Council - Regular Meeting

I appreciate it. It is actually 6.03 and I'm going to call to order the regular council meeting of the Village of Franklin for Monday, August 10th, 2026. If we can start with the Pledge of Allegiance, please.

I know we had heard from David and Dan. Hopefully Angelina is on her way. Next item is adoption of the agenda. And before we adopt the agenda, I have a,

several changes and additions that I'd like to consider as well as some adjusting of things. We have three, two, one right now on the agenda, actually two on the agenda right now and one additional one to consider going into closed sessions and I'm gonna move each of those to the end of the meeting so that those are the last things we do and then we adjourn so there'll be no more business after those are considered. So, Let's start with presentations, and we have our esteemed Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib here today, but I'm going to ask for a five-minute deferral, if you don't mind. The pastor for our church is here and would like to give a presentation that I think he'd like you to hear. So that will be... So that would be presentation A is a five minute presentation from Pastor Pol from the Franklin Community Church to discuss their community center project. Then we have an item D, which I'd like to change to consider going into closed session to receive a legal opinion on the appeal request for tree replacement at 26741. We're going to move that to the end as item H. Item E will become item D. Item F will become item E. Item F, I'm sorry, item H will become item F. and then item I will become item G. Item G will become item I, which is consider going into closed session for purpose of discussing an ongoing matter, which is the fraud situation. And then the last is going to be item J, which is the consider going into closed session to discuss a personnel matter. So those are all the changes that I have Evan, were you able to follow all that? Does anybody have any other comments on the agenda? All right, hearing no other comments, if I can get a motion to approve the agenda as adjusted.

Actually, could I move to amend to add a status about where we stand with the banking transition to Huntington?

That's what I... Okay, that's good, thank you.

So moved. I guess I'd be doing.

Oh, hold on. No, hold on. No, no, no, no, no. I'm sorry. That's not that.

That's not that?

No, no, no. What's Huntington make?

It was the move from First Merchants to Huntington. Oh, okay. Just to get a status update on where we stand and moving our accounts.

How about we just get that? Can you just cover that in your administrator's report? Okay, is that all right?

Sure, if we can have a discussion on it. Yeah, if we can have some discussion, I guess. Thanks.

All right, anybody else? All right, so did we have a motion and a second on the adjusted agenda?

I made a motion.

Did we get a second?

I'll second.

Motion by Hanson, second by King. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. Minutes for our regular council meeting of July 13th, 2026. Anybody have comments?

I do. I found a number of minor typos, and I've given those to Evan already. So unless there's, he's got those if you guys have noticed them. Yep.

Yep. We're not self-sensitive.

That's okay. We don't need to go through them.

Anybody else? All right, if we can get a motion to approve the minutes of July 13th, 2026, subject to Trustee Hanson's typographical comments.

So moved.

Second.

Second.

All right, motion by Gage, second by King. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries, thank you. Public requests and comments. This is for items which are not on the agenda today. So if anybody has any comments, we welcome you to the podium right now. Try and keep your comments to three minutes.

Ron Riami, 32692 Ravine Drive. Congratulations on getting the extra money for the town. I think that's great. But I am concerned about money and I'm specifically concerned about the $985,000 that we can't find. I'm not a lawyer, thank God, but I do have a lot of experience in business, software, security, banking, et cetera. Extensive experience. And I can't fathom and I really am at a loss as to why the council can't tell myself and the other constituents that asked me to speak on their behalf of why we can't understand, at least I understand it's in litigation, but we need to understand how this could happen. As somebody who has this experience, When I look at our charter and something requires two signatures to move money, to sign a check, et cetera, and I don't care if someone was hacked or they went and clicked on the wrong thing on the dark web. I mean, how could this happen where one person could move nearly a million dollars bye-bye and You know we need we need the answers People are very upset that this has happened naturally. I mean we're all upset We're all we're all owners here, but this this lack of I don't call it transparency We just we want to know not every part of the litigation, but explain to me as somebody who knows this stuff how this can happen. I don't get it. And that's what I need to know. And there's a lot of other ancillary questions, but that's the one to start with.

