City Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Like to call the city of Benton Harbor Commission meeting to order. We'll begin with the invocation by Commissioner Canard, followed by the pledge of allegiance from our deputy director of public safety, Deputy Clark. I'll rise. Father God, in the name of Jesus, we ask that you come in and blessing this meeting today, Lord Jesus. have each and everyone to work together that we might do what is needed for our city. Oh God, we just ask you to continue to bless and reign upon higher in Jesus name we thank you and pray. Amen.

Amen. 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. I yield to the city clerk. Commissioner Clark Griffin, present. Commissioner Fields, present. Commissioner Henderson, present. Commissioner Henry, yes. Commissioner Isam, present. Commissioner Canard, present. Commissioner Warren, present. Mayor Prom Turner, present. Mayor Muhammad, present.

You have a quorum. This brings us to the approval of minutes April 6, 2026. Is there a motion for the approval? Motion to approve. Motion is made by Mayor Pro Tim Turner. It is supported by Commissioner at Large Fields. Madame Clerk, Commissioner Henry, yes. Commissioner Isam, yes. Commissioner Canard, yes. Commissioner Warren, yes. Commissioner Clark Griffin, yes. Commissioner Fields, yes. Commissioner Henderson, yes. Yes. Mayor Prom Turn Turner. Yes. Mayor Muhammad. Yes. You have a quorum. Motion carried.

This brings us to approval of accounts payable listing. Is there a motion for the approval? Motion was made by Commissioner Henderson is supported by Mayor Pro Tim Turner. Is there discussion? Madame Clerk, Commissioner Isam? Yes. Commissioner Canard? Yes. Commissioner Warren, yes. Commissioner Clerk Griffin, yes. Commissioner Fields, yes. Commissioner Henderson, yes. Commissioner Henry, yes. Mayor Prom Turner, yes. Mayor Muhammad, yes. Motion carried.

Madame Clerk, I see that the wedge award is on the agenda for presentation. Um, it looks like the presenter is not present. Okay.

Mr. Manager, do you feel comfortable and sharing just some information regarding I don't I'm not sure I have it on I can ask them to reschedule. Okay. This brings us to an update by our county commissioner Yarro representing the city of Benton Harbor and parts of Benton Township and I believe that is district 4

for um your your seat for Bearing County District. It's what I covered the area. I'm sorry. I'm not here. You covered district four. I do. Thank you. And that is um Harbor, they added um Harbor Shores into that whereas before that was with Col, but I'm all the way with Jean CL Park and all that which is in the city of Ben Harbor. Thank you.

Thank you. Good afternoon. Good evening, Muhammad. Honorable commissioners, honorable residents, I am pleased um always to come and share things with you. And what I want to do is to say that you all have a standing invitation. It would do me real good to look out at 8:35 a.m. and see people from Denton Harour, commissioners, citizens. It's open meetings. Our regular meeting is at 10:30 um in the morning and we usually don't go any more than 11:30. We're usually done before 12. But we have very interesting things and a lot of it connects and covers us. And so to really know or to understand or to ask questions, I would ask you all to to put it on your list somewhere that this year you will come to some of the meetings. So that's what my invitation is. I'd like to let you know this year um a number of times I told you that our treasurer Shirley White was going from community to community and each month she would usually do um two communities. You don't have to have an appointment. She's there from we had it on the back of a a poster. She's there like in the afternoon say two or three hours and would probably stay longer if people were coming. So, what happened was, what I want to report to you is that on our three-year tax foreclosure sale, when she started with it, there were 1,949 properties on the due to be foreclosed after March 15th. When she got through with those meetings

she was having, she has 141 people that are on the tax And so what she did was talk to him. And a lot of times there are things that you don't know about. You need to talk to somebody if you wonder. And when people say, "Well, you taking our stuff."

It's three years. You're three years behind with whatever else is added to it, whatever is allowed like water and sewer. Um I don't know, not cutting your grass. I'm not sure. I don't know, you know, all the rules, but it covers all those things. And what people have done has made um arrangements and and her suggestion is this will get you back, you know, off get you off the tax foreclosure roll, but perhaps this is something you could handle and do all year always as long as you have your house and it would be caught up. You got to pay somewhere. So if it's your house, keep it, sell it, bring it up to par. And I see a lot of things going on in our community. I just tried to go down the street. It was closed. And when people say, "When are they going to finish? Just go a different direction." These swords and pipes and things are 100 years old. And if they can be fixed, I'm I'm so thankful. And what I'd like to let you know is I always have these different uh forms and I think about the veterans and veterans the benefits and things that are there for us. We need to check into it. It's not just for the man or for the woman that served, but it's for their children, for their uh wives, for their widows, for their divorcees. Look into it. We have some good departments and wellrun and you can find out what's you know what's going on. I've I've left before and I have a couple couple more is this directory today. I wanted to know about Michigan State Secretary of State. I needed to go there what time are they open? I know all this is on computer but

still a good piece of paper and a pencil is is good to have and with this you can find such things as different state offices much faster than I can find them on on the phone or on the computer. So, I encourage you to use the things and what I saw a wonderful board with uh brush drawers and things in it. And I have a number of things I'm going to uh put here um put in those. And some of the things I see like for example, it's other communities that have lists and brochures of what their parks cost. What is the parking? What is this? What is that? You that's not stealing. That's getting ideas and putting yourself on the same level. I don't know what the um Berian County earns with their parks, but the next time I come back, I'm going to tell you. And it's amazing because they're they're uh watched, they're manned, and you know, we can do what is it? What's that? Kaying and all that kind of stuff because we have all this water and we should be doing something with it. So I encourage you all to listen and look out for what's going on in Marian County and go to Niles and go to they got that disc thing in the wire basket just all kinds of things and I thank you always for this opportunity and I thank you for the beautiful letters. I've never seen letters that large and my family is proud and I thank you. And please know that soon we will be making an announcement of the um um you know rededication that we're going to do that one day when we tried to do it that was just too cold. It would have blown us away. And and I think I was thinking they were large because when you have something that's been on a building since 1969,

it's it leaves a shadow. So it needed to be covered. But please, I ask that you pray for us. I pray for you all and God bless you. Thank you. Thank you. This brings us to our citizens comments which is our public participation, 3 minutes per speaker and please sign in with the city clerk and she will call you accordingly. Madame Clerk, Clement Brown, do I have to see? Yes. Okay, I still Okay.

