
just about it for me.
I see that Mr. Um, uh, Melli gave his card
to Mr. Clark.
Um, we are also sort of in the process of figuring out,
we have a land bank now we're kind of figuring out
what properties we're gonna put in the Land bank
and which will stay with the city.
So there may be some little confusion on
what we're doing with properties.
But, um, um, I, I'll follow up
and, you know, make and talk with Mr.
Elli and between the two of us try to figure out,
um, what the holdup is.
Okay. And thank you. And Ms. Ms.
Sanker, we do listen to you
and we do listen to the residents.
We follow up, maybe not at the moment of the meeting,
but we get information.
People come up and give their cards and they're followed up.
We don't ignore anybody, honestly, that that is the truth.
And we appreciate everybody
that comes out and gives their time.
Truly, we wanna know what you think, what you're,
what you're encountering.
We can't be everywhere all the time.
And we don't know there's a problem often
until you tell us it is.
And we do appreciate that. So I'm, I'm done. Thank you.
Thank you. Ms. Moore.
Madam President through the chair.
Ms. Mr. Dwyer? Yes.
In response to Mr. Wright, Ms. Harris and, um, Mr.
Vander Linden. Um, as far as, uh, police coverage goes,
yeah, we are short probably about at least 24 officers.
We have more retirements coming up.
We have other officers that are off on medical
and other reasons, which really
and truly puts us down probably about 35 officers.
And that's a big problem. I mean,
the hiring is going very, very slow.
And when it comes to answering complaints about speeders,
you know, law enforcement, we handle things by priority.
So everything's prioritized by dispatch.
So serious in progress type crimes
are at the top of the list.
You know, armed robberies in progress,
bean, he's in progress.
Um, those are pretty much priority number one, uh,
accidents, whether they're, um, injury accidents
or just normal accidents, those are at the top of the list.
So when it comes to speeders, it's just very hard
for us with the staffing.
We have to get to all these different locations.
I mean, we do have a traffic department, a traffic unit,
but I'm sure they're busy out there.
Shagging runs right now because we are so shorthanded.
So that's a big problem. We're trying to remedy it.
I know hr, our new HR director is doing his best in trying
to fill positions, but it's gonna take some time.
So we we're trying to do the best we can.
And on another, uh, matter as far as, um,
assistant commissioner, uh, Rushton, he is one
of the most well-liked, well respected
upper command officers in this department,
in the police department.
And for us to lose 'em would be terrible.
I mean, morale is really good right now.
And we lose somebody like, uh, deputy Commissioner Russian,
that's gonna be a tough loss for all of us,
and it certainly is not gonna help,
help the morale of the department.
And that's all I have.
Thank you Mr. Dwyer. Any other council response?
Madam President? Mr. Lafferty,
Uh, to Ms.
Durga, uh, you've spoke about, uh, heritage
and conversations that we've had.
Uh, I've had conversations with other residents, uh,
relative to, uh, the same topic of, uh, trash collection.
The, uh, the size of the streets, the depth of the streets,
the non spec compared to city spec streets, uh, that issue.
Uh, I have conveyed all
of those concerns to the mayor's office.
I have conveyed them to the City attorney's office.
Uh, they are aware of it,
and I have had conversations with the director
of Public Service Sanitation, uh, to, uh,
address those concerns.
And so I'm looking for the mayor's office
and the city attorney's office to, uh, finally, you know,
give some attention to that matter.
So it does not simply continue on.
And there is some explanation that everybody, you know,
will have an opportunity to understand.
So I do want you to know that it's, it's not, you know,
because counsel is not acting,
and I believe I, I penned a, uh, a response to
a numerous residents earlier this year.
It is not an issue that I can, you know,
propose an amendment to the PUD at the table
and we vote on it, and it's, it's done.
And fortunately, it's not that simple of a procedure.
So I've asked the city attorney's office
and the mayor's office to make that a priority
to give you a response.
And we, we await that to, uh, we await that to happen.
Thank you.
Any other responses? Madam Chair?
I would just like to follow up on what Mr.
Lafferty, um, said.
I was actually very, very involved in the PUD when
that was developed, when that agreement happened.
And, um, on my first term at council, the only way that
planned unit development was approved were
to make certain conditions on certain things
in that development.
Because the streets are not a normal width.
The right, the same construction, the,
the roads are not constructed of the same material
that would withstand the weight of, of, uh,
the normal garbage trucks being there.
And that was a, an agreement that was absolutely mandated,
or we could have never approved that.
If you look, you know, those, those are condominiums
basically in in heritage there because,
and you look at the lot size, all of that was agreed to
with certain conditions at that time.
Uh, and you know, to go back now
and do that, I'm not sure it's possible
because the roads would have to be reconstructed,
the streets would have to be widened,
and there would be have to be a lot of things changed to,
um, be in conformance.
So I understand frustration,
and I think it's people that weren't here from the beginning
and didn't understand what we went through.
I will tell you that we were at the very last, last second
making, trying to get a deal together.
We had every union in the area that wanted this,
built the mill rates and everyone, and trying to
'cause everyone what this built.
And that was the only way we were gonna get it done.
There were other concessions too,
but just to, that is where this came from,
what we can do now.
I, I can't imagine what it would be
and how much it would cost.
I don't know how much the HOA or if there was is one
or many, how much that would cost to bring those roads up
to, uh, city Street standards and change the width.
I don't know if it's possible at this point,
but that, that's, that's just to give you the genesis of
where that came from.
Thank you, Mr. Nunan.
Yeah. It, it occurred to me that if a million dollars
over a certain period of years had been collected
for garbage service and you're not getting garbage service,
then, uh, I wonder if that at least, uh,
you wouldn't be taxed for that going forward or something.
But I don't really understand the situation.
I'm probably crazy creating trouble,
so I'll let it go with that.
But if we're, if we're collecting money
for some a service we're not providing,
it seems like we should stop collecting that money.
Thank you.
I will. I Next item was gonna say motion.
Motion to adjourn. Support Dwyer. All in favor? Aye. Aye.
Any opposed?