City Council - Regular Meeting

So that's that's our first can't wait to get the roll call. What is he up there? invocation.

I passed a note. I passed the executive order. Well, you're the boss.

All right.

Good evening everybody. It is 7:00 700 p.m. Tuesday, March 3rd. Uh East Point City Council regular meeting. It's called to order. Uh we're going to have the invocation by Councilman Curley and then we'll go right into our agenda. Oh, our gracious heavenly father, once again, as we start our council meeting, ask for your support. Ask that you would give us courage to speak our mind and to vote the way we think we should for the benefit of the city. Lord, while we're at it, Lord, I would ask that you would be with all the people in Iran and Israel and all the places that are being bombed and people dying, particularly the young people who were killed the first day of the war, the children. Bless them and bless their family. Lord, we ask all these things in your name, Jesus Christ, the living father. Amen. I pledge algiance 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.

Right. With that, can we have the roll call, please? Thank you, sir. Uh, Council Member Baker, Mayor Prom Baker, I'm sorry. Oh, no. You're fine. Here. Council member Curley, here. Mayor Kleinfeld is not here. Council member Shadlick here. Council member Scott here. All right. With that, can I get a motion to for approval of the agenda? So moved. Is that support? Support. All right. We have a motion in support. Please call the role. Council member Shadlick. Yes. Council member Scott. Yes. Council member Curley. Yes. Mayor Prom Baker. Yes.

All right. First thing on the agenda is the presentation for our in infrastructure maintenance plan. Mr. Kern,

good evening, Mayor Prom and Council. Uh it's that time of year again to present the what we're now calling the infrastructure maintenance plan for the city. Uh I've got it up on the screen here. I also passed out the plan uh to the council members as well. So I'll just briefly go through the plan here and all the updates that have been made since the last year. And this looks at the next six years. So, we've broken it down between major streets, local streets, uh, water and sewer. We'll discuss the major streets first. Um, we do annual maintenance programs with the major roads. We do a joint sealing program every three years. We do a joint ceiling program every year, every three years on the major streets. Uh, this year we'll be focusing on the local streets for the second year. So, we've got uh a cost in there for a program for the 2728 uh fiscal year and then every three years thereafter at $150,000 per year. And then a pavement marking program on the major streets. We're about to complete a pavement marking program on the major streets here. We just awarded that about to have the pre-construction meeting for that. That'll be taking place this spring and then we have an amount of $225,000 budgeted for every other year for pavement markings. As far as road reconstruction projects on the major road system, we have the final phase of the nine mile road project coming up. You might have seen that the water man phase of that started today. Um starting to mobilize, starting some saw cutting. You probably start seeing pipe going in the ground next week on that. Um that project will overlap between this current budget year and the next. So we have an amount in there for the next budget year to complete nine mile. We did add a new project into the list uh which is Schroeder from 9 mile to 10 mile to do joint and crack sealing as well as a chip seal. Um that road currently has an asphalt cap on top of it and it's starting to deteriorate pretty badly. So we did put that into uh the 2728 fiscal year as of right now.

Uh the city did get federal aid assistance along with nine mile also got federal aid assistance to do concrete patching on Hayes from Stevens to 10M. That project will take place later this year. We've got the grade inspection meeting with MD DOT scheduled here uh next week and then we'll be submitting final plans after that to uh let that project out. So that project will happen later in the summer. Uh $659,250 project. 81.85% 5% of that will be covered under the federal aid assistance 10mi which I know is another another road that needs to be done yesterday. Um fortunately uh a $3 million uh earmark has been set to reconstruct 10 miles from Haze to flock. Um that earmark uh has to be spent by 2029. Um when that came about, we were already talking with the county about doing a heavy rehabilitation project on 10 mile from Hayes to Kelly. Um which is on the county's transportation improvement plan to be completed in the 2028 construction season. But we are trying we are pushing to try and possibly do advanced construct on that project and we've been working with the county to see if we can get that pushed up to the 2027 construction season. We'll continue to to work on that. Um but the with the earmark portion we were kind of hoping that would get done earlier but it's you know I think both those projects will probably happen at the same time. Again that is a county rightaway so you know it is up to the county but there is there is a project coming down the line on that. Um and then in I think at the end of this year we will be applying for potential projects for federal aid assistance for 2029 through 2031. Uh we did put a couple projects into the plan for 2030 and 2031 that we will apply for and hopefully you know there's

a potential of getting again 81.85% of the construction costs covered with that. But the really the two remaining major streets that you have that have not been addressed are to from Beaconsfield to Kelly which we did apply for uh federal aid assistance for in the last round of federal aid assistance and we weren't successful in doing that. So we're hopeful we can get that in the next round. And then Hayes from Nine Mile to Stevens, which was resurfaced last in 2010. Um, figure that'll, you know, a 20-year design light by 2031. That will need another resurfacing as well. At that point, all of your major streets will pretty well be addressed. On the local side, uh, every year since 20, I believe since 2018, the city has done a local street pavement patching program on the fair rated streets. So every three years we do rate all of the streets. Those that are rated a four or five out of 10 or a fair rating we address with the pavement patching program and try to we try to save you know try to extend the life of the pavement for those streets instead of letting them continue to deteriorate. And if we let them continue to deteriorate into a three or less it's going to get quite costly to reconstruct that street. So we're trying and that's been that program has been pretty successful. We have uh budget $700,000 per year for that. Um last year and we've been work kind of zigzagging through the city with that program starting on the southwest corner between 8 mile and toeer and heading east coming back west between toeer and nine and zigzagging through the city. Last year we got to between nine mile and Stevens we got working west to east we made it to Saxony. So this year the plan is to continue from Sax City and may it get to Kelly Road this year with that that we divided the city into 13 maintenance districts. That would be uh district number nine out of 13. So we are we're a little bit ahead of schedule with getting that completed as we were going

to complete one district per year. Again the joint ceiling program. We are doing a joint sealing program on the local streets. This year we'll be focusing on streets in the southwestern corner of the city that hasn't had the pavement patching program since 2018 and 2019. The city uh got CDBG funding, $150,000 per project to reconstruct Lexington from Nine Mile to Semro. That project will take place uh late this summer and into the fall after we replace the water man. And then we got money to do uh flocks, concrete repairs on flocks from Hos to 10M. Uh you'll see we had budgeted $200,000 for that project with $50,000 being matched by the city, but the bids on that project came in well under the budget to where that $50,000 is gone or there will be no cost to the city other than the construction administration fees. And then each year beyond this year, we do have a budget in there for future CDBG projects. We did apply for additional CDBG funding for 2027 for a section of Raven between Hos and Forest and a section of Roxanna north of Nine Mile for the 2027 year. And we'll continue to apply for projects that are CDBG eligible each year. And then uh street improvement program whether reconstruct or resurfacing. Um the city is getting additional funding for through the act 51 uh gas tax funds starting this year. So, we have upped the budget for street improvements. And if you go to the back of the packet that I passed out, there is a map um that highlights the streets that were rated one through three back when we last did the PASER rating study in 2023. So, those streets that are in pink were rated a one or two, which would be very for very poor or failing. Those highlighted in yellow were rated a

three, which are borderline fair to poor. And then also in the back there's a summary of the streets that were rated a one or a two and what the cost would be to reconstruct those streets in 2025, which comes out to $5.8 million for those streets. And then there's also a handful of streets that were rated three in 2023 that would now be rated a two or one or a two at this point. We added that to the list, too, which is another $5.3 million in reconstructs. Uh Darren Peluchcci, the DPW director, and myself did go look at some of the streets that were rated one or two recently to try to get an idea of what streets we want to accomplish in the next fiscal year. Um on this list we were looking at Beck from Willoughby to hos from Willowbe to Hos which would be just the section that has an asphalt cap on it. Currently the section that's concrete is in fair condition. The same with Ridgercraftoft from Willowby to Hos and then a section of Hullbrook from Petersburg to Beaconsfield. The easterly half of that is very poor. the westerly half of that is in fair condition. So there would be a mix of a reconstruct on the east half, the west half would have some patching. So the the column or the numbers on the far right of that summary um is a lesser cost than what's shown under the construction costs which doesn't show up on the screen here, but the council has the numbers, but they're those numbers on the far right does not I should say the ones that are under construction cost 20 $25 is to reconstruct that entire block. But in some cases, we don't need to reconstruct that entire block. Part of it's in fair condition. So the adjusted number to the right would be just for the reconstruct portion, which is roughly 1.2 $1.3 million for a project for this next fiscal year. And that's our recommendation for the next year's

street reconstruction project. We're hoping council will concur with that. Go back to the infrastructure maintenance plan. Now move into the water and sewer. For the water, um the drinking water revolving fund, water main replacement program, we do have the phase one project which was the first part of Gratchet on southbound Gratchet from 9 to 8 mile along with a couple residential streets. We have the annual payment on the loan for that 300 roughly $358,000. And then phase two, which we just completed last year, which finished all the water man along Grashet in addition to several residential um streets, is a very small annual payment because we only we got a grant for a portion of that over $8 million in grant funding. There was a large portion that was paid directly from the city water and sewer fund. And then there was a loan just for the lead water service replacement portion. So which was just under a million dollars. So over a 20-year period, there's a small loan repayment there of just over 30 grand. And then we have a budgeted amount for each year to do water mane replacements, which haven't been decided yet. There are several streets that we know that need to be replaced. There's several 6-in water manes out there that need to be upgraded to 8 in water manes. Um DPW does have a list of those mains, and we still have to identify which ones we want to tackle next. And on the sewer side, uh the city still paying back a state revolving fund loan for sewer rehabilitation that took place in 2012. That's a 20-year loan. There's an annual payment in the plan for that. Um the city did complete a citywide sewer cleaning and televising program. Uh we finished that in early 2024 and the plan would be to complete that cycle again. It's recommended that that be done every five to seven years. So we'd be looking at repeating that cycle again starting in the 2829 fiscal year. And then we recently have been approved

for another state revolving fund loan to do sewer rehabilitation based upon the results of the cleaning and televising that was recently completed addressing critical and high priority locations um primarily south of 9 mile and east of Grashet. Um that is a $4.875 million project. So there again be a 20-year loan. There' be a payback on that once the job is completed. And then we've been putting $750,000 in the budget for additional sewer rehabilitation, which we would have in there each year as well, as well as a $250,000 catchbasin repair program. And that is the update to the infrastructure maintenance plan for this year. And if you have any questions, I'll answer them.

I have a quick question for you. Sure. Um it's with respect to um the last page the uh summary of reconstruction costs for the poor rated streets where you had listed uh Beck Maybrec and Hullbrook those those streets in particular the composite versus concrete composite is that asphalt it's composite it's a concrete it was a concrete street that has been overlaid with asphalt okay so it would be would be replaced with we would be looking to replace that as concrete street. So remove the entire road section. So make it a concrete section. I was I just wasn't sure what the surface type being.

It's it's what's there currently, not what would be replaced. It would be replaced with Okay. I think that cleared it up for me. Thank you. Yep. I have a question. Sure. Uh Lexington 9 mile or Simon. Yes. Simon. Yes. If you were to get in your car and drive down to Lexington and 10 mile road and get out of your car and say, "Wow, this is much worse than near nine mile road." But what would you change that then?

So, it's possible. I guess a couple factors into that. We are due to rerate the streets this year uh some point this year. We'll be doing that. We did apply. Smcog did have a grant program out there to pay for the uh study to do the ratings. Again, we're waiting back to hear if we get that. We should hear about that any time here. So, some could potentially be paying for the entire study on that. But, uh once that study's done, some of those streets could change. Something that was rated a three or a four three years ago could now be a one or a two and could move up the list potentially as a priority. Um but, you know, between our office, the DDW and council and administration. We would be looking at we're continually looking at the priorities. They change all the time based on the street conditions, but it's possible that things could move up and Lexington could move up the list potentially.

So on on Lexington near Ni, you're going to put in a water water man. Is that putting a new water man? Uh and that will start when and end when we can't do the street until that's done, right? Once the water man is complete on Nine Mile, that same contractor is doing the water man on Lexington. I we are expecting the water man on Lexington to probably start in May and the road project in August.

So since there's nothing going on at Ted B Lexington, you could do that a lot earlier than August, right? I'm just I'm just wondering I I I know a lot of wonderful people who live on Lexington, so Yeah. Okay. Well, you know, this is my I only have a year and a half left on this council, so I got to get something done. Thank you. Okay.

I have another quick question. Um this is with respect to the infrastructure maintenance plan. Um where you have flax concrete pavement repairs uh from HOS to 10mi road. Um that particular I think I've asked you before is there's a flooding issue there. It's right by the school and it's not constant but enough that where and I think you can back me up on this too because you live in that neighborhood where when it rains it floods is would that be addressed as well with this or is that a separate issue? Yeah, there's a couple areas we know of on flocks that do that are low spots that do hold water and yes, we would be removing those panels of concrete and uh replacing those that that no longer exists. Okay. Yes.

Okay. Thank you. Y does anyone have any other questions? All right. Thank you, Mr. K. Thank you. Thank you.

Uh Mr. Mayor Prom, can I put the screens up? Yes. Thank you. No, not yet. Oh, right. Sorry. Sorry. I forgot. We have hearing of the public. Okay. Um Okay, our next item is hearing of the public and I do believe we have someone that is via Zoom. Uh they will have three minutes to speak and the floor is yours if he's ready. If we're ready. Okay.

All right. Um, we can you hear us, sir? Mr. Blackwell, I believe.

Okay. We can't hear you, sir. We can see you, but we can't hear you. Still nothing.

No, we can't hear anything. Bear with us, please. All right. Speak, Mr. Blackwell.

Okay. Go ahead and speak. Can everyone hear him out there? Uh, very faint, but we can hear him coming through. Okay. Okay. Go ahead. You can go ahead and start speaking.

Okay. Hello. Yes. My name is Charles Blackwell. I would like to state that Mayor Klein is not a man of his word. And as the saying go, you can never trust a man who you cannot trust. Me and Mayor Klein had a phone conversation two weeks ago in which Mayor Kleinfield represented to me that the city of East Point would be figuring out a way for me to appear via Zoom and make public comment pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act. At the last meeting, that did not happened. Someone dropped the ball and Mayor Kleinfield did not follow back up with me via phone or anything to say, "Hey, I'm sorry that I told you that we can get this figured out and it never happened." So, be something. Uh, secondly, I would like to state that the city of East Point does not uh protect or enforce people with disabilities rights. I have been emailing city of Point officials daily asking for disability accommodations for peer vehicles for weeks and weeks and weeks. I got ignored and ignored and ignored. And finally today, the city of federal law Lastly, I would like to state that uh state senator state senator Veronica Kleinfield office was totally unhelpful. Senator Kleinfield's office told me that well she doesn't get involved

affairs. How can someone be in representing local citizens and then tell the very same citizens that they represent I don't get involved with local affairs. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone? Oh, I'm sorry. Uh, Miss Homeman, did you want to do the screens now?

Hi. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of city council. Um, representatives from the police and fire and city. My name is Christina Gibson. I'm superintendent of East Point Community Schools. I'd like to compliment city council on the recent hire of Ryan Mattis. He did not give me any money to say that, but um I have enjoyed um beginning that conversation again about how the city and the school district can continue to work together. Well, on May 5th, East Point voters will see a nonhomestead operating millage on the ballot. The purpose of this funding is to help us keep great teachers in our classrooms, maintain strong academic programs, update technology, and provide important student supports such as counseling and intervention. Uh, currently we levy 5.7 million annually to the schools. But because of the Headley roll back, our current operating millage has been reduced, costing our school district about $74,000 annually. Uh this proposal will restore those lost mills and add a small cushion to protect against future roll backs. Every registered voter in East Point can vote on this proposal and election day is May 5th with absentee voting beginning on March 26th. Um secondly, I'd like to invite city council uh to support our school district community. Um, we launched this year Little Shamrock's basketball and on Saturday mornings at East Point High School there on NineM. Uh, you can watch Crescent Wood versus Forest Park or Pleasant View uh versus Belleview. Um, and I brought for city council the schedule that remains. We have one game here uh this Saturday, March 7th, and then we will have the playoff final games on March 21st. Um, I have not experienced community the way community makes me feel attending these basketball games. So, I just wanted to extend that

invitation. It is a great place to meet your constituents, the members of the community, um, and a great time to celebrate our children and some shared work and have a little bit of joy and it's super quick. It's from 10 o'clock in the morning. So, thank you again. Um, we are hosting regionals this evening. Although the Shamrocks are not playing, um, we did agree to host those. So, we have a large event this evening at the high school. Our school district will continue to bring events to our community and continue to make heroes of our children. And again, I'm excited about um the prospect of having the joint council uh back in action. I'll leave the schedules of the Little Shamrocks basketball as well as handouts um with Kim Holman um for city council. Thank you so much this evening.

Thank you. Is there anyone else that wants wishes to be heard?

All right. Please state your name for the record and you'll have three minutes.

Thank you. My name is Kathleen Simlar and I work for AARP Michigan. I'm here to raise the alarm about a kind of crypto fraud that has become a growing threat across the country, including right here in East Point. You've probably seen these crypto ATMs or kiosks at gas stations and party stores. If you search for them on Google Maps, you'll see they are peppered throughout your community. They look just like any regular ATM, but they're increasingly being used to defraud people of their hard-earned money. In fact, cryptocurrency kiosk fraud is skyrocketing. According to the FBI, in 2024, Michiganers lost more than $125 million to these scams, and 85% of those victims were over the age of 60. And that has gotten AARP's attention. Older people are clearly in the crosshairs for these scams, and that should make you pause since 21% of your population falls within that demographic. Here's how these scams work. Someone calls or texts claiming you owe them money and always frames their message with a sense of heightened urgency. You're told to deposit cash into the crypto kiosk and then instructed to give them the code that appears on the screen. The money is then converted instantly into cryptocurrency and basically it disappears. Quite often the scammer will keep the victim on the hook, sending them back again and again to the crypto ATM to give more money. And unlike credit card fraud, this money is nearly impossible to recover. Incredibly, some studies have shown that 93% of transactions on these crypto ATMs are scams. 93%. Last summer, you may have seen a story on the news about a retired teacher in Traverse City who deposited more than $48,000 of her retirement savings into a uh crypto kiosk after being contacted by someone who falsely claimed to be from the PayPal PayPal fraud department. Her money was never recovered. Crypto kiosk fraud is a problem that needs to be on

your radar. It is a fast growing fraud industry and the impacts are profound, especially when victims are older and at a point in their lives when they're at least able to recover financially. But there is hope. Communities across Michigan like Sterling Heights and Gross Point Farms have acted out to put in place common sense pro protections like daily or monthly limits for how much money somebody can put into these machines. Tonight, I'm asking East Point to join them. On behalf of AARP, I brought a model ordinance that can protect your residents from this kind of fraud. As elected officials, you have the power to protect your residents, and AARP is urging you to do so. Where can I give these?

Thank you.

Thank you. Good evening, council people, ladies and gentlemen, mayor prom. I'm here again because the fees for this rental property inspection is going out the roof. I got a final notice. I want to quickly go through the order of events again. I bought this house in 2023 from Mark Leone, not 2022. It had a 2-year rental agreement. The tenant was evicted in January of 23. I hired William Jersey, the attorney. William JJ and I got into the court system and he told me to stay out of the property until the court is settled. Judge Kathleen G. right up here at East Point on Thursday, June 12th of 2025. We gave us permission back to the house access to the facility. Going back into that facility after June, I came right down here in July and I paid the $200 inspection fee. And at that time, I got a notice that I was late from uh John Meyers. So, I paid the 200 anyway, and I asked to speak to him. I haven't spoke to him since. I've been here three times and the last time I just in January 3rd, I sent out five letters, one to each of the combo members. I can name them. And I haven't got a response back yet. But what I did get was a final notice and paid the $950 in fees, even though I already paid the $200 for the inspection. Nobody has contacted me or talked to me. Nobody has called me.

Nobody has talked to me about the 300. If all you want is 50 instead of 950. You're not going to wave it even though I was within my two-year period. I did not own this property in 2022. I'm not I brought in evidence from the closing attorney. I went to Mcome County Register of Deeds. I brought all that information in and I still don't have anybody willing to communicate with me. Five letters, not one response. Sounds similar to the guy on the on the tele on the Zoom call. Is there Anybody that can work with me to get this place inspected. Now, if you would prefer, I already pay a high amount of taxes. If you would prefer, I can try to sell the property and do something else because this is ridiculous. I've been doing the right thing. I've been trying to get the place inspected. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Sir, I missed your name. Howard Robinson is what I said. There's five letters in here with my name. Thank you. Is there anyone else that wishes to be heard?

Excuse me. Good evening, council. Good evening, Mayor Protown. Good. Good. Good evening, fire chief, police chief. I'd like to congratulate them. Two of the most organized divisions of the city. There might be some others, but I've had dealings with them and I know they're good. My neighbors know they're good. I am here number one young lady. My wife got hit for $50,000 five years ago. Every month, every day, the mail comes in and we get these letters to, "Oh, you've won this, you've won that." On an average daily, I get nine. I've taken over the mail. My wife is as hard-headed as somebody I know. Well, I'm not looking at you, Harvey, am I? Jeez. Uh, no, he's not hard-headed. Uh anyway, I'd like to tell you that this is out there, this mail, and we should somehow have a something about it. It is terrible. It is. And they are very vicious. And and the Democratic and Republican party are just as guilty as the scammers. So that's one thing. next thing and the young man here con got me convinced on it. May 1st um for Nine Mile uh 10 mile road. We have a young man here, Michael, sitting over there. He is a new citizen or a new visitor to our council meeting. He's been here for quite a few years and he was asking about 10 mile uh

again our learned educated engineer over here con told us about it. So I hope that helps Michael. Um joint ceiling southwest. Am I included in that at Southwest Park? Oh no more chip. My deal when I worked for the highway department was two things. I did road quality. I did the like the inspections they do. I did that for the highway department in Michigan. I had I had too many titles. Most of them was jackass. But anyway, um I'm glad that's going on and I just missed what I was talking about. Anyway, uh asphalt paving, you have to watch it. Once the joints open up, if you don't get them sealed, you got trouble because water gets underneath. The so-called bond coat that they put underneath there is not as good as what we used to use 30 years ago and it deteriorates quickly. And knowing the contractors as I did, some of it is crappy. Anyway, um other than that, uh I'm glad to be here. I've had I'm going in for what's called a um watchman operation. And while they're in there, they're going to do some other surgery. I scar on my heart. So, my wife is keeping keeping me in line. You think I'm a pain in the butt? come to my house. Good talk tonight. Good talk, young lady. Good talk to everybody. Thank you.

And I will be coming back. I will be here. But you still look good there. Oh, I know what I want to do.

Thank you, Mr. Lammo. Good evening, council. Mary Hall Raford, uh, East Point. It's been so long since I've been here, I almost forgot what I'm supposed to do. But, um, sometimes as we age, our health ages along with us and tends to slow us down. But there are a couple of things I wanted to address. Um, one of the things I wanted to say was that when we have different monthly or months that we're going to recognize, please consider putting them on the agenda at the first meeting of every month because when you get to the end, it's like what was the point? Especially for people who do like to do some celebrations. Um, Another thing I wanted to ask u good to see you Brian is uh I was looking for information because when people ask me and I don't know I start looking for it. So is there a reason why the city manager's contract is not posted online so everybody can see it and I don't have to deal with some of those types of questions and bug everybody else. I think it's very helpful for the residents of the city to know exactly what we're doing with the city manager and what they're doing for us. The other thing I want to address, didn't know it was going to come up tonight because I had planned to do it next week at schoolboard meeting. I am not supporting the bond issue and one of the reasons I'm not supporting that bond issue is because there is considerable waste going on right now with the school district when we're paying someone over

30,000 a month to do a job. I'm sorry that that doesn't make sense to me especially when we know we're not in a very affluent school district. No one should be making that kind of money as far as I'm concerned. Um I was told originally they were making that kind of money because they did not have any help. They do have help and because uh of the person who is currently in the position where apparently hiring people from her company, which to me is like, you know, I'm not sure if that's a conflict of interest yet or not. I haven't had a chance to uh really research it, but trust me, I will and I will be raising it as an issue during the next schoolboard meeting because we're talking about tax dollars supporting the district and we need to make sure we're doing the best we can with what we have. Got a lot more to say, but I'll wait till the second turn around. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else that wishes to be heard? Lar residence. Uh, I got an email or a text that the the UT audio is going in and out. So, someone may want to look into that. Um, but I'd like to start out tonight to uh address uh some deep issues and concerns of the city of East Point, not to mention of the so-called USA, but want to try to focus on East Point. There's good and there's bad uh people in the city of East Point as well as in the world and what have you. And then there's the ugly. Um a lot of things are going on that's ugly. Uh the city of East Point's demographics uh have changed dramatically. I think it's anywhere from 53 to 55% indigenous uh FBA's uh black Americans. I don't use those other words uh in the city of East Point, but East Point is not representing

uh through the workforce or uh through the government workforce and what have you, the demographics. I think there's seven full-time employees in East Point. Uh indigenous uh and uh full-time and any any beyond that is uh part-time uh workers with no benefits and what have you. Uh I've attend these meetings been stretching out somewhat attending trying to attend others. And when I look at the setup, uh it looks to me almost like it's stacked against uh uh the people that's representative of this city. And it ultimately comes out and turns out to be that's really the case. Whether it's intentionally or unintentionally, that's the outcome of stuff that's blatantly uh should be looked at different, but because of the stack being so stacked and what have you, uh uh the indigenous people seem like always come at the short end of the stick. and with my 20 some seconds and everything, uh, I'm just going to have to end it for now into the second round and what have you. And there's going to there's going to be a change. It's going to come a change. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Pro Tim and city council. My name is Vicki Brooks and I'm the former personnel deput deputy director laid off on September 3rd as a result of a city council budget amendment reducing the funded amount of my position by $25,000. As you recall, on September 2nd, I brought to the attention of this board the discriminatory actions directed toward me by the former temporary city manager, Elkie Doom. As a result, this council requested a third-party investigation. I am once again standing here requesting that that third-party investigation res results be made public specifically because the people who had involvement or evidence of the discriminatory behavior by their own testimony were not interviewed. I believe making the investigation results public re will reveal the bias and nonthorleness of the investigation. Additionally, I would like to make this council aware that prior to former city doom's departure, an HR position was advertised at a rate of minimum of $40 an hour and the position was filled. I would further like this council to be aware that based on civil service requirements, my name should be placed on the layoff remployment list and my name should be placed on the eligibility list for my classifications. I have submitted a freedom of information request and my name is not on either of those lists. Finally, I invite you all to review the Ethics Board Commission

meeting on YouTube dated February 18th, 2026, where I requested an investigation be conducted as I feel my layoff was direct retaliation for making public former temporary city manager Elky Doom's discriminate discriminatory practices to the city council. Thank you.

Jennifer Nicholas, East Point resident. Um, I have a couple questions here. Um, Mr. Mattis, you can probably answer this. Um, there's not been any city council meeting minutes posted or drafted since January 6. The last three meetings, there are no minutes available online and you've not approved any minutes at any of your meetings. Um, I'm wondering if that's uh new policy going forward or if that's just an oversight. Um, maybe you can address that at some point. Um, also, um, back at the February 3rd city council meeting, Mayor Kleinfeld had asked, uh, Attorney Albbright and also you, Mr. Mattis, if you would be able to share any clarification on whether Moses Rosses met the criteria by December 31st, as was stated in Councilwoman Bashadlick's motion after the January 6th close session meeting, as far as I'm aware, or that's been any any open meetings, um the criteria was that they needed to be open and operating by December 31st, and they were not open until February 1st of this year. So, I don't know if you changed the criteria, but nothing has ever been discussed publicly. And I know Mayor Kleinfeld had asked if there was anything that you would be able to share that's not considered um attorney client privilege um from the closed session meeting. Um I know we were talking about Nine Mile that you are doing the um water mane repair. I've still not seen a design for Nine Mile for between Kelly Road and I 94. I don't think it's been presented to city council yet. Um I, you know, but it sounds like plans are moving ahead

without any design being approved. I was wondering if there's going to be another traffic study done now that gas station number 16 is open and operating at Nine Mile in Beaconsfield, which I think is going to increase the traffic flow. I know there was discussions of a median in that area, which I still don't understand how that's going to work with the amount of traffic with that being the only grocery store in the city. We have the Secretary of State's office there. And again, Sheets is open and operating. So, why we would um eliminate the center lane and put a median in there, I'm just not sure about. And I don't know when when you all are going to be able to see the design on that. And as far as um your discussion tonight on the third party investigation, I'm kind of interested in that too. I was at the board of ethics meeting. I don't know how much you'll be able to discuss without Mayor Kleinfeld being here because at the board of ethics meeting, it sounds like all of this was decided by him. Um and and that he asked our finance director to figure out a way to eliminate Miss Brook's position. So, I'm not sure exa how much of a discussion you'll be able to have on that tonight.

Thank you. Is there anyone else that wishes to be heard? All right. Seeing none, the first hearing of the public is closed. Um, there are no minutes in here for us to approve, no scheduled hearings, no unfinished business. Uh, so now we're into reports from administration. We'll start with our city manager, Mr. Mattis.

Good evening, Mayor Prom and Council and everyone here. Um, lots going on. Uh, we're staying pretty busy. Um, as Mr. Kern told us, uh, work's beginning on Nine Mile Road for phase three this week. You'll see action out there as well as orange barrels the season. Um, uh, this morning I got to attend the board of review organizational meeting. So, board review, uh, will be meeting next week. Those are posted. They were in the paper. They're online. All that good stuff. Um for any uh issues for the board of review. Uh and there's lots of progress being made. Um we're looking a lot at process. That's a one of my favorite things. Um moving forward with the budget where that's in process. Uh so you'll be seeing that before too long, but I won't steal Ry's thunder on that. Um looking at um all the all the different things we do on a given day, which uh the list can be long. uh working on some just standard operating procedures. Our building department has been instituting these and um they're they're very helpful to have just standard operating procedures. Uh and there's lots going on with elections, too. So, as Superintendent Gibson mentioned, we've got a May 5th election and then we'll have a primary as well as a another one in November. So, uh it'll be a busy election season here in East Point. Um also, we do know that there are some issues with the our audiovisisual system. So, uh thank you for pointing that out. We um were looking at it. We met with our provider who installed it a little bit ago and we're looking at a couple solutions. Um you'll see that um when we get to the budget, we've got a little bit more allocated to work on that in the future. We're looking at some short-term fixes as well um to try to improve that because it is a vital part of how we communicate to the community. U looking forward to the e looking forward to the joint meeting with the planning commission on Thursday night at six o'clock. So council and planning talking about the master plan on Thursday. Um, and then just a reminder that uh you won't see me for a little bit. I'll be um out of town a little bit next week as

well as attending training at the Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks Institute. So, um I I look forward to that and that's that's all I got for now. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Matt. Anybody have any questions for our city manager?

Okay. And you already touched on something that I had was about the audio, so my question is gone. All right. Uh, next, Mr. Blum, our finance director. Good evening, Mayor Prom and Council. Um, you can steal my thunder anytime, but uh, yeah, bud budget is pretty much all that's been worked on, even though it's the city manager budget, about 80% of it comes out of the finance department. Um, and that is what's being worked on. the departments will be doing the writeups over the next two weeks uh so we can get the booklet prepared and ready for council on the first meeting in April. Um I'm not giving away any highlights at this point. Uh but it's being worked on and that's all I have. So

all right, thank you. Any questions for our finance director? All right, seeing none, we'll go over to our city attorney, Mr. Albbright. Thank you, uh Mayor Prom Baker. uh short report section this evening. Council's in receipt of our monthly status report. I also attached uh several um uh status reports uh from attorney Frand as well. Uh again, I'm happy to answer any questions regarding uh those what's contained in those. Okay. Any questions for our city attorney? Thank you.

All right. Thank you. All right. Moving right excuse me. Moving right into new business. Uh item A, adoption of resolution number 26-2014, blanket permit for general road maintenance, Mcome County Department of Roads. Yeah, Mr. Mayor prom I would move to adopt resolution number 26-2014 blanket permit for general road maintenance Mcome County Department for roads for the period of February 1st 2026 to February 1st 303 that's to be 2031 sorry for the typo

oh I was wondering that's 100 years so that that's an error that should be 213 3031 2031 2031 Okay. 23 All right. And further authorize director of public works and services to execute the application and permit to construct, operate, use, and or maintenance the right of way or to close a county road on behalf of the city. We have a motion. Is there support? Support. All right. Please call the role. Council member Curley. Yes. Council member Shadlick. Yes. Council member Scott. Yes. Mayor Prom Baker. Yes.

Item B, second reading and adoption of ordinance number 25-1255 IPMC. Would anyone like to start off with a motion or discussion? I would move to give second reading and to adopt ordinance number 26-1255 updating the city ordinances to the 2021 edition of the International Property Maintenance Code. Is there support? Support. We have a motion and support. Please call the role. Council member Shadlick. Yes. Council member Scott. Yes. Mayor Pert Baker. Yes. Council member Curley. Yes.

All right. Item C, approval to reschedule the May 5th, 2026 city council meeting. Uh, Matt, speak to that. Yes, please.

Uh, as discussed, May 5th is um, election day in East Point. Um, and so the chambers will be busy. We have a couple of options as outlined in your packet. Um, we do have scheduled for May 12th and 13th. Uh, those evenings will have budget workshops. Um, so we could call a special city council meeting um if we needed to somewhere in there, but we will be meeting quite a bit the following week. Um, if you would prefer that we cancel the May 5th election and add a little bit more to the last April meeting and the second May meeting, that's also an option. Um, so I leave that up to council to decide.

Well, I I know personally I don't feel that we need uh a special meeting, but that's just my opinion. Uh, and I guess um the administration can divvy out uh agenda items as necessary unless there's something that I'm not seeing. And if there was a reason to call a special meeting, we could do that for whatever time need to in all the normal ways. Okay. Um, so I guess if we're not, so I guess we basically we just need a motion to cancel that meeting and then you guys would just add to the uh meetings to follow. Okay. Uh, so moved. Support.

All right. We have a motion and support. Please call the RO. Council member Curley. Yes. I think it was council member Shadley. Yes. Council member Scott. Yes. Mayor Trump. Mayor Prom Baker.

Yes. All right. And uh item D was uh added to our agenda. just a discussion uh agenda item added by myself and it was about some questions concerning uh pretty much some things with uh the direction of HR and then uh just a few things with the uh concerning the third party search but also not being mindful of the attorney client privilege yep items.

Sorry to interrupt but I will interrupt if we run into that and Mr. Mr. Albert will as well if we there is privilege information related to it. So if we need to, you know, flag on the field, we will blow the whistle.

All right. Okay. Well, and since it was my item, I guess I'll I'll lead it off. Um there was a few questions that I had and uh I'll just start off with questions regarding HR. Uh we do know that there was a budget amendment that uh uh created a layoff for of our deputy director personnel. Um, and as was mentioned during a hearing of the public, it was stated that it was a council request. Being that I didn't see it at a at a city council meeting, my fir my first question would be who from council requested it? Um, or do you have that information because I feel like that's something that we should have discussed publicly, but um, being that I was at all the council meetings, it it wasn't at the table. That question predates my time with the city, so I can't speak to process.

Okay. Mayor Prom, I don't I do not know the answer to that question. I think that would have to be something that comes from uh another member of the organization. Okay. Is there anyone that will or can speak to that? Since I created the budget amendment, I can. Okay. Um it was uh initiated by Councilman De Monaco and Kleinfeld. Um they requested that the budget amendment be put in uh place and added to the uh agenda on the first meeting in September. Okay.

All right. And mainly what I'm looking what I was looking for with this question was the fact that that we hadn't had a discussion here and it seemed that um basically that the well the way it appeared was that a decision had already been made of what was going to be done and how and um for the sake of transparency and being open that's where my inquiry came in at. Um also currently well moving forward I also would like to know what is the plan for the HR responsibilities? How are we planning to move forward with HR duties?

Sure. Um so right now uh HR duties are handled by myself. Um I consult with uh assistant city manager Holman quite a bit on those items as well. Um a lot of the day-to-day is handled by um either Brianna Parsons or administrative assistant specialist. Guess I messed up her title. I'm sorry. But she is on um she's on leave currently. So, we uh are eager to get her back. We have temporarily filled that position um in the meantime. And uh Paige alderman has been helping with the it's the postings, the filings, the the things like that that need to happen to make HR go.

Okay. Um Okay. Well, that was my next question. if somebody had been put into that position. So, and you said this is a temporary position. Uh, Miss Alderin. Yes. Okay. Yep. Um, and future plans um to be determined. I'm still working on that. Um, it's uh it's one I haven't fully unraveled or decided what we'll do with that, but um we'll be going through the normal process with civil service and um all those good things to approve job descriptions and all that. all of that. So,

okay. I guess that and if someone else has questions, you guys can please feel free. Um, and I I guess my concern with that, well, I didn't know that there was a that there was a new person. Um, well, we heard today that somebody had been hired from Miss Brooks, but um The position is temporary. Is it temporary full-time? Uh civil service um asked these same questions. Uh we talked about them there. Um I don't have my notes from that in front of me. Um it was filled because Miss Parsons is unavailable. Um and so temporary per our definition as I remember um we were able to place someone in a temporary role uh with the same duties for up to 90 days is what I believe is in civil service rules 120

120 days. Yep. And so knowing that um Brianna wouldn't be available for a short time, we filled her duties with uh Miss Alderman. Okay. So, I'm I'm just asking make sure I got it right. So, a temporary position can be filled for up to 120 days. Um, and that did not have to go to civil service or did that go through

because it's temporary in the same role. Um, it did not and we discussed it there. Um, I don't have that memo in front of me, but I know I I dove into that question. You'll find it there in their minutes. And then if Kim wants to add to it, she may. Mr. Mayor Prom, yes, it is a um it is a temporary but part-time position because there are no benefits attached to it. Um and the hours fluctuate based on how many how much paperwork needs to be done and part-time positions don't normally go to civil service.

That one actually I did know um with part time. So, okay. and I I'm just trying to make sure that I have a full understanding um of kind of where we're at and what's going on. Um so I guess my question to you, Mr. Mattis, um because you said you're taking on the HR responsibilities and by charter. Yeah. So the question that I have is if someone has a concern that involves you, who do they go to to address that concern?

I was asked this question um at civil service yesterday. Um it's a fair question. Um right, the office for a long time was structured so that it was just the city manager. a deputy committed to HR was a role that was created not too long ago. Um and council chose to eliminate that position uh prior to me starting. Um knowing that I'm that person. Uh we do have department heads who are extremely helpful. So um I would lean I would I would hope that through the chain of command um issues could be brought to department heads. Um I don't know that we have a documented process that that could that um employees with an issue with the city manager go to. I'm not sure where. Uh it could be the city attorney. It could be um a designated department head who has human resources experience. I'm not sure that we have a documented process. Um so we've defaulted to what we were doing prior to I believe it was 2019 that the role was created of someone committed to HR. Um so uh resorting to that process. Um, I don't know that we have a documented this is where you go with those issues. Um, I've talked about it a little bit with department heads. We'll continue that conversation because I'm not sure um at this time what the answer is, but we will work on that. Um, I'll consult with our city attorney as well for uh best practices. What should we do? What's what's recommended?

Okay. And I appreciate that honesty. I mean, you know, um, I have a question. Okay. Okay. So, you said Briana Parson took on some of the work some of the workload that um Miss Woods was doing. Is that correct? Brooks. Miss Brooks. Vicki. Um she Yes. Okay. So, um with her taking on some of the workload, was she comp is she compensated more for doing that? Um Mr. Mayor Prom, if I may. Yes.

As before me. Um so she did not take on the responsibilities that Miss Brooks was doing. She uh Miss Parsons continued on with all the things that she had been doing with Miss Brooks which was posting the jobs um doing the paperwork some of the different things like that and onboarding. Um so she the decisions are now being made um by the city uh city manager. Okay. But your question was in regards to was she compensated for

Yeah. So was she being compensated more for uh because from my understanding Mr. Mattis stated that um some of the work has now been given to Briana. So being that the work has been it seems like her workload has gotten a little larger. Is she being compensated more for taking on that extra workload? I'm sorry I didn't answer that. Yes, she has uh been compensated a little bit more um for adding some of the additional um items to her regular workload, the the filing and posting and all that stuff.

Okay. Um being that uh and this is just me trying to understand the process uh if the HR duties are added and I and I understand that there were things she was being trained by Miss Brooks to do. If it was if there is more added to her job, does that change or that change in description? And I think that might be what you were alluding to earlier. Does that change in description have to go before civil service?

It would if it changed and it probably will at some point, but it hasn't changed yet. Okay. But so moving forward, it it will. It became more more of her time has been committed to the filing and posting than previously as I understand it, but uh her overall job description hasn't changed.

Okay. And uh you touched on uh uh like relying on your department heads and things uh for following best practices. Um hypothetically if your department heads or uh um your other employees if they don't have HR background and I and I don't know specifically what all has to be required but let's say to be certain that you're following best practices is that something that you would consult with a labor attorney I know You mentioned Mr. Albbright. So, would it be either or or specifically Mr. Albbright to be sure that best practices are being followed?

Good question. It would probably start with city attorney Albbright uh and we'd go from there. We might consult our labor attorney or um others based on the nature of the question.

Yeah, Mayor Prom, it would probably be uh Mr. Mattis would would most likely come to our office first. uh we'd hear what he had to say, identify what the issues were, and it might be something that uh we can respond to fairly quickly. Or if it's something a little bit more detailed, uh then we'd refer Mr. Mattis over to labor council, uh I may be a part of that conversation, I may not. I know that uh Brandon over the years a lot of times the city manager would just reach out to him uh knowing that uh you know he was kind of the go-to person on those types of issues, but you know we're always available as well.

Okay. Does that and sorry I I didn't know I was going to ask that, but does does that fall under your normal retainer or would that just be that quarterly charge based off of the labor council has a separate uh retainer with the city of East Point. In fact, I think Randy, wasn't it recently? Uh, wasn't it up in 2025 for an increase? Uh, yes. And they actually don't have a retainer. They we build by or they bill by the hour by the hour. So, if we don't call them, we don't pay them. Right. Okay. And what is do you off the top of your head, Randy? Is it something like 160? Is it in that per hour?

I I'd say 165, but I'd have to go back and find the Yeah, it's somewhere in that ballpark. I think it was increased to 165 prior to that. I I don't know what the actual amount was. Okay. And and with your office, if they reached out to you, is that just part of your normal retainer? Like if they for the consultation or Yes.

Okay. All right. Thank you very much. Okay. Um well, I think I have some clarity there as far as at least where uh the conversation started. um with uh the reduction um or the layoff uh from the position. Uh I guess in regards to the third party uh investigation um we know that we well we all know that that a third party investigation took place. Who recommended doing the third party investigation? Was it administration? Was that council members? Like just whose idea was it to do that?

Again, I'll I'll take that since Ryan wasn't here. Um, after the U public comments on the third from Miss Brooks, it was uh deemed to be appropriate that an investigation be conducted uh just to satisfy the public and their uh wanting to know. Uh they was discussed with Mayor Kleinfeld. Uh we knew the amount would not be significant. Um we went to Brandon Fornier uh our labor attorney. He did not want to do it because of his relationship with East Point. uh he did go out and look for u other entities that could do these that he knew do did these investigations and but made sure that they did not have any relationship with East Point or Miss Brook's former employer of Oak Park. He narrowed it down to two firms. Uh the original one he had talked to uh they had agreed to do it and then realized it was conflict with a vacation. So they dropped out and so we moved on to the second firm uh to have them conduct the uh investigation.

Okay. So from so based off of the labor attorney's recommendation you got administration decided who to go with and you said the first firm it was a conflict. Is that what I Yeah, they had agreed to do it. Then about a week later, they came back and said it was going to conflict with a a vacation they had scheduled. So, they dropped out. Um and so then we just had this was all the investigation was all run through the labor attorney. There was no involvement from administration on selecting the firm or dictating any of the terms. It's just based off of their recommendation. Correct. Between the two and then one couldn't do it. Yep.

Okay. Um, do you know roughly what we paid that what what it cost us with that firm? Yeah, I knew that was going to come up. Um, the total cost was $2,39250.

Okay. All right. So, pretty much that's Did Did anyone else have any questions that they wanted to ask or do you know how long it took for them to investigate the matter? Um, I know you're giving me like the total cost. Um, but the duration like how many days or how many how much hours was were build? I uh we did not get the actual bill so I don't know how many hours were spent on this. Uh, and I don't know how many days, weeks, hours, whatever. They were contracted through Schiffman Fornier.

It was all run through the labor attorney intentionally to keep administration um from influencing anything. Okay.

Um, okay. So, basically in a nutshell, there was some clarification that I was that I was seeking in regards to this matter. Um, and based off of some things that were discussed, um, some things were said to have come from members of council and then I just knowing that there were meetings that it didn't happen at a meeting, that's why I needed clarification as to where that originated from. Um, can I ask Randy a question? Was that added to the agenda in the regular way? I know the council bylaws give a timeline for any council member to put something on the agenda. Um, Did the request to add that to the agenda meet that criteria?

The request um began in the beginning of August once we figured out what the proper process would be. Again, consulting with the labor attorney was probably mid August. The budget amendment was finalized August 20th. Excuse me. Um August 20th and then placed on the uh September 3rd council meeting. Thanks. Okay.

Okay. So, I I think I mean and I guess one of the other things that kind of concerned me was um just the fact that it seemed like we were already at a determination of what what to do, what to take away. Um and it just seemed like a whole lot of things had been decided uh but not at a table. And so that's where some of my my questions came from. Um because I knew that well it happened it happened really quickly and uh just based off of some things that we've heard from the council table uh what I heard like listening because I did watch the uh ethics board meeting. Um so there there were still a lot of concerns that I had. Uh I think that uh for me at our next meeting when we have a full council um I would like to have a discussion again uh just to hear Mayor Kleinfeld's perspective if he has anything to add and to see as a full council is there anything that we feel we should do moving forward concerning this. Um, and I'm I'm just, you know, I want to hear I want everybody to have a a chance to say something or add something if they so choose. And since his name was mentioned, I feel like it's fair to give him that opportunity also to speak on his behalf. Um,

so can I interject? So, you would like to see kind of a similar agenda item for the next meeting? Uh, yes. Yes. just to see if Oh, I'm sorry. You were gonna um No, I was just going to follow up with if there are questions that uh are going to require research, it might be helpful if council members want to ask those ahead of time. You can sub submit those to me via email would be easiest that that way I can u make sure we find those answers if you're looking for them. And again, we'll share what we can and if there's privilege information, we'll we'll let you know.

Oh, we understand that. Okay. Um yeah, just to see if uh if anybody um from the council feels like there's anything that we need to look into further. Um I know just tonight we heard that there were people u there were names mentioned that didn't get interviewed. Um, so I but I don't I feel like it's fair to just try to discuss that with the full body up here, uh, and see what we feel like we need to do in regards to that and just to make sure that we're as thorough and complete and fair and transparent as possible. So, um, I think that's pretty much Oh. Um, and I don't I don't even know how to ask this, uh, Mr. All right. With the investigation, um, who would I don't know if there's the right way to say it though, but who has oversight over over that? Like would that be Shipment and Forier? um since they cont since they reached out to this third party investigator like would they see it from start to finish or like who who says who makes the determination that these are our findings this is complete everything is accurate and fair and just

it's my belief that shift and for as labor council wanted to remain as independent as possible and would not have any involvement at all with the investigation other than possibly facilitating ating the availability of witnesses or providing documents if they were in possession of certain documents. Uh but they wouldn't be involved in the factf finding or reaching any conclusions whatsoever. Okay. And if you can answer this, um, being that we were told tonight that there were witnesses that were not interviewed, how do we, is there a way that we can verify that or find out why?

It's something that I can consult with labor counsel and have that discussion with Mr. Fornier, uh, with Mr. Matt is present as well. Um, and get as much information that we can divulge. Um, and if that requires or if we're able to do that during an open meeting, uh, that would be wonderful. But if it's something, uh, that, uh, is subject to attorney client privilege or is under the threat of possible civil litigation, we can have that discussion in a close session. Okay. All right. Thank you. All right. Um, Mr. Mayor Prom, if I may. Yes.

Um, are city managers not going to be at the May at the March 17th meeting? Is it possible that this topic due to the importance could go on to the first meeting in April? Yeah, you did told us that. Um, yes, because if you're not here, then well, you can't come back with the information or anything if you're not here present. So, and we have a full body and our city manager. All right. Thank you, Miss Hullman. Thank you. All right. Well, I believe that was all my questions. If if there are any others, feel free.

I encourage you to send them to me uh prior to the first April meeting. I'll remind you to All right. Well, seeing that there is none, uh we can move right into the payroll and bills. Well, Mr. Mayor, I would move to pay the bills in amount of $2,75,000 $868.56.

Support it. We have motion in support. Please call the role. Council member Curley, yes. Council member Scott, yes. Council member Shadlick, yes. Mayor Prom Baker, yes.

All right. Our next item is the second hearing of the public. Is there anyone who wishes to be heard? Let me get my stopwatch again. All right. Thank you. Good evening. My name again is Vicky Brooks. I'd like to bring some clarity to some things that were said in the last discussion. One of the things that was said that Miss Briana was given a raise to perform HR duties. Miss Briana was hired as an administrative assistant and had no HR duties. She was then made HR um administrative specialist and HR duties were added in because she made um she said that she wanted to know about HR. After I left, she was then given an additional raise that is as far as I know I did do a foyer freedom of information request. She was given almost a $7 an hour raise to do HR duties, but those duties, as explained here, were already in her job description. So, she was given an additional raise to do HR duties over and beyond what's already in her job description. So, I wanted to make sure that this council uh understood that fact. And then there was one other thing. One other thing that was said um and the other thing that I wanted to make clear was that when this job was actually advertised, the third party vendor contacted me and um I did apply and I was told that the job was filled. Um uh I'm not sure if that was the fact

and I don't understand why if I was doing the job why I couldn't be hired uh on a temporary basis and this did go to the civil service board and what they said was that a temporary job such as this even though there's no benefits it was to come to the civil service board to be uh approved in the same way that when the police chief was hired during my tenure temporarily. We had to take it to the civil service board to be approved before we could hire him temporarily. So, I wanted to make those two things clear. Thank you.

Once again, I'm Howard Robertson. I'm coming back u to try to see if can get a commitment to end this problem tomorrow either. Uh this is a computerenerated set of fees. Nobody has signed a letter. It is 500 and some odd% higher than a normal late fee. First of all, I'm not late as I mentioned before, but I I want to settle this because I need to move on with my life. I don't need to spend time in these meetings with the same issue that's been around since last June. It doesn't make sense to take this long. I worked for the federal government 26 years. I should have got a response from one of these five letters. That's what public service do. That's what civil service do. That's what good business people do. So, can I get a commitment tonight to to bring you a check tomorrow and amount tomorrow? I'll sit here until the end because I want to move on with my life.

Thank you. Is there anyone else that wishes to be heard? Mary Hall, Rayford, East Point. Um, going back to something I said in the first hearing of the public, um, March is Women's History Month, and I hope that we hear about some really great things via the newsletter or whatever, if we're going to recognize it. I don't think we need a proclamation for everything that comes along, but I think that we can do certain things to acknowledge those times of the year. Um, I'm sorry, I can't remember the gentleman's name, but this is something that shouldn't happen. Um, if we want people to move here and be a part of the city, we need to be a little more accommodating and make sure that the business side of what they need is taken care of so that they won't stay. You know, we we we have to do better. Um, and just listening to the discussion regarding Miss Brooks, and I'm going all off target here because this is not part of something I wanted to say, but what's the problem? It It sounds like some conflict, some lack of transparency, some bias somewhere. You know, how the heck do you pay a bill with no invoice and knowing exactly what it is you're paying for? This is the kind of issue that's going on with the school district. They're paying bills that nobody knows what the heck they're paying for, which is one of the reasons why I will not

support that bond issue. And I discourage anyone else from supporting it until they're willing to be more transparent about what they're doing with the funding they have access to. Our property taxes are what funds all of this and we need to do better if we want to see better from everyone in this city. Have a good evening. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else that wishes to be heard? Jennifer Nicholas, East Point res. Um, thank you, Mayor Prom Baker, for initiating that discussion. Um, I'm kind of confused. I'm not sure exactly how city administration works, but I wasn't aware that a council person and a mayor could just unilaterally decide to eliminate someone's job. Um is that is that how it works? um you know by doing a a budget amendment which is targeted for one specific position and apparently for one reason that they thought that the position was uh the salary was too much even though back in February last year they approved the um wage study that was done with no issue and then the budget discussions in May no issue was brought up about um the salary that was allocated for human resource manager or deputy human resources personnel director. Um, so I'm just kind of it's just kind of concerning. I would be concerned if I were a city employee to think that a council person could just decide on a whim that my position should be eliminated via a budget amendment. Um, some clarification too as far as the third party investigation. Um, at the September 2nd city council meeting where this was discussed, um, Mayor Kleinfeld had said that administration had identified an outside agency to investigate the original allegations that Miss Brooks made on um,

August 27th via email to council members in the ethics board. that was specifically for um concerns that she had about practices, human resources practices in the workplace. She thought that there were problems with it. So my understanding is that investigation since it was started prior to September 2nd, prior to the budget amendment being approved and prior to her being terminated, that that investigation was just for her issues in the workplace. I'm not sure if there's been an investigation regarding her termination and how that all came about and maybe that might be something that our labor attorney might want to um initiate uh to get a little more clarity because it seems like a lot of people weren't interviewed. Um none of council members were interviewed. So I'm assuming that her the circumstances surrounding surrounding her termination have not been investigated if former Councilman Demonaco and Mayor Kleinfeld have not been interviewed on this at all. So I hope that by April, the first April May meeting, um there'll be a clearer picture of actually what transpired. Thank you.

Thank you. again, mayor, I mean, city council and mayor prom. Uh, again, start off uh with the um there's good people, there's bad people, and then there's the ugly. and uh we're dealing with a lot uh I too after upon hearing others speak and everything about the ethnic uh board of ethics I was there as well and uh uh I was uh confused with some things and what have you uh one being u uh with the new city manager being there uh represent as representative of some sort uh because uh he's totally green, totally new to all this here. What what what could he possibly represent and what have you other than being as learn because there was questions asked to him uh uh that he knows nothing about as well as legal questions and I don't believe he has an attorney uh background. I could be wrong. people run around with all kind of uh uh credentials and what have you and everything. So, I could be wrong on that. Uh and in regards to saying all that and what have you, uh the Bible is an amazing book even with all of the mistransations, misinterpretations, uh uh done purposely and maybe in within air and all that and

everything. But the Bible is what knows each and every one of us individually. If you read it for yourself, it'll tell you exactly everything about you. And it's more than just a uh a book of salvation. It's a history book. It's a lineage book. It'll tell you who you are as far as your nationality, your race, and and all. Well, it don't deal with race because that's that's a that's a a social construct and what have you, but it will deal with everything with in your heart to tell you who you are. And we as indigenous people and what have you and even beyond that and what have you because of the history, the most accurate uh piece of information and the uh literature that we have of any history, everything you find within the Bible and what have you. And then you compare this other stuff to what that says to see how accurate it is and what have you. Um,

you have 30 seconds. You find that u uh upon telling you who you are and what have you that uh uh it deal it deal it it it it dealt with uh the condition of people and what have you. And we can go back as indigen people and what have you. uh 400 years of experience of what we have gone through uh uh up to this present time and what have you. So this is nothing new. It's just getting worse and worse and I'm sorry out of hand. Thank you. Mr. Lam, do you wish to be heard?

Yes, sir. I bring up the top. Good evening, mayor and council. Oh god, that sounds good. Good evening, mayor, councel, police chiefs, fire chief, other members, Mr. Albbright, Mum, etc. Harvey, you're awake. Wait, I'm awake. Um, did I talk about school or uh Stevens Highway in my first talk? No.

Did you know that there is a move on Facebook for people in East Point to take a survey on whether or not they want Stevens to become a well, they call it a green greenway now. And it's set up for from M little Mac all the way over to into Oakland County. It was put forth by a former councilman, Mr. Cardi, and his group. And they and I don't think it's right. I I wish I had gotten the the HTV number that you could go to and do the summary that they have and why or why you do or don't want it. But, uh, if I can find it, I'm going to let you know. Um, I'm glad you guys settled this other deal and are handling it. I work for the Civil Service Comm. I work for the highway department under civil service. And it's a tricky group. Um, school millage. Does everybody know what that's about? It the school millage that they want is for nonresidential property. That's the way I understand it. It's for commercial, rental, and vacant properties. I have a lot of friends that have businesses here and they got enough with the taxes we've already put on their butts. We don't need more taxes. And like I said earlier, I guess there's two groups that aren't the best. And thank you.

Good evening. And you still look good up there. Oh my god. Thank you, Mr. Lamo. He's the only one that gets me like that. I don't even know how I know how he does it. Is there anyone anyone else who wishes to be heard? All right, seeing none, the second hearing of the public is closed. On to mayor and council reports. We'll start with Miss Pashadlick. I don't have anything today. Thank you. All right. I'm sorry, Councilwoman Pad Pashad Lake, I'm sorry. Uh, Councilwoman Scott,

the same here. I don't have anything today. Thank you.

All right, Councilman Curley. Thank you, sir. Uh, I had one item at the beginning of the meeting to talk about at this part of the meeting, but I've got four or five different items. Uh, I too would like to get some information about what they think they ought to do with Stevens. Um, I don't know who's on the committee, when the committee was formed, what they're thinking about. Um, so I I I don't know. Um, Ryan, can we get some written information from the committee and the names of the committee? And uh I don't know if that's going to be a decision we if this decision we have to make eventually we ought to be able to have some up-to-date information on that. Uh number two, the gentleman with the house thing. Um I don't know, maybe somebody from the administration can catch it before he leaves and make a make an appointment and get the thing settled. I know he's been here many times with a conversation. So, uh, I'd like to see somebody approach him before. So, don't leave right away so they can get up there and talk to him. Uh, number three, um, you know, the library I think is one of the best in the country and we have a group called Friends of the Library and they take returnables and they take the money and they buy things uh for the young people, the youth. So, I'm asking all of you to if you have returnables and They're probably on your porch or in the garage or wherever. Take them over

to the library and they'll cash them in and uh been able to uh help the kids help the kids out. Um um Mayor, I'm glad that you uh want to put that information about the termination on the agenda. Next agenda, I guess it would be. I don't know a damn thing. I don't have any paperwork. So, if if I'm going to sit here next council meeting, I I got to have something more than a blank piece of paper. I like to know when it started, the uh justification for the termination, uh whatever that you can give to me so I can ask some intelligent questions and that would be that would be kind of nice. Um, the last thing I have such a heavy heart today because of the war that were fighting the six Americans that and that might be a higher figure, but it was reported so far six Americans have been killed. My heart was so heavy when they said that whoever bombed it was if if it was us or Israel that bombed that schoolhouse and killed so many young young kids. Kids probably don't even know who what the United States is. But they were sitting in school and we bombed them and we killed them. And I don't believe for a minute that it was a stray bomb. I don't believe that. They have such a sophisticated operation. They they can pinpoint a person walking down the street. So don't

tell me administration of the government of America that it was an accident. I don't believe that for a second. And I don't know what the solution's going to be, but it's getting worse. It's getting worse. And now the rumor or the they may send we may have boots on the ground there. I hope not. And I know we got a lot of problems. We got a lot of problems that were talked about tonight. But something's got to change, folks. And I know what your political persuasion is, but we won't talk about that. But I all I know is we're this America's going to hell right now and they don't even have the basket. So pray for that. Pray for the families particularly. And I know we got to pray for everybody. But my first thought was all the all the moms and the dads and the brothers and the sisters and the the siblings of all those children that were murdered. You know, I used the word murdered and that's what it was. Mayor, that's it.

Thank you. Just briefly, um, Mr. Robinson, Robinson, I I believe I heard it right. I did talk, I believe it was several weeks ago, I saw the uh building official. The letters that I received, I did pass them forward so that they would know from your words what the concern was. My impression was that he had been in communication with you prior to my conversation with him. What I will do or I will ask um Mr. Mattis if he could please talk with Mr. Myers and if he's uh unavailable to attend our council meeting, maybe he could put in writing his perspective of of what's going on with this matter so that we can have clear understanding um of what either has been done, needs to be done, and so we can have accurate dialogue back and forth. But I don't I don't want you I know the last few meetings that you've attended, you've left before the end, but I did have a conversation with him on in regards to that matter. So I don't want you to feel like you're going unheard. Um that conversation did take place and so we'll try to get some kind of information back so that we can give you accurate information from his pers from the building officials perspective. Um

m Mr. verify if I might. No, you and interrupt you. Um, I would like to have a written resolution to the problem. He came he talked to us two or three times now. If there's a a determination with the administration, whatever they do, I like to see it in writing. I like to have a report of what happened so we know. I mean, if people are going to come up to us and give us their concerns and we pass it on to the administration, we don't know what what happened. I want to know what happened. Well, council,

that's exactly what I was just asking. It's for something in writing and Mr. Mattis was saying that he would follow. See, I I know I know that you and I are so close together. It's our closeness in B in age. That's what it is. It's our closeness. You're just You're just a puppy. Mhm. Um um to our visitor that came out first time, Mr. Michael, I believe it is.

Thank you for coming out. Um as you can see, there's some there's good and and there's pleasant and and not so pleasant or not so easy conversations that happen here at this table, but necessary conversations. We appreciate you taking an interest in our city and to see how things run here at the council meeting. and we just ask that this doesn't be your last time. So, thank you for for coming out. Um, with that, that is pretty much all that I have. Oh, well, to my son, I have a my oldest son. His birthday will be on the 7th. Uh, I was going to say it in Spanish, happy birthday and all that other good stuff. Felis Guplanos and he will be sees Anos Hovind, which is 26 years young. but abroto. So I only speak a little. Um so I know he's not watching but you guys get to hear the happy birthday for him. Um with that we have a close session uh pertaining to the city manager review. The number MCL15.268. Uh I don't know how to read all that other stuff. 1A um that's the parentheticals. If is there a motion to go into close session pertaining to the city manager review?

I would move that we go into close session for the city manager review pursuant to MCL 15.268 parent one parent a we got a motion in support with the proper reading of the number. Please call the role. Council member Shadlick. Yes. Council member Curley. Yes. Council member Scott. Yes. Mayor Prom Baker. Yes. All right. going into close session at 8:48

Did you? Well, we don't need.

All right, everybody. Are we ready? Yes, sir. All right, we're going back into open session at 9:15 p.m. Next item is motion for adjournment. I move to adjourn. Support. We have motion and support. Please call the role. Council member Shadlick. Yes. Council member Scott. Yes. C Mayor Prom Baker. Yes. Council member Curley. Yes. All right. Meeting adjourned at 9:16