City Council - Regular Meeting

I'll be in your order. Roll call.

Fullerton. Here.

Christensen.

Present. Chin. Here.

Brummett.

Scott. Here. Rodriguez.

Present. Newman. Here.

You have a quorum.

Invocation tonight by Pastor Emily Shafer.

Lord Jesus, we just thank you for this time that we can come together. We thank you for this beautiful city of Charlotte. We just pray that you would be with each and every one of these council members as they make decisions pertaining to our city. We pray that you would bless them. You'd strengthen them. I pray that you would help them with unity. Lord, we just thank you that you'll lead them and guide them, give them wisdom and discernment. And we ask for all these things in the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Amen.

Thank you.

I'll rise for the pledge. Tonight we have approval of minutes from the June 22nd, 2026 meeting. Is there a motion?

So moved. Second.

Moved and seconded. Is there any corrections or additions? I have one, Mayor.

It was a comment in section, let me find it here. It was when we were talking about one of the firms that had bid on the IT that we had hired for the website repair. And it says Christensen brought that up or it should have been myself. Under manager's report, Did you see that? Yeah, that's right under the manager's report, under communications.

Is that it?

All motion good.

All we have to do is agree to his changes. Unanimous consent?

Yes.

All those in favor of the motion to approve the minutes as corrected, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? And we need to back up one spot because I just heard from Councilman Brummett and he is busy taking a tree off of my house. So that's why he may not be able to join us tonight. If you want to excuse him, that would take a motion. If not, we'll move on.

Motion to excuse. Second.

Moved and seconded to excuse Councilman Brummett. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Councilman Brummett is excused. That'll bring us to public comment. Anyone who would like to address the public either in person here or online can come to the podium, give us your name and address, and you have up to five minutes, which is tallied by the clerk.

evening everyone thank you for giving us time to speak to you and thanks for coming tonight my name is kate durda and i live at 10069 north cochrane in charlotte we're here tonight to amend to discuss the amend the constitution ballot initiative which demands increased restrictions and documentation changes to our michigan constitution it's expected to appear on the november ballot We provided background information regarding the initiative to city council and are asking the council to take action and consider taking action tonight to oppose this ballot initiative. Signers of the petition were told that it would eliminate voter fraud and keep illegal immigrants from voting. That sounds good. If you don't do the research, you might believe it's a good thing and that's all it's about. But we're here tonight to present some of the information in the background of this proposed legislation and to understand its full impact of this legislation. Voter fraud is a non-issue. For example, mail-in absentee ballots account for approximately 31% of the ballots cast in the US. What's being said with this petition being promoted is that there's widespread fraud from this source of voting. The reality? The reality is that mail voting fraud was, listen to this, 0.000043% between 2016 and 2022. That's approximately 2 and 1 half cases per million of voters. Other institutions report the same low fraud rates. That is not going to affect any election. But this petition ballot will affect our lives in Michigan. And we're going to talk about that tonight in a negative way. The reality is that in Michigan, elections are already well run and our clerks and election staff all do an excellent job of ensuring voting integrity and accuracy. Both federal and Michigan state law require voter registration applicants to attest to their citizenship under penalty of perjury or criminal penalties. We're covered. And in 2018 and 2022, Michigan voters overwhelmingly supported improvements in our election system access and accuracy, such as same-day registration, no-excuse absentee ballots or voting, and other changes. This petition will threaten some of those options. A lot of our constituents can't make it to the polls or have jobs like Justin Braumann, can't make it. All these other voting options allow us to exercise our free rights of voting in this country. They're at risk now with this petition if it passes. This initiative will do nothing to make elections more secure. What it will do is erect new barriers to the ballot for Michigan voters of all backgrounds and parties and impose significant administrative burdens on state and county election officials. I want to simply highlight a few outcomes if this initiative passes in November. One is that out of the state's approximately 7.6 million voting age citizens, nearly 700,000 lack a current driver's license. You may say, why not get one? That's another subject. Over 900,000 more have a license with a mismatched address, like our students who go off to college, or an incorrect name, like 84% of the women who took their husbands' names when they married. Those people will not be able to vote until they run around and get all that documentation in order. It's estimated that 41% of our young adult citizens between 18 and 24 lack a license. A lot of them don't seem to want to drive. I don't know. They lack a license with current address or current name. And in general, seniors, adults with disabilities, rural voters, individuals with low incomes, and people of color will be disproportionately affected by this legislation. Many citizens will bear extra costs and processing wait times to get the documents to satisfy these additional documentation demands. And likely, some of them will not have the time or the money to actually jump through those hurdles. So we're disenfranchising eligible voters. People voted already in their lifetime, maybe their whole lifetime. Obtaining additional documentation is also a poll tax on individuals. Now they're going to have to pay to get their right to vote. They have to pay for documents, pay for time, whatever they have to do. This ballot initiative is an unfunded mandate. Local governments will have to figure out how to comply with no additional funds. Since 2023, Arizona's show your papers laws have led to administrative burdens such as $500,000 database upgrade, $6 million in county funding for voter roll review, and rising database maintenance annually, and that's the tip of the iceberg. In addition, if passed, these mandates will be almost impossible to implement, and election officials and clerks will face criminal and civil penalties if they fail to implement them properly. All this for something that's not going to improve our voting accuracy, integrity, whatever. In summary, across Michigan, we are asking local and county elected officials and leaders to stand together. Please vote on this policy, this resolution tonight, and support your constituents. Thank you so much.

Good evening. I am Linda Melorani, a member of the board of the League of Women Voters in the Lansing area. I am joined by a fellow member, Anne Marie Ryan. The Lansing Area League is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower voters and defend democracy in Eaton, Clinton and Ingham counties. We are a nonpartisan organization and committed to protecting the freedom to vote. We have over 200 members. We believe that voting is a fundamental citizen's right. We are here to encourage you to adopt the resolution that demonstrates your opposition to the national and state level attempts to require birth certificates or passports to register to vote and to change voter registration. These attempts are part of the SAVE Act. Within the last few months, Meridian Township, Ingham County, the City of Lansing, and many other local governmental units across the state have adopted similar resolutions that oppose the additional documentation requirement. The League has provided you with written copies of detailed information on the need for the resolution, as well as a sample resolution. For the sake of time, my comments will be brief. The additional documentation will make the fundamental right to vote much more burdensome. The need for voters to produce a certified birth certificate and or a passport is a poll tax. Tens of millions of Americans don't have birth certificates that are readily available or birth certificates with a name that matches their current legal name. About 40% of US adults have never had a passport. It is costly, both in time and money, to get a new birth certificate or a passport. Adding this cost of voting has the potential to disenfranchise millions of voters across the country. Furthermore, requiring this type of documentation will be a huge burden on local election clerks. Voting organizations like the League will not be able to hold voter registration drives since documents must be seen by local clerks. Lastly, non-citizen voting is not a problem in the US. Its occurrence is extremely rare. I hope you will decide to support the resolution that supports the fundamental right to vote for the citizens of Charlotte. Thank you for your attention.

Could we get your address while you're up there?

229 Cowley, East Lansing. Thank you.

Paul Zielinski, 607 South Cochrane, Charlotte. I might be a little redundant here. A couple of weeks ago, I sent you a letter. I signed on, but was prepared by the League. I emphasize again, the League is nonpartisan. We don't support candidates. We just take a stand on issues after we study them, and especially things that affect voting rights. Now you guys who are sitting up here, you're here to run the city of Charlotte. I know national and state issues are not really your purview other than you have to deal with them when they come down on you. I appreciate your service. I wouldn't do it. I probably couldn't do it, but I'm glad you're up there doing it. Don't do it for the money, I know. But here's something. You all were elected, or most of you, Not just in one, but would you say you were elected in a fair and safe election? Or were there a bunch of illegals voting for you, people who shouldn't have a right to? I think you'd have to agree that our elections are working. They're safe. If anything, we ought to be encouraging people to vote, not trying to find ways to keep them from voting. So even though this is not a city issue, I ask you to support this resolution that you've been presented with and say this is a bad idea, trying to meddle with this. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

GOOD EVENING, COUNCIL MEMBERS. MY NAME IS SHERRY COOPENHAVER. I LIVE AT 1108 SOUTH CLINTON STREET IN SHERLOT. AND I RECENTLY SUBMITTED A LETTER TO YOU AND WOULD LIKE TO SUMMARIZE ITS KEY POINTS. I RESPECTFULLY URGE YOU TO ADOPT THE RESOLUTION OPPOSING THE PROPOSED CHANGE TO THE MICHIGAN CONSTITUTION THAT WOULD REQUIRE PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP IN ORDER TO VOTE. Michigan already conducts secure elections. The 2022 voter approved proposal two improvements contributed to Michigan ranking third in the nation for eligible voter turnout in 2024. At the same time, evidence shows that non-citizen voting is rare. A Michigan Department of State review identified 15 potential cases in the 2024 election. to impose additional documentation requirements could create problems for eligible voters i have two primary concerns first the administrative burden which offices would be responsible for collecting and verifying documentation state county city local clerks and will they receive adequate funding and staffing Michigan clerks already manage voter registration, absentee ballots, early voting, election day operations, and post-election audits. As a retired State of Michigan systems analyst, I have experienced the challenge of new mandates without sufficient resources. Second, the impact on voters. Many eligible voters, you've heard this already tonight, but they may not have their original documents or they may have documents where records do not match, especially including married women who change their last names sometimes multiple times. A more effective approach, rely on secure existing government records and interagency verification. For these reasons, I encourage you to support this resolution. Finally, I would like to add that I have completed the Eaton County election inspector training, and I can personally attest to the many checks and balances already built throughout our election system. Thank you for your time and consideration.

my name is brenda wood i live at 207 maple in charlotte earlier today i sent the councilman that represent me and a version of what i'm going to say tonight and by now i'm sure that you are all well versed in the requirements of the amend the constitution petition which closely mirrors the federal save act That act would impose restrictions on our voting rights. Many of our constituents have serious concerns about the intent of the petition and do not want it included in the future state elections due to the unnecessary burdens of proving US citizenship prior to voting. I too oppose this petition. I'm very concerned about all the ways it can potentially harm the citizens of Michigan. When we narrow the focus to just our city, there's a financial and workload issue that hits us right here in City Hall. The cost to implement the mandate is what I'm talking about here. It's a mandate that is unnecessary. Compliance would require significant effort and hours in the city clerk's office. For my research, I've learned that this could mean manually verifying, scanning, and securely storing citizenship verification records, and probably other things that I'm not aware of. Will the city hire additional staff to help with this? I'm thinking that's not very likely. The city budget is already quite fragile That means it falls on the shoulders of our city clerk to work out how to handle the additional requirements with existing staff and existing budget. It's unfair to our city, our citizens, and especially our city employees who will be shouldering the burden. This is unnecessary red tape. It's imposed by another government entity and is yet another example of loss of local control. It should not be the role of government at any level to create barriers for significant numbers of citizens to fulfill their civic duties. I realize that barriers may be the unintended consequence of the mandate, but they certainly will be the reality of it. Acquiring adequate documentation of citizenship, it's a slow and tedious process costing time and money. Married women who change their last names, the elderly who already struggle with bureaucratic paperwork, and people in low-income brackets without the means to pay for official copies of required documents will be hurt the most. Perhaps the requirements are a small hurdle for some people, but they will be enough to prevent many people from exercising their rights As leaders of our community, I'm asking you to send a clear message that our city stands for fiscal sanity, lean government, and the protection of our local tax dollars. Please support your community by voting to adopt the resolution to oppose the amend the constitution petition.

Hello, I'm Judy Entenmann, 9933 Marden Drive, Diamonddale, Michigan. I'm here on behalf of clergy, multi-faith clergy and faith leaders across not only Michigan, but across the nation. Last week, we had a press event in which we had a letter that over 250 people, clergy leaders from Michigan signed on to. And I would like to share that with you to share our concerns as faith leaders with this proposed amendment and the other things that are happening in regards to our voting rights. As faith leaders, we stand for justice and fairness. We believe in protecting the dignity and rights of all people. We work to bring people together across every divide, and we know that our democracy is strong when everyone is treated with dignity and when all voices are heard. As we approach the 2026 November elections, our freedom to vote and elect the leaders we choose is under threat. As clergy across faith, race, and geography, we are joining together to protect our voting rights and the voting rights of our neighbors. We are speaking out against decisions that limit the access eligible voters have to the ballot box and efforts that appear aimed at preventing eligible voters from voting. We are deeply concerned about the executive order severely restricting vote by mail. And we are outraged by the rapid gerrymandering of racially discriminatory election maps in many states following the Supreme Court's decision to end the Voting Rights Act commitment to racial equality in elections. Our faith traditions affirm the dignity, worth, and agency of all people. Patterns of action that prevent eligible voters from voting and that dilute voter power to choose their elected leaders violate our faith tradition's affirmation of human dignity. Complicated registration rules, which the proposed constitutional amendment would drastically affect fewer voting options, threats to deploy ICE to polling places, barriers based on financial ability, requests that states turn over voter rolls despite privacy and security concerns, and discriminatory gerrymandering of maps all offend our core faith values as well as core democracy values. These efforts limit access to the ballot box and intimidate eligible voters, especially eligible voters of color and poverty. This makes us less free and gives us less power as voters to choose our leaders. We call on our secretaries of state, election administrators, and all election officials such as you to join us in publicly opposing all efforts. We call on elected officials to join us in protecting our elections, our democracy, and our ability of all eligible voters to be able to access the ballot box and vote. We are coming together to protect our voting rights and the voting rights of our neighbors. We will continue to oppose attacks on the freedom to vote. We call on our elected leaders to do the same. This has been signed by over 2000 faith leaders from 36 states representing 935 communities. Having worked on the previous election things, I know what is meant to have secure election processes that are open to everyone. This amendment raises issues that are not even really true since there are so little or very few people that are voting that are not citizens. It creates in the mind of people that we do not have safe and secure elections. So as elected officials, I would think you would want to say, we are safe and we are secure and we do not need added things to address a problem that does not exist. Thank you very much.

Hi, my name is Barbara Brown. I live at 309 West Seminary Street. and it's going to be short and sweet, what I have to say, and that is this voting witch hunt, which is, in my opinion, is what it is, the right thing to do is to oppose it. That is the right thing to do. We know it. We've done the research on it. If you have questions on it and you don't understand it completely, then you can do research on it. but it is the right thing to do. Thank you.

Anyone else in the audience for public comment? Anybody online? Nobody online? Okay, that's the end of public comment. Brings us to the approval of the agenda. Is there a motion?

So moved. Second.

Any discussion? Anything you want to take off into consent? All those in favor of approving the agenda say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carried, agenda approved as spread. Communication and committee reports. First, do we have any committee reports from council members? Starting over here, no?

Yes, eTRAN, we held our board meeting this past Wednesday. Biggest issue there is, and it's kind of a nightmare, but their server went down and they were out of business for several hours. We had to do an emergency purchase of a new server of $44,000. for just one server and hopefully we move that they began research on moving everything to the cloud. However, it's going to take a little time and money for it to happen in the near future. OTHER THAN THAT, THE HOUSING COMMITTEE IS LOOKING AT SETTING UP A MEETING SHORTLY HERE.

THANK YOU. MR. RODRIGUEZ?

NOTHING. MR. NEWMAN?

NOTHING. JUST VERY QUICKLY FROM THE PLANNING COMMISSION, BECAUSE THERE'S SOME STUFF IN THE WORKS, BUT THEY HELD THEIR MEETING ON JULY 7TH RIGHT HERE. And one of the big ones was talking about the new mural, which is on the west side of the Christensen building. There was some miscommunications with regards to the fact they knew there was gonna be a mural and there was going to be a recognition of the donors who helped pay for that mural. HOWEVER, THE SIZE OF WHAT WAS EXPECTED VERSUS WHAT ENDED UP BEING WAS QUITE A DIFFERENT THOUGHT. SO THEY WERE GOING TO GO BACK AND THE PLANNING COMMISSION ASKED THEM TO GO BACK AND TAKE A LOOK AT IT. THEY WAS GOING TO MEET WITH That company always escapes my name. No, no, not McKenna. Matt working with our ordinances and master plan. Beckett and Rader, there we go. Just to check some things and I did see an email come back across that it sounds like they're getting it resolved. OTHER THINGS THAT WERE HAPPENING WAS THE LOCAL BURGER KING IS GOING TO BE UNDERGOING A PRETTY GOOD RENOVATION. SO THAT WAS APPROVED AND SOME IMPROVEMENT OR SOME APPROVING OF A DRIVE-THROUGH WINDOW AT AN ESTABLISHMENT ON THE NORTH SIDE OF TOWN. AND THAT WAS ABOUT IT. THANKS.

one question on this and i'm not sure who's the council rep for the recycling center not i i could help you out they picked you to start with or they at least said mr scott was supposed to be on it but i'll you i'd be happy to well we have to appoint you but okay there's a clerk do you have like from yours i can go and look see who's on the board they actually asked me because they haven't had a quorum lately so they couldn't do any business so okay we'll either get you appointed or what I think they are in that one. Their bylaws are different, but they're having trouble because Carmel pulled out, so they don't have enough numbers anymore. So that's what brought the issue up. Okay, so we'll figure that out and get you appointed or continue your appointment. How's that? City Manager's report, anything?

Not this time. I will have one report for the next meeting though.

Okay. Mr. Revoir, anything? Next meeting. All right. You guys like to get out of this easy, don't you? That'll bring us to the agenda. On the consent agenda tonight, which consent agenda is used to put things together that the clerk and the manager figure there's no reason to have to have a full vote on every single item in discussion, that's a consent agenda. So I will read to you what's on the consent agenda. First item is the approval of the claims and expenditures, 439,671.05, that's $439,000 in claims. Second one is consider approval of resolution 2026-44 to allow Michigan Liquor Control Commission a special license for Friends of Eaton County Animals, that's at the fairgrounds. That means they can have a beer tent or whatever they're gonna have. C is consideration to approve resolution 2026-45 to allow for a Michigan Liquor Control Commission special license for Frontier Days. Both of those will be at the fairgrounds. D is considered to approve the purchase of up to 900 tons of road salt from MDL for 2026-27 winter season in the amount of $61,611. And the reason we do that through MDL is because it saves us bidding it out. The state bids it out for everybody in the state, and then we can jump on and get their purchase price, which is really reasonable. And the last item on the consent agenda is consideration for approval of Eaton County Parks Community Grant Agreement between Eaton County and the City of Charlotte, and that grant is one that we received, and if we accept it, it'll be $26,610, along with a $5,000 contribution from the city. So that was a really good deal, good use of our money.

So is there a motion to approve consent agenda?

Move the consent agenda. Second.

Questions? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Brings us to the item on the business agenda. Consider approving a city to energy vehicle lease agreement with Enterprise Fleet Management. I've done some research on this because I've had four people contact me, three other council members. And there is a way that we can discuss something without making a motion. The only way is that, it's called unanimous consent, that we could bring this up and talk about this without a motion. Other than that, we have to have a motion to either approve it or deny it, then we can have discussion, then we can table it, or approve it or deny it. There's various things, but people ask me, is there a way that we can discuss this? And most generally, there is not. but there's what they call unanimous consent. But if one council member only takes one to say, I don't like it, it's over with. We'll have to move to the way of making a motion. I don't really care how you do it, how you wanna do it. I'm just giving you the options that if there's discussion you wanna talk about, or if you wanna just move through, and I've had two or three different ways mentioned to me today of how we might handle this, so.

I'd like to make a motion to approve.

Is there a second?

Second.

Is there a discussion?

I'd like to move that we table this until our October 12th regular meeting. I think the subject needs some study.

And moved and second to table this until the, what did you say, October what?

Our October 12th regular meeting.

October 12th regular meeting. There is no discussion. Can't be any amendments to a table. We take a vote. So all those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Opposed, no.

Two noes, four ayes. Motion's stable. That's how quick that works. That's why I give you the option to do it a different way.

I get it.

Okay. Mayor and council comments. Let me start over quickly here with Mr. Christensen.

Thank you, Mayor. First off, I want to thank all of you for coming tonight. And those of you watching online, IT CERTAINLY MEANS A LOT TO US WHEN NO SEATS ARE FULL OUT THERE. SO IT IS GREAT, NO MATTER WHAT THE SUBJECT MATTER, NO MATTER IF YOU NEED A STREET FIXED, WHATEVER IT IS, I MOSTLY LIKE TO HEAR IT AND IT'S MUCH BETTER WHEN WE HEAR IT IN PERSON RATHER THAN ON SOCIAL MEDIA. LET'S SEE. Eaton County Fair opened today. So if you get a chance, be sure to sneak down there this week. I know tomorrow and in fact the next couple days are gonna be pretty warm. So if you're out and about, make sure you're watered up and in good shape. And if you happen to be out traveling, please leave your pets at home. Don't leave them in your car. We've already had three instances at Meijer's today. We had to go up and get some pets out of vehicles. PLEASE DO THAT. OTHER THAN THAT, STAY COOL. DRINK UP. WE'LL SEE YOU NEXT MEETING. THANK YOU.

Christensen's thanks for attending. Everybody out there, the information on the proposed legislation and that sort of thing is great information to take and research. The county fair, again, is kind of starting. It'll be in full swing tomorrow when the rides open and go down and support the kids with all the animals and THE VENDORS AND THE FAIRBOARD DOWN THERE, THEY DO A FANTASTIC JOB OF PUTTING THAT ON EVERY YEAR. SO OTHER THAN THAT, HAVE A GREAT EVENING. OKAY.

WELL, THANK YOU FOR COMING. I THANK YOU FOR NOT ALL SPEAKING, BUT THANK YOU FOR COMING. WE HEAR YOU. And I have been studying this issue very deeply. My office hours are Tuesday between 10 and noon at Fay's. If you'd like to continue the conversation or talk about this, I'm available. Other than that, CARC is actually tomorrow, so we'll report on that. But that's all I have. Thank you.

That's just a couple of quick things here. I'm working with Senator Anthony's office to have her come back and present us highlights of the state budget that has been approved and how it's gonna affect Charlotte directly. And because there are some issues and items in that budget that will definitely have an impact on the city. I, again, would like to thank the folks here on the resolution on the voting, and I'd like to formally request that we place that on the agenda at our next meeting for action by this council. The federal government passed what they called the 21st Century Housing Act, which was similar in language to the, surprisingly, the Michigan Municipal League's My Home program, focusing on partnerships. But anyway, it became law in an unusual way that they wrote it. is that it was sent for signature, and if it wasn't signed within 10 days, it became law. So it was not signed, it became law, and we'll have to see how that is gonna impact us again on our housing program. The one thing I do want to mention to the city manager that the Michigan Municipal League has begun a brand new, what they call the DPW Directors Forum. And it's inviting all the DPW directors from all the member cities. TO JOIN AND HAVE A FORUM IN WHICH THEY CAN DISCUSS THEIR ISSUES SEPARATELY FROM ANYTHING ELSE. SO THEY JUST STARTED THAT UP AND WE'LL SEE SOME THINGS COMING. AND THEN TODAY THE CONFERENCE, OUR NEXT CONFERENCE, THE REGISTRATION OPENED UP TODAY. SO THAT'S IT.

MR. RODRIGUEZ. All right, thanks everybody for coming out. I, of course, would encourage you to educate yourself on the upcoming voting issue. While my personal opinion is that the new law doesn't really seem to benefit, I would generally agree with you guys. I also would warn you against rhetoric, saying things that are inaccurate about the new laws because I've heard things that are inaccurate. that really can sway people a different way. So keep that in mind. Historically, this council has not voted on resolutions. And this is a scenario, while it may seem it's nonpartisan, it's to many people very partisan. And so even if you say you're just looking at it from a logistical standpoint and the burden on your local officials, At times, this council has really avoided these kind of resolutions, and I think it's wise for citizens to not think that we're opposed to it or for it. I'd recommend reaching out to your council members and asking them what they think. I think that would be important. The other thing is with the enterprise issue. I know that's been tabled. I have some questions today. Mr. Pastu did say that he did some cost analysis and provided some, has some additional information. I think that's gonna be super helpful to all of us to review and look over. I personally have my concerns about a program like this and I'm not sure it's really the best route for us. And I guess maybe in our next meeting I'll be able to expound upon that more. But I do look forward and I'm thankful that you prepared some additional information for us. That's it, thanks.

And further on that, we can discuss that at another meeting, but the actual action has been tabled till October, but we could discuss that stuff. So, get you some answers. The only thing I have is the interim manager and I, Actually, he attended a couple meetings for me with LEAP. LEAP is like a tri-county organization that gets, they were real big in getting Markham to come into Sherlock, you know, the manufacturing plant out there. And they said that the budget constraints hurt them deeply. He sends out a newsletter every Thursday, and he says, we'll do the best we can with what we have left, is pretty much what he said. So it must be the budget constraints for them also. So it's going to hurt us in that way, too, because they were very instrumental in getting that big project going out here. So too bad for that. With that, we're going to go back to and open it up for public comment. Anybody that would like to, again, address the council, we will have other business, but anybody that would like to come back up, name and address, and you're welcome to speak.

kate darda 1009 north cochrane avenue i want to again thank the council for their consideration i know i sent you a lot of articles to read and i want to thank people for present coming tonight mr chin for putting on the agenda i want to address the fact that this is an issue for you this is your town this is a county seat there are lower income people here there are more vulnerable citizens they will be directly affected by this bill if it passes Regarding further presentation where you can actually sit and ask questions and kind of talk about some of the things you think are concerning Mr. Rodriguez or whatever, I wasn't quite sure what you were indicating, but Mr. Ben Gardner, who is the Michigan chair for All Voting is Local, this is a 10 state organization, one of many across this country that's trying to fight for voting rights, but that's the one that we're aligned with. All Voting is Local, as you have in your packet, he's willing to come to do a formal presentation, answer questions, provide further information. He's in Chicago at a conference right now, otherwise he would have been here. But I appreciate if you let me know if we could do a formal presentation and the format for that, and we'd be more than willing to do that in the next meeting when you put this on the agenda. I think this is really an important discussion, issue for discussion. I agree. I'm all for fully looking at things, talking honestly with each other, and realizing we may not agree, but sometimes there are certain things we have to hold to to provide a safe society. So I thank you for the time. I thank you for all the work you do, and I look forward to a further discussion about this where there's some, I know you can't talk to us, you can just listen, but next time maybe we can have a dialogue, and I would appreciate that, and I think everybody would. So thank you so much for your time.

Anyone else in the audience for public comment? And we'll check online. There's no one online. No one online? Therefore, we have a closed session we have to go into. And so, Mr., do you have a motion you could read?

MOVED THAT THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING CLOSE SESSION UNDER SECTION 8E OF THE OPEN MEETINGS ACT TO CONSULT WITH OUR CITY ATTORNEY REGARDING TRIAL OR SETTLEMENT STRATEGY IN CONNECTION WITH ARCHER V. CITY OF CHARLOTTE CASE NUMBER 126CV08163 BECAUSE OPEN MEETING WOULD HAVE A DETRIMENTAL FINANCIAL EFFECT ON THE LITIGATING OR SETTLEMENT POSITION OF THE PUBLIC BODY.

SECOND.

Moved and seconded. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? So right now we're going to close, have everybody excused, and we'll take a quick recess while people are being exited out.