Okay. First, I'd like to say good afternoon to everybody. Uh my problem with uh people picking up the gospel. They don't they don't want to pick it up. I mean, you got Naz on the garbage truck. Uh, I won't pick up the garbage that can be put into the container and put on the truck. I'm not saying anything that you got to force. I'm not talking about that. Then when you say something to them, they get smart. Okay. Uh, for instance, we told one lady across the street from me there had two two bosses. One was a TV box. I don't know where it is. And she asked them said, "Why can't y'all pick up the two boss?" Well, go down to the city hall and pay $2. That ain't right. What wrong with some people? We need to work together. If you work together, there a whole lot of complaint when come down here. And people don't want to work together. Nobody ask nobody to get a a car tied th the truck or a bicycle tie. Just do your job. Matter of fact, I my job here, I'm a security guard. I've been there for assist facial retired. Well, you know, I don't mind working and you if you got men's on the truck supposed to be mad and don't want to pick up gossip that people put out, then they not man. They have a problem. They have a problem in my book. They have a problem. All they got to do is pick it up. You got a job. All the glad you have a job. Take your job and use it. with with work and and and help people. I'm not saying go all over town and just pick up garbage, just throw. But you see something that need to be done, do it. I get up in the morning, I have 3,59 pack. I get up in the morning, there'll

be paper, there'll be bill can pop. I could say, "Hey, I ain't picking that up. Why I ain't put it down there?" So why should I pick it up? I don't look at it that way. I pick it up. I clean up. The city need to be cleaned up. Let's clean it up. If you don't pick up the garbage, what going to happen? It going somewhere else. If people pick it up, everybody work together. And not hard to work together. You got to want to work together. And this is the problem that we had. All they had to do is pick it up. A real man, a real man would do that job. I don't got nothing else to say. Just do their job. You can't you can't they can't do their job. Hide me and I'll find somebody to drive truck. God get no every resident in town. I'll be happy.

Thank you

Riante Bell. Good evening everyone to the honorable mayor, mayor prom, honorable commissioners. Um I want to offer comments of support towards one of the resolutions that you're considering tonight, the uh yes fresh start 2026 um priorities. Um I come on behalf of um Elnor and Gavin and the entire Yes Fresh Start uh community in Ben Harbor and we work with uh we the people Michigan to uh work towards uplifting um our community and u creating better outcomes for our community particularly our youth. Um in that resolution um it's detailed what we're all about and what we're fighting for. Um we're fighting for funds from the state uh to fund um mental health services in our school districts. Um a ratio of 25 um to one student uh for mental health counselors in our schools. Um a fully funded driver's ed and CTE program within the schools. um and uh monies towards the uh Michigan Black Student Project where 600,000 of that uh of that funding will go uh directly towards Ben Arbor area schools um to um allow students to work on projects that contribute towards their own healing and healing for the community. Um, I just want to say thank you to Chairwoman Henry, uh, Mayor Pro Tim Turner, and city rep. Uh, Gunter for, um, pushing this through your committee. Um, and thank you to the, uh, full commission for considering it. your support. Um you guys lending a resolution of support will go a long way

in um us, you know, strategically collecting support from uh those within the Ben Arbor community as well as neighboring communities. It'll also uh go a long way in continuing building that foundation of collaboration between the Ben Arberry schools and um the city of Ben Harbor. Um, so I'd like to thank you all for um considering this. Um, encourage you of those who, you know, may have questions about it to um, hit me up um, you can reach out to me as well as uh, Miss Elnor Gavin um, for uh, more information and also um, encourage you all to choose peace in your individual lives. Um, we have a 90-day peace challenge where, um, individually you dedicate 90 days to choosing peace, uh, throughout your lives. Uh, you can go to peace day2247.org um, to uh, sign up for that uh, peace pledge as well as attend our peace day reunion which is happening June 3rd of this year at the high school. Um, we're going to do a walk. We're going to encourage people to get activated in their communities. Um, and we also have a mental health CTE expert um at the high school on May 19th at 10 a.m. So, thank you for your support,

Marvin Haywood.

Good evening you all. Good evening.

Ray, you did a good job. I was coming to do that because Ela had to meet at the high school, but I see you showed up down here. So, I couldn't have you I couldn't have did it no better. But anyway, I'm in support of the fresh start as well because uh for quite some time we have been doing this and I remember when we had a school debt, we was able to uh go to the state and get that debt forgiven when people say it couldn't be done. And a lot of times you go, as I used to say, you have to go around your elbow to get to your thumb to get stuff done here in the community. And so from a strategic standpoint, we have to look at getting dollars from the state, you know, and organizations that will help fund this fresh start program, which is a a beautiful program, which has been uh supported by a lot of people. I I say that because a fresh start is what this city needs. I want to applaud all you new commissioners that came on board. I want to applaud you uh as well, Mayor Pro team, for all of the work that you're doing. You know, one of the things that I've always stood on, truth and facts matter. You know, uh truth and facts will take you anywhere in the world and you can stand on it and will never uh get you sunk down into the mud. But when I come here tonight, I want to just say thank you to each and every one of you commissioners that are trying to help move this community forward. I thank you, Ethan, for uh putting the audit on to the agenda and getting it approved. You know, hopefully we can get that move through and have the necessary paperwork so we can get that done as well. Uh in order to move forward, we have to have a a audit. It's just one of the most important things. And when I say audit, I'm talking about a audit that checks every dollar for the last 10 to 15 years so we can know where this money has been spent. Uh, one of the greatest things that I've learned in

being an educated young man is that you have to have an understanding of what's being put before you in order to vote on it. And for a lot of years, I sat down here for a lot of years and I know people didn't understand the information, but they voted for the information. And when you look at the cause and the effect of the information that was voted on and the votes that was passed, it has not put us ahead, but it put us behind. So, we have to be very careful in what we consider and what we vote on as we move forward. But again, I want to say I applaud all you new commissioners that came on board with a vision uh having a good understanding of what we we working with. You know, you have to check everything. You know, it's a lot of things that's been done in the city. One of the things even with that harbor sh with that uh harbor, I've been trying to get some information on that, but I couldn't get any information on it. Uh but hopefully as time move forward we'll be able to regain control of our city and move forward and do things in a proper and right direction. Thank you all.

No more comments rule.

This brings us to our consent calendar. Commissioner Clark Griffin, you're recognized. I'd like to sus suspend the rule and make a motion to request for immediate authorization to issue a RFP for the forensic audit services to be conducted by a independent third-party firm that has no prior or current conflict of interest with the city. support.

Madame Clerk, Commissioner Canard. Yes. Commissioner Warren. Yes. Commissioner Clerk Griffin. Yes. Commissioner Fields, yes. Commissioner Henderson, no. Commissioner Henry, yes. Commissioner Isam, no. Mayor Prom Turner, yes. Mayor Muhammad, no. Motion carried. Chair recognizes Mayor Pro Tim Turner. Number one, please.

Duly noted. Like, Madame uh Commissioner Henderson, pardon me. Resolution number three. Number three. And resolution number five. And I'd like to app resolution number six. There's a motion for the approval of the consent calendar.

Motion to approve. Motion is made by Mayor Pro Tim Turner. Is there is it supported? Yes, it is supported by Commissioner Large Fields. Madame Clerk. Commissioner Warren. Yes. Commissioner Clerk Griffin. Yes. Commissioner Fields. Yes. Commissioner Henderson. Yes. Commissioner Henry, yes. Commissioner Isam, yes. Commissioner Canard, yes. Mayor Prom Turner, yes. Mayor Muhammad, yes. Motion carried.

This brings us to our first separated item, a resolution approving a special use permit for 600 Territorial Road for a bed and breakfast. And this came from as a recommendation from the planning commission. Just for the record, um I know we have one of our planners. Um was she is she voting in this? She is not. Thank you. Motion. Motion.

Motion's made by Mayor P. Tim Turner support support supported by commissioner at large isome is their discussion chair recognizes mayor pro Tim Turner through the chair can she come and do a presentation because I only ask a question because many people may not have seen her and I think all the questions I asked have been answered but you know there's one thing about the a so if she can come and explain how her a is working that out I apprei appreciate it. You're recognized. Just if if you could just the A question,

please. Um, so A came over this morning and um we are going to be installing another uh pole that's right next to my driveway. They're going to be carrying the the guy wires over in a and across down cuz right now I've got two guy wires. They're going right over where I drive in and so they're a little bit low and so we're just going to be extending them over so that they're going straight across instead of going right down. Thank you. Yep. All right. Question. Hi.

Um, Commissioner Clark Griffin, you're recognized. I just want to know cuz that's my reward. So, yeah. Okay. And I just want to what is the pole used for? What is the purpose?

So that's carrying uh so that's the American electric um where it's holding um all of our electric and cable on that line. And so actually the line that's crossing my driveway is not electrical. It's just holding the pole itself. So they're just going to be not messing with electrical lines but moving those guy wires. They're like the metal lines that don't carry any electrical current. They're going to move those from one pole to another and then bring it down so that it's not interfering with my driveway. Thank you. Good to go.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much, Madame Clerk. Commissioner Clerk Griffin, yes. Commissioner Fields, yes. Commissioner Henderson, yes. Commissioner Henry, Commissioner Isam, yes. Commissioner Canard, yes. Commissioner Warren, yes. Mayor Prom Turner, yes. Mayor Muhammad, yes.

Motion carried. This brings us to the second separated item which is a resolution of support for yes fresh start 2026 budget priorities. Is there a motion for the approval? Motion to approve. Motion is made by Mayor Pro Tim Turner and supported by Commissioner Large Fields. Is there discussion? Chair recognizes first word Commissioner Henderson.

Yeah, thank you. I just had a couple questions. Um uh Mr. Dr. Bill did a great job with talking about it, but you mentioned three different entities. So, is this fresh start read the we the people like which organization is asking for um a letter of support because you mentioned

um can I ask that particular question and you talked about Benton Harour Area Schools. You're raising money for Benton Harbor area schools. So, is Benton Harbor Area schools involved with this particular resolution? are they asking um how is the money going to be funneled? Is it through you to Ben Harbor Area Schools? And why Bent Harbor Area Schools isn't asking for themselves?

Thank you, Commissioner. Um so this uh resolution is coming from Yes, Fresh Start was which is a campaign within uh We the People Michigan. We partner with them. um they they help support um some of our our action when it comes to um communicating with the state legislature um for those dollars. So they they help us um with uh getting together people um within our community. They've hosted um a power camp for some of the people within our community. In fact, Ben Harour had the most people um at power camp um in Kamazoo. um they were able to give them a stipen and everything. But so yes, Fresh Start is its own campaign, but it gets support from uh We the People Michigan. Um and as far as with the Ben Harour Area Schools, um this is not a resolution coming from Ben Harbor Area schools. This is a campaign that's advocating um for on behalf of our students. Um so it's not officially tied to the school district. Um but we are um working to get the school district to also support our campaign because we know those resolutions of support from the entities, the school, the city, they are going to go a long way in communicating with our legislators on the need for those dollars in our community.

The but the with the particular grant is asking for monies for CTE, for driver's ed, for programs that already exist that need funding. So, like, help me understand like shouldn't wouldn't the school be the the the people to come to ask the city to support what they're trying to do? Like, wouldn't the school be the like maybe even the first stop to get you understand? Like, that's confusing to So, as you all know that um Elanor Gavin is a treasurer for Ben Arbor area schools and so she's spearheading um the effort to get the school to support this resolution of support um coming from yes fresh start as an entity um her along with another um um schoolboard trustee Angela Doyle. They're working to uh get this uh school board to consider um you know asking for these dollars themselves as well. Um but we are people based. We are um a a campaign that is from the people by the people and so um this is just our way of trying to facilitate that that partnership between the the schools and the city.

So is the superintendent aware of this? Yes. Yes. And um Trusty Gavin is uh working uh to get that passed through um at the schoolboard level after this point of order like is we can keep we can keep going. It was a objection just a moment ago by the same person that has what we're having a quiz for. Just being honest. Point of point of order. Point of order. Um Commissioner Fields. Um, Commissioner, I'm excuse me, Mayor Pro Tim Turner. He asked a specific question. These are a lot of specific questions that are being asked right now.

Is there an objection from the I'm I'm okay. I I do want to provide clarity uh to the commissioner.

Thank you. any other um so I met with the superintendent uh today and she was unaware um of 3.6 6 million uh for mental health funding to ensure a ratio of one case worker per 25 students, creating a pipeline of care that extends from the school system to the broader community. And she also said that she really had no information regarding this 100,000. Um because I, you know, reached out to her when I saw where it said the proposed priorities include an immediate dispersement of 600,000 to Ben Harbor area schools. So, I reached out to her and she said, you know, she was glad that I sent it because she had never heard about it. Um, and that she wanted to learn more about it. Uh but she also was expressing that you know if the school was in a position to apply directly themselves because I asked her well who would be the fidiciary for the 700,000 and who would be responsible for creating the programs um that would be used or you know of how that money would be allocated. And she just said I have no clue. and uh she said that she would be looking forward to uh trustee Gavin uh I guess she is a she's a member of

and and she's done some great work with the uh working to get the debt forgiven uh which I worked as as well in my lane to support that effort. uh my question and also reached out to the board president who at the last uh board meeting she you know asked trustee Gavin if she could uh at least uh briefed the board given that it was coming to Ben Harbor City Commission before it was coming to the school board. And I I just do have some reservations. Uh, of course, mental health is a huge component in this community. Um, as you probably know, I work for Ben Arberry Schools and was over a grant where we actually had a mental health professional working in the school and helping students. So, I know firsthand um, and Elnor was a part of that work as well. um the need. Uh however, I do want to respect the process um and respect the superintendent and the board of education and and the school board president to at least give them an opportunity to uh hear it. um supported and see how you know those fine details will be worked out as far as is the school going to be the fidiciary is it going to be we the people is it going to be fresh start you know how is it and then what program so um and I would like to help it by reaching out to my colleagues as the president of the black mayors what other cities would this um grant or these monies impact.

So the the 15 million um in which uh Ben the community of Ben Harbor would be getting about 600,000 of that, but the 16 million u would go towards the um black cities across the state of Michigan. So, um the areas of Detroit, Flint, um and all of those other predominantly black, um communities across the state will get a share of that money. Um so these monies, um to give some context, um there was an ask from Yes, Fresh Start um and the Michigan Educational uh Justice Coalition uh for about 15 million. they were given about 4 million um in allocation from the um appropriations committee. And so now our request has been to um get about 4 million uh I mean 600,000 of that 4 million. Um and so now it's just a matter of um MBJC kind of working through um how they would like to uh disperse those funds. And so this this resolution of support will go towards um communicating to MEJC as well as to the state of Michigan in future uh budget years um of getting those those funds for the purpose of helping black communities uh with students in them um to put towards the the uh black student projects um in MEJC. And just last question, I'm just kind of curious. Why would it start? Why wouldn't it start with Ben Harvard area schools? Who would be the direct beneficiary of this 700,000 and not Ben the Ben Harour City Commission or

the city of Ben Harour? Why wouldn't you start with getting support there first? So, um, and I I came into this work, um, earlier this year in March. And so, um, there has been, I believe, an effort to try to get, um, partnership between MEJC and the school district. Um, I think there was a dropping of the ball uh, between those two two parties. And so now we're we're trying to kind of take care of um making sure all parties are aware of what's going on so that the partnership can be uh seamless. But we wanted to get it in front of you guys. Um so that um there could be um just a a fostering of partnership and collaboration um you know amongst the the two the two entities or the schools in the city.

Well, like I said, I certainly would like to help. I'm going to pass to the city clerk or some of the other cities that we work with. I don't know exactly if you all would if the monies would be going there, but I do think that it's important that um you start with the school because if there a bar was dropped and money or whatever, I don't I don't know what what why the bar was dropped, but I think that after speaking and meeting with the superintendent, I think it's some some it needs to be some explanation and some conversations amongst that board. Um given that they would be the ones directly benefiting. Um but like I say in talking to her, she was clueless about any of this. And as the mayor of the city is high for me to go ahead of them and say, "Hey, I support it." and the school board has not even supported it themselves.

Okay. Recognize Commissioner Clark Griffin.

I'd like to say, you know, that's hearsay saying you met with the superintendent, the president board. That's hearsay. Uh what what is supported? And I fail to leave believe that the school board president and the superintendent do not know about this. It's all over Facebook. is paper flyers everywhere. Come on. I I I don't I I do not believe that. Um and I believe they're just asking for support there. No financial impact to us, just support. If it ain't no more discussions, I call for the question. Just for the record, um, madame clerk, who was I meeting with when you

I can confirm that the mayor met with the superintendent? I can confirm, too. I was down here, but I said that's hearsay what she's saying that she's saying that she has no idea about it. That's the part here. Not admissible in court. You can call on the question. Chair recognizes Commissioner Warren.

Thank you. I just had a question regarding timing. I know you mentioned the ball was dropped. Is there an opportunity for this to come back to the commission in two weeks when after you talk they talked to the school board? Is that an option or is there a timing issue or if you can speak to that? So yes, you can come back. We we want we kind of plan strategically according to the state budget timelines. Um, and so we we definitely uh could see this come back to the commission um in the future. Um, but we know that, you know, the um the budget passing season is approaching us and so we want to make sure that our legislators um can hear our voice from Ben Arbor um as a collective. Um so the city's uh support will definitely go a long way with that. Commissioner Canar. Thank you, Mayor. One of the things I'm sitting here and just observing that we're real particular about supporting this issue, but we got some things that's outrageous that we don't have any kind of clarity about right here at the city's level that goes through. and we're going to be so pinpoint about everything and knowing that our children are being dying on the streets every day now. We've got to do something and this mental health issue, it deeply touches me. We've got to do something and we can't can't hesitate to work towards getting that taken care of. If we were that careful about supporting things, there's some issues here among here at the top level of the city that we need to be more get more informed about and be sure that we put our money where our

mouth is. Thank you. Well, I mean, like I said, I can support the idea, but we're talking about $700,000 that'll be going directly to the school supposedly and the superintendent don't know anything about it. So, but we a lot of things we don't know about what's going on here and so until it hits the newspaper or we get it some kind of a way it comes through us. Thank you. Commissioner Henderson

just want to say just reading I do support what it is that's happening in this particular resolution. It is a a small amount of money based on 15 million 600,000 to support this initiative but at the same time because we you know people when it's something that they want to have done they'll rush it through or whatever. Um and I'm just asking questions. I wasn't here um when the presentation was happening because normally these kinds of things usually would go through my committee. So it went through a different committee and so I wasn't here didn't know that it was being presented and so I would have made an effort to ask those particular questions because I support mental health. I work with students and specifically um this is deal with the high school or school but little kids that have the same kinds of issues worse and definitely agree with it, but there is I don't think um it would be it would look great um when you guys presented this to have a full council and I would just say um having the conversation with the superintendent. I was unaware of that. That's why I asked that particular question until the mayor said that. So, I think it would look great to have um a 100% across the board support for this particular item because it is a great item and I would say table until Wednesday um and bring it back to our next meeting so that you can get so this item can get full support because I definitely support what's happening and it's a small amount amount of money but I don't think we should be voting on something if the superintendent is not aware of it is all I'm saying. Thank you.

Yes, that that's fair. And I'm willing to come back to the city commission because I would like to have all people of the commission supporting. Um it's very important. Our kids um would really uh be inspired by their city supporting uh a movement that they themselves are participating in. We had about 35 um students and parents at our power camp in Kalamazoo about a month ago and they were also given uh compensation for their time and so a lot of work is going into this movement. Um and we have we work with the the schools. Um in fact a lot of our events the peace day event all of those things come back to yes fresh start. So, I'm not aware of, you know, the superintendent's level of knowledge on this, but I do know that we we do work uh with the schools.

Commissioner Clark Griffin is recognized.

Commissioner, you raised a good point when you say the school you have did things the school part of the school cuz I was just at event during Black History Month where the fresh start presentation and everything was presented. the superintendent was there as well as a lot of other school board officials. So that also can't explain how she's not aware of it. Thank you. Just for the record, you know, I I certainly, you know, I I was over the safe and supportive schools grant, which I'm one of the founders of the peacewalk. Um and you can confirm that with Trusty Gavin. Uh in fact, I worked with her very closely on that particular event that has sustained over the years. Um so again, I definitely uh support um mental health uh helping our students. Um, but I also know that in when you start talking about money, programs, fidiciary, um, grants, especially coming from the state of Michigan, uh, everything has to be in order and on point. Um, so, um, I can support, um, it being tabled and, um, brought back after, uh, some of the details is vetted and supported by the entity that actually would benefit and receive the money um, which will be Ben Area Schools. Commissioner um Fields.

Um I would like to say that remember my whole focus every time is always relationship. So with you having this meeting scheduled um and things of that nature, you could have used the same level of energy to contact Miss Gavin or whoever. So this in somewhat embarrassing situation didn't have to happen whereas she could have tabled it and it could have went through legislative. This is just a lot for um and I I can understand various questions I can but what I'm saying is that this is almost blindsided whereas it could have easily been pulled back and ask those questions instead of waiting for our commissioner to come here and go through this. I just feel like this is embarrassing. we don't have this energy for a unbalanced or a unclean audit and we didn't have this much conversation and we have debate or um people fighting back of want a forensic audit to see if credit cards line up and where receipts are so that it can be balanced. We don't have the energy for that but we have the time for a program um that's to benefit the schools and I feel like they could work that part out. We're just saying it's a good thing. We're not making anybody give them any money or anything to that to that regard. But again, this could have been handled differently. You could just like you met you could have met with them together. Well, I'm open to meet with uh Trustee Gavin. As I said, um, you know, as the president of the black mayors, which is 16 cities, um, I would love to work with Fresh Start. Um, we the people, Trustee Gavin, the superintendent, take our resolution, use it as a model to give to Detroit, Sagenol, Flint,

Ipsellani, Highland Park, you name it. Um, but I do think that it should start with the school and I would like to see this recommendation coming from Ben Harbor Area Schools um and the superintendent and the board of trustees to us so we can say, okay, the school board supports it, the superintendent supports it, we support it, and Then we send that resolution to other cities. We do a a letterw writing campaign to every US or excuse me, every house representative, every state senator, the governor, and we have a united front and it's been done before. The public safety trust fund, we did it for that money. Uh, so it it's it can be done, but when you start talking about appealing to the state for that amount of money, we should have all of our line or all of our ducks, you know, aligned and it be done, I think, in in a in a right way.

And again, that could have been you could have contacted Miss Gavin to say all of that. I do not feel and believe that you had to wait and do this grand standing right now. This almost feels like a setup, right? It's strategically I have these questions and then oh by the way, I met with the superintendent and I like all of that I feel is just unprofessional. Like I'm I don't understand the point of it. And again, you could have you're the mayor of Benton Harbor. You have no problem speaking. You could have contacted her. This looks this does not look professional for us is all I'm saying. I I even understand the vantage point of Commissioner Henderson and everything. And I'm not understanding why it didn't go to her committee if it was supposed to.

Well, I think that it's a way that we can remedy any misunderstanding and we can move forward as a solid wall. as we take this resolution and and letter um from the superintendent, from the mayor

to these different uh outside entities, but I think that we should have our ducks in hoarder and our uh approach, a unified approach going forward. And the superintendent was not throwing anybody under the bus. She just said, "Mayor, I don't know." So, it's just a matter of, you know, making it happen and bringing it back. As he stated, it's no urgent rush today. You know, you all want to have the school included, have the school board uh on board. um as well as the information for the superintendent.

Commissioner Henry,

I I had an I wasn't done. So my point though, mayor, is that you do this you did the same situation to me. Remember when I was asking about moving the information being provided on the Wednesday, you made me feel that I couldn't even bring it up at a meeting. So you you did Oh, it's a different way of doing it. But all I had to say was I suspend the rules. And I left that part out the previous time. And so you do a lot of uh moving the goalpost, if you will, to have something play out how you want it to play out. And all this extra information you're providing, you could have sent us the email as commissioners like, "Hey, I learned more information." or something to that effect versus again us doing this right now and then you're dropping bombs like oh yeah by the way I talked to the president Desanna I've talked to the superintendent in meetings why aren't you talking to the commission why wait and get this information like you have the best information so that you have us that are in support whether they whether they it's a full support it's five of us I'm sure they're supporting it right now but all those questions and then that clarity could have been I offered and asked prior to right now. I feel like this is embarrassing. There's nobody winning right now.

Madam Attorney, could you weigh in as in in terms of just a smooth pathway?

What is that? What does that mean? You do that when you want them to support something or back something you're saying. What does that mean? What are you asking her to say right now? Be that you could have waited I or you could have met with Elora Gavin. This is my question for you right now. So you always pick people to support your line of sight, which is not how a commission should be ran. It shouldn't. And then when it's something somebody else want, you ready to push through it. You have done this. So what are you asking the attorney to say? What are you asking you to say? I'm confused. So I want to be clear that this is a legislative decision. This is a debate between all of you. It's not a legal issue. What I can what I can tell you is that it sounds to me like if you vote on it, you're going to have a couple nos. That's what I'm gathering. I that's the decision. That's that's the decision that you have to make whether to move forward with the motion as presented and have those no votes on record or to table it. But I can't tell you that either way is wrong.

I call for the question. Second, Madame Clerk. Commissioner Fields, yes. Commissioner Henderson, no. Commissioner Henry, yes. Commissioner Isam, uh, yes. Commissioner Canard, yes. Commissioner Warren.

Yes. Commissioner Clark Griffin. Absolutely. Yes. Mayor Prom Turn Turner. Yes. Mayor Muhammad, no. Motion carried. This brings us to our next separated item, which is a resolution to establish an ordinance creating a municipal civil infractions bureau. Is there a motion to motion? Motion is made by Commissioner Henderson and is supported by Mayor Pro Tim Turner. Is there discussion?

Yes, thank you. Um, this item came through um the legislative committee um and then was uh forwarded on to public safety and I just wanted the city attorney um cuz I know this was vetted. This this came through my committee and then it went to uh public safety cuz we sent it to public safety personnel and finance. Yeah.

Yeah. It went to all three committees because that's how we wanted it to be so that more um people got eyes on it. And so um with that, I'm glad that to see this particular item um be talked about um get established so that um this uh can happen in the city. So I'm glad that um we set that system up that it goes through um multiple committees and get multiple eyes on it. So thank you all. Madame Clerk. Commissioner Henderson. Yes. Commissioner Henry, yes. Commissioner Isam, yes. Commissioner Canard, yes. Commissioner Warren,

yes. Commissioner Clark Griffin, yes. Commissioner Fields, yes. Mayor Bertim Turner, yes. Mayor Muhammad, yes. Motion carried. The next resolution is adopting a municipal civil infraction fine schedule. Was there a motion for the approval? Motion to approve. Motion is made by Mayor Pim Turner. It is supported by Commissioner Heisum. Is there discussion? Carry none. Madame clerk. Oh, I'm sorry. Commissioner Henry,

thank you. Uh, mayor, this this did get a a a pretty large um discussion in through committee, but I don't know if the people how will the people get an understanding of this new resolution and that we're adopting. It's more important for residents to understand what we're doing here. So, it goes back to Commissioner uh Fields committee communication. How are we going to get these kind of information out to the residents to so they'll know what these civil infractions are a and the fees that are attached to them.

Mr. We would put it on the city's website. We would put it on the Facebook page and do it periodically. Uh, as a matter of fact, it would um go right in as we're also trying to educate the public on the civil infractions bureau process itself. So we would continually get that information out to make sure people had it. Chair recognizes me Tim Turner.

So if I'm looking at this correctly, I look at a nice outline that can turn into a flyer that have the city seal on it that can go out to the residents on Facebook as well as the city uh website. Could that be an opportunity

to recognize this Commissioner Fields? Um yeah, I think it would be great too to go through the communications committee just for communicating um information and giving people time to actually have an exchange because this is positive. I agree. And um city manager was really emphasizing how uh Commissioner Henry had referenced um individuals will get a misdemeanor for situations because it goes like for loud music because it's a a a misdemeanor, right? Verse because it goes over to the court versus us having it here local and us getting all the um funds associated with it too. So we would leave out the whole court system unless we need to go to the next step.

Commissioner Henry,

uh I commend Benton for going out getting a Facebook page and to have a a website that we can kind of get around in, but that's not enough. Everybody's not on Facebook. Everybody's not on a website. So, how would we get this information out to people that are not computer literate? Everybody is not computer literate. That's just known, especially in a low income community. So if you say that's the only way that we're going to get it out to the people, then it's not going to get out to the people.

Commissioner Clark Griffin, I believe Mayor Pro Turner did suggest that we do that a flyer be done and sent out to the residents. So that would be a way to getting it out to everybody. Even like on the if I may mayor like at the water payment center if we can have it posted there that'll help them out as well that way even at public safety so both windows can have it.

I would suggest um churches we have um everybody attends um some church. So, I would um suggest making um some of those flyers and getting them out to all of our local churches and uh community organizations to distribute as they um as residents come into them. So, I think that's another way to get I call for the question. Commissioner Henry, yes. Commissioner Isam, yes. Commissioner Canard, yes. Commissioner Warren, yes. Commissioner Cler Griffin, yes. Commissioner Fields, yes. Commissioner Henderson, yes. Mayor Prom Turner, yes. Mayor Muhammad,

yes. Motion carried. This brings us to our staff communication chair recognizes our city attorney.

Thank you, honorable mayor and honorable commissioners. I just I really appreciate um the fact that the M municipal civil infractions bureau legislation got passed tonight. I think that's going to be a really good thing for the people of the city. I do think it's important for the communications committee to look at that. Um we did a like a frequently asked questions. We talked about the the process and I hope to that the communications committee can really get that out to the to the citizens. So, thank you for all the hard work. I think this went through almost every committee which is really important. Chair recognizes the assistant city manager and city clerk, clerk Moore. I have no report this evening.

Chair recognizes the city manager, Mr. Little. Just want to say thanks to all the members of the commission for the work you put into that to get it done because I think it will be beneficial to the city as well as to the citizens. Thank you. Chair recognizes Commissioner Clark Griffin. I'd like to thank everybody that came out today, everybody that's listening. Uh, great things happening. Congratulations to the bed and breakfast for wood.

Yes, sir. Congratulations. Congratulations to fresh and everything else that passed. You know, I'm feeling good and optimistic. Um, June the 13th. You don't want to miss it. Junth parade and celebration. This is our ninth year and I have been a proud coach here for eight years. I'm so excited.

It's gonna be great things. We do it free to the residents. So date June the 13th from Monday to 63rd at Whirlpool parking lot and we move on down to City Center Park where the festive and celebration. We got some treats for you guys. So don't forget that. Have a good day. Good night. chair recognizes Commissioner Henry.

I just hate going behind her. She always got something on point to talk about. I'm just going to thank the citizens for coming out and hearing us and knowing that we are supporting your initiative, but you have to let us know what you want. We have to hear your have your input on what's going on in your block in your neighborhood. So, um I just thank the residents for voting and allowing us to do your will. Thank you. Chair recognizes Commissioner Canard.

Thank you, Mayor. And thank each and every last one of you that came out tonight. Thank you um my for your um presentation and um those that got uh it passed for your bed and breakfast. I'm glad that everything passed through tonight and I feel a little much more secure and better now. And a new group that's come on, they're more informed. They express themselves very clearly along with uh our girls down there and we feel like we got some girls power with this man power coming along with us and helping me to understand better a lot of things because I am the oldest girl in the bunch and I learn a little slower but it helps me to understand a lot of things and uh gather facts a lot better. One of the things that I do want to touch bases because I just uh went across one of the papers that I had stored back. I don't throw away anything. And my daughter's upset with me now. She picked up so many of the paperwork then. And she said, "Mama, you just packing everything." I said, "Well, I'm afraid I might have to go back to it." And I ran across one of the papers that I've been three times I've asked for information about it and it's because we have homeless people. And you know regardless to where why they are homeless they still are and sometime they have like the mental problems and the reason that they are and so what I'm looking for is an answer that I've asked three times. Where is the $15,000 that was supposed to been put towards shelter for the homeless during the winter time? It's rather hard for them. So, where's that $15,000? It was

told to me that was given back to the person that donated. I want to know why. And the people that ask me, I'd like for to hear from the person that was responsible for dealing with that $15,000 to let the people know here at the meeting why it was given back and who it was given back to. So, uh, even if he don't say who it was given back to, let us know why it was given back instead of putting it towards this month was put towards it being finalized the month of April. And I will have that paper for the clerk to run that copy off and give it to have make sure that as a reminder give be given to the mayor and the city manager. So, they're the heads. That's why I think it's important. And also, I'd like to get a copy for the other commissioners also to see what is stated about the $15,000. So, I'm concerned about that because then I see a lot of the homeless people and I do feel sorry for them. I wish I could just have a place to place them all. But, thank you anyway and you all have a blessed evening.

Thank you. chair recognizes Commissioner Fields.

Thank you. Thank you for those that came out, for those that are present. Um, and I'm just I'm only going to do the positive stuff. I had some more stuff. I'm only going to do positive stuff. So, uh, congratulations and thank you for her for, um, coming back cuz I feel like you wanted to take a picture of something with your poster board or with us. And so, congratulations. fourth ward. Um, we love new businesses, especially people honing in on the positive things within our community. So, we appreciate you actually coming and wanting to actually have a business here. Um, I wanted to actually bring up the gentleman what Clement Brown, which stresses the point of he is not aware that a TV box is what, $20? I don't even know the price off hand. Um and and then about just reminding public safety of our communication. Maybe we can have like a little paper to come out with them or maybe we can give them their commissioner's name so they can reach out to their commissioner for clarity. But especially our seniors um and that just reiterates look how long it's been out and people still don't know about fees. I had to tell a family member like you can't put that couch side out, you know, and she doesn't do social media or um anything to that effect. Um I wanted to say that yeah just stressing the importance of relationship and I believe a lot of things still needs to come through the communications committee. I'm not sure um how exactly we need to go about that. I have just been really one to do um unity and things of that nature. So, I've been invited and have met with the communication staff that we have along with the city manager who has invited me to the meetings, but I still feel like it's lacking in regards to I want more community to be present as well. But, um, again, just for the sake of collaboration, I have been open to, um, being a part of meetings and just kind of giving feedback at that time,

which has been productive. I will say that because some of the language I asked for was reference and things of that nature. I want to thank Commissioner Yarro for your um insightful information every time and just the passion you have for reporting and um and just bringing us up to up to date on different happenings. I'm going to get there at 8:30 one day. Uh and congratulations to Fresh Start. Um I still want to reiterate that um conversations and situations need to happen differently instead of putting us all in a bind. Um and because it could have just been happened differently. I'm being positive. And on that note, and I'm excited for Junth as well. I was previously on the committee. Um, but again, I am on a lot of them as well. And Commissioner Clark Griffin and Mir Pro Tim Shaquille Turner as well as Diane Young, Espam, is handling it greatly. So, I'm proud that we are being able to continue to have that historical um holiday to happen for us and our community. And with that, I will yield my time.

Chair recognizes Commissioner Warren.

Thank you, Honorable Mayor. Thank everyone for coming out. Um, I'll say congrats to you guys again. I'm very excited. That is a beautiful historic home. So, I'm excited and hopefully I'll check it out one day. I'll get to be one of your guests. Um, the next thing I want to touch on is the Fresh Start program. Um, mental health is near and dear to my heart and I know it's something that's really plaguing our community. Um, I really started seeing it around COVID. I'm sure a lot of us did. So, I definitely did not want to not support this program, but I do want to make sure that we are crossing our tees and dotting our eyes. So, I would definitely like to ask the fresh start uh committee to definitely talk to the superintendent and the mayor had a lot of uh ideas that he brought to the table tonight. Um, so I hope that uh everyone can collaborate with the mayor and get his feedback on the other mayors and the different suggestions he had. So, um, I hope those conversations can happen. And, um, one other comment, uh, Citizen Brown came up about a TV box. Um, just something that I do in case any citizen would like to know is I just slice the bottom of the box and flatten it and I fold it and put it right in my trash can. Therefore, it's no extra fee. they normally fit. So, if anyone, you know, has that dilemma and they don't want to pay, that definitely does do the trick. And, uh, no comments really for the second word. I've been saying for a lot of meetings that we are going to have a cleanup. Um, definitely want the weather to be a little warmer. So, um, I will get back with everyone on what that date will be and everyone have a wonderful night.

Chair recognizes Mayor Po Tim Turner. Thank you. So, congratulations as well. I had a thousand1 questions prior and they was answered because I'm very by the book. So congratulation again.

First I want to go over here to something that's dear to my heart. We have had too many senseless shootings in Ben Harbor. Highspeed chasing, car wrecks, cars flipping over. I can speak for me. It's heartbreaking when you get the phone call and they say, "Hey, can you pray for my son? Can you pray for my daughter?" And you are the one in Courtwell Health and go in the ER room and got to pray for that family. That's a hard phone call to get for anybody.

I talked with a pastor today and I respect this pastor and I going to say his name. I respect him. He looked at me in my eyes. He said, "Shaq." I said, "Yes." What? And I want to say what? But I didn't. I respected him. He said, "Calm down." I said, "Okay, pastor." And we took it as that manto man had a conversation. I met with another individual today who came up with a good plan. I'm going email it all out to the commissioner so they all can review it and get back to me, get their feedback. I'm still big on enforcing curfew for our young kids. Not just to punish the good, but making sure the ones who are causing the issues in our community, we can get some kind of control. Team challenge is real. I lived it two weeks ago where one of my drivers was taken hostage. So, I'm not saying nothing. I don't know. I lived it two weeks ago and we had to do everything we can to get that truck back to our custody in the hood. So it's real. And now I'm a grown man. So I'm gonna say this publicly to Mr. Manager, city manager, Mr. Little. I did go off for him. I'm not going to say I didn't. I'm going say mine publicly. I can apologize to him because I'm a man. So I apologize, Mr. Little.

Apologize.

And I called him. We had a conversation on the phone. I told him on the phone, same thing. He did a followup. But it's when you love somebody and you love your community, you're gonna go hell and back to do what you can to save our families. I met with a few of the families, I'm not going to I got other things to do, too. But I met with a few of the families who was very upset. You can't tell a family your house getting shot up. Prayers and thoughts are with you. They don't want to hear that. They want comfort. You have to you have a grown woman on my shoulders crying just to keep her calm and nervous for having called medic one. So I know some of y'all commissioners probably got upset cuz I sent the email out. But hey, I'm doing what the residents are asked to do. I love everybody, but at the same time, I'm giving you guys what's given to me. I would do anything for any of the commissioners up here. 2:00 in the morning, I'm going to the hospital. I'll go. I don't care where they are. I'm going to go and be that person because I I serve a great God

who delivered me. Yes. Out of 10 years of suicide. So I know if he done it for me, he could do it for the next person. And so I serve a high God. Yes. Who looks high and looks low. Yes.

And he in a business keep on blessing. So again, I met with one of the pastors who said he got a plan. I'm going to keep on work with him and the pastor of men alliances. I'm hoping that I can get two other commissioners on the board with me that will work with me on this next plan to have a conversation with a lot of our young kids who are ready to come to the table. These young kids was out yesterday night at 3:00 in the morning. I said, "Hey, what you do my block?" I'm leaving. I said, "You better leave. Go on down the street." And he left and he never came back. I watch our whole block because I live where senior citizens live at and they respect I respect them too. And our young kids love. Thank you. The chair recognizes Commissioner Ism.

Uh, amen, brother Turner. Uh, I just want to thank everyone for coming out tonight. Um, I want to thank Mr. Brown for his comment. He said, "Working together." Those are the key words, working together. And that's what this not just the commission, but the city needs to just push forward that working together. And I like to thank uh, Commissioner Yarro for the update. Thank you for your uh monthly update and I can't wait for that uh uh dedication of the uh the sign uh May Yarro um public library and the bed and breakfast. Congratulations. I hope you all the success and thank you for coming to Ben Harbor to uh give you a chance to uh bring more people to Ben Harbor. Thank you so much. Um the leaves picked up. Thank you. Public works. You I take pride in my grass. You know I do. I you know I'm cut my grass. Keep it I cut it two inches first. Let it do that and weed and feed. Then you let it just 3 in.

They're taller than you. Oh, okay. See that point of order. See see

personal attacks are not allowed in the in the chamber. But uh yeah and and and u approving the ghost lights uh license, you know, go watch a good play and have a uh cocktail, you know, and and and you know, Ben Har got it going on, you know. We got a lot of uh detours and infrastructure work, but we have big going on. We got the Gus Macker coming up, man. And we got June 19th coming up. Junth led by this lady at the end down here, this commissioner, Mr. Turner, you know, it's have a good time and um just a good time. And what else we got here? I got time. I'm I'm going to say something about the Pistons. Detroit Pistons. Everybody have a good night. Expect great things is happening. God bless you.

Chair recognizes um Commissioner Henderson. Thank you. Thank you, honorable mayor. Just like to um thank everybody for coming out, all of the comments that were made on tonight. Um congratulations to the mayor's house for um the new bed and breakfast. Um to the uh Oh my gosh, I'm just having a brain fart. Yes, big. Yes. And so um yeah, a lot of great things is happening in the city as commissioner is just referenced all of the uh infrastructure projects and um Shaquille Turner on the other hand mentioned about the shooting. So you have this juxaposition, all of these wonderful things happening at the same time. You have these shootings and all of these kinds of things happening all in the same wonderful place. And I just wanted to encourage our residents, I do it all the time when you hear gunshots and those kinds of things, uh, not to be apathetic about it, to call and and let the police police know what's happening um, in our city so that they can do something about it. Um, because a lot of times um, in our community gets normalized. These kinds of things, people speeding through the city, people dropping trash everywhere is not normal and it shouldn't have to happen in our community. We have a beautiful um um place to live and which is evident by there's hardly any unavailable property or buildings to buy um in the in the city. And so um there are things happening and people see it all over. Uh sometimes the people that live here don't always recognize the jewel that Benton Harbor is, but um people outside do. And so just want to um continue to encourage our community. This is our community. we're responsible for keeping it clean and for um um respecting it um and the people that uh live in it. So have a great

Thank you. Uh just to uh first of all like to thank all residents for coming out. Uh congratulations to uh the group uh that is rehabilitating and bringing and breathing life back into the fourth ward through development in the inter city. Uh so thank you for uh renovating my home. Uh so um I want to just briefly uh the w the wedge award award uh which was applied for by the city of Benton Harbor uh to the Great Lakes and St. Lord C's initiative smaller uh city sustainability award uh where the city of Ben Harbor believe it or not got first place uh and uh Dane Rasherman um is that

Rasmusen he uh applied for the grant uh it was competitive and Ben Harbor got first place so I believe it's about close to $5,000 to a splash pad uh for the children. Um and the targeted place is Hall Park. Uh so um that's that's just for for that. um had an opportunity to go and get some professional development uh at the African-American Mayors Association conference uh which was absolutely out of sight. Uh the initiatives that are taking place uh nationally uh will absolutely impact Benton Harbor. Um, I learned that Virginia is the uh capital for data centers. They're calling it data center valley. And one of the things I learned uh was that the way that artificial intelligence uh chat GPT track help me chat GPT um a lot of their information is stored at the data centers. Um artificial intelligence, uh iCloud, you name it. And they were describing it to us as, you know, in the analogy how Blockbuster laughed at Netflix. And they said that Netflix got the last laugh because Blockbuster no longer exists. and they were saying that

municipalities, industries, corporations that say we're not buying in or we don't support or um they'll be passed up. So, I think that somehow someway um the city of Benton Harbor um somehow should be involved. Um one of the major things is water consumption. We have a water filtration plant that has the capacity to pump 15 million gallons of water per day and we're only pumping 1 million. So we have to find a very creative way where we can utilize our water plant otherwise we won't have one. So um more information on that I'll be doing a presentation uh coming up. Uh but the state of the city will be May 19th 700 p.m. Uh the location will be disclosed uh this week. Uh so look out for it and uh hopefully we can take it to the communications.

Is there a motion to adjurnn? Motion support. Madam clerk. Commissioner Clark Griffin. Yes. Commissioner Fields. Yes. Commissioner Henderson. Yes. Commissioner Henry. Yes. Commissioner Isum. Yes. Commissioner Canard. Yes. Commissioner Warren. Yes. Mayor Prom Turn Turner. Yes. Mayor Muhammad. Yes. Motion carried. May I say something? Sure. Thank you so much. Um, we didn't think about it, but on April 24th is Richard Hunts Day

and we ask you to come into the library now and see the exhibit. And we didn't just go out and buy some books last week. These are over the years. We have Ebony and all kinds of things. And Richard is featured in them. So, we'd ask that you come and look at the beautiful display and then on the 24th there going to be two movies, a documentary that's short and then a longer uh movie and it's about the sculpture in Idabb Wells. So, please support Mary Albert Public Library and that's the 24th of April. April Friday.

It's Friday. Oh, and sorry. Former Commissioner Joan Brown passed. So, uh, we're going to get a sympathy resolution. Uh, when is the the funeral? It's the 24th, I think. It's just Friday. I don't know. Look it up. It's Friday. Yeah. The school's invited to bring students. So Jo um Joan Brown's funeral will be Friday at Stark's funeral home. All right. Thank you. Have