Okay. And we've been addressing it as time's gone. We're going into closed session to get another update. We've retained an attorney who's in communications with other parties and it's an ongoing process. That's all I can tell you right now.

But you can't tell us how this could occur? The specific details? I'm sorry?

The specific details?

Yeah, of how

We've been giving updates as we go, so there will be an update in the near future. Ron, you know I can't sit here and have a dialogue with you during closed session, I mean during public comments. So we hear your comments. We know everybody's concerned. We're working on getting as much information out as possible. It doesn't change what happened. Anybody else?

Good evening.

Mark Cecil, 32695 Redfern Street, Franklin. Are we looking at any ordinances on these e-bikes with these kids that are flying through the intersections? I mean, we're going to have something at 14 and Telegraph. And other intersections. I know other cities are looking at this. And I wouldn't want to be a parent. And have to. Say, oh, I wasn't keeping an eye on my kid. I think we need to look at a strong ordinance is those things fly. They come out of nowhere behind that corner at 14 and Telegraph or they fly across Telegraph. Thank you.

Thank you for coming.

And McNeil-Vincennes, in relation to the missing money, can you at least tell us, is there an independent investigation in progress

We've spoken on this several times, Ann, and we were at the meeting most recently when I spoke on it. The FBI is investigating it. The police are investigating it. The FBI has been involved with it since five minutes after the money was taken. It's an ongoing investigation, and we've hired an attorney to do an ongoing investigation into all of the things that everybody's concerned with at the bank that we have questions about as well.

Right. And when those investigations end, are you going to be able to present that report to the villages?

I suppose. I'm in a position to make commitments on that, but yeah. That would be helpful. All the information can come out.

Thank you.

Police never speak when there's an ongoing investigation. You guys know that.

David, my question is, and I understand the investigation, have the lawyers told you, since the villagers all want to know and everybody wants to know, do we have any idea on a time frame? I mean, is this going to be 10 years, five years? Have you asked them what their time frame is?

We are going into, we're going to consider going into a closed session later to get an update on where things are. So once we get an update from our attorneys and get some discussion and advice on what we're allowed to speak about at this time, then we'll be in a better position.

Right now, we don't have an idea of the time frame? No.

Wouldn't the statute of limitations come up?

It isn't anything that's going to take years unless it actually goes to litigation. I'm hoping that's not the case. I'm hoping that the bank and our counsel eventually come to an agreement on something. can you explain to the villagers what our insurance situation is with this no you can't okay all right all right explain it i mean we have insurance we put in a claim how much how much insurance can i ask i mean no i at this time no because this again this isn't what this is supposed to be ongoing dialogue we have a busy agenda so no i'm not getting into that right now guys okay Anybody else?

Sarah Greslick, 24520 South Cromwell Drive. I understand everyone's concern, and I think that there's a balance that needs to be struck between, I think, villagers' right to know information that clearly affects them in every meeting that's been happening. And it's our town. We clearly are invested in it. And we also understand the position that you guys are in, too. And I don't think that there's... it's not even a lack of transparency. I don't think like you guys just saying, Hey, we've had a discussion about this case closed. I don't think that that helps people feel like their voices being heard or that the space is given to them in a public forum, in a public comment time to be able to express their like worry that it is being handled. And we got that there's closed session for specific reasons, but I would just, Think about maybe that recognizing that it comes from a place of care and worry about the town that they love and it's not coming from a place of judgment or trying to be mean. It's just wanting to be informed and feeling like. Their concerns are also being validated and heard for what they are, so I would just caution that you know how we handle it is just being done thoughtfully.

Point of order. Sorry. Nancy. Nancy, sorry. After the closed session, can we take a vote on things that were in the closed session? Right? Like we should wait until that time?

You would need to wait until after the closed session. All votes would have to be done at that point.

Okay.

Yes.

But any votes related to this topic, since we're going into closed session on this topic?

Any votes related to those topics, and then as you enter the closed session, you would want to add the motion to go in to say to include vote as necessary following the closed session. Okay. Just to add that, but you can add that language to the motion.

Okay, yeah. Thank you.

Anybody else? All right, I'm going to close the public comment. Reports of village officers. I know Chief is out of town, so we have his lieutenant.

How are we doing? I am obviously not Chief Lawson filling in. He's out of town with his daughter. First of all, I would be remiss if I didn't say a huge thank you to the residents. On behalf of myself, Chief Lawson, all our department, for your support, very much appreciated. Your belief in our department. I know a number of our officers were very nervous, already looking for other jobs because they didn't know if they were going to have one here. So happy to say they're all happy. They all want to be here. We're happy to be here. Thank you very much. So residents, thank you. Council, thank you. Administration, thank you. so sorry um but this this enables us to continue to provide the level of service that you that you expect that you deserve um and we're all in this together so um most of what we do most of what uh our action that we take comes from somebody calling 911 from somebody seeing something that doesn't look right so please if you see something Call, call 911. We get all the time where people say, well, you know, I wasn't really sure. It was probably not a problem. Call us. I'm not a big fan of the word literally, but that is literally our job. That is why we are here. So yes, please call 911. I would also encourage people to not call the station if you're going to need an officer out. It just slows everything down because we have to transfer it to dispatch, and then it's just an extra step. Just call 911. There's also a non-emergency number. the non-emergency uh answer call taker and the emergency call taker sit about six feet apart in the same room and depending on what calls they could interchange in within about five minutes just call 9-1-1 uh and then we can come out if we'd be more than happy to come out and it's nothing rather than well it i thought it was nothing and then there was actually a problem so um so please call um so there's a question about that

In relation to like the power and the lines and the storm and all that would you prefer we call DTE first or do we call like 911 first?

if you have a a power line down yeah i i would call us because we're going to call we're going to get the fire department going it's 9-1-1 is going to dispatch all of that because we want to get somebody there to make sure the area is safe dte is not going to be there immediately they're going to be there quickly they try to be there quickly but they're not going to be there like we can be there like the fire department can be there and then like i said we want to keep everybody safe so um yeah so that um so please continue to help us please lock your doors especially your cars um don't leave any valuables in the car especially your keys um it continues to happen um unfortunately uh yeah we have a very nice very safe community um but we We have a nice community, and people have nice homes, and there's never going to be a shortage of people who want to take nice things. So please lock your car. Don't leave any valuables in sight. Take advantage of the programs that we have. Talk to us about it. The house check program that we have. If you go out of town, some people are not aware of the house check program that we do have. So if somebody is, for those that aren't aware, if you're going out of town, you can let us know when you're leaving, when you're going to be back, and some details about it. Now we can go by and check your house, make sure everything's safe. And just an example of that, because it's not just that somebody broke into your house. Within the last two weeks, we had one of our officers, Officer Allen, was checking a house that was on the house check program. Went around the house, house was secure, but she heard what sounded like an alarm coming from inside the house. So the house was secure, but she still said, that doesn't seem right. So she called, we had the number to the homeowner, she called the homeowner. And she thought it was actually a burglary alarm, but only inside. The house owner said, we don't have a burglary alarm. So they actually got her into the house to find out that her house was on fire. So without being on the house check program, without her taking the extra step, us fire department we don't know that until there's smoke and flames coming out of the roof so please um yeah if you're going out of town let us know we want to keep your house safe we want to do everything we can um with that uh you guys have all the council has my report if there's any questions about that i'll be glad to answer them as best i can uh if i can

Lieutenant, I don't know if you heard the public comment, but I know that the chief recently sent an email to all of you telling you to be aware of the ordinances that apply to motorized bikes and things of that sort. Can you address that just a little bit and how you're keeping an eye out for it?

I can address that a little bit. Without doing full research on that, there are already laws that address e-bikes. So there's a difference between an e-bike and an electric motorcycle. And so there are different rules for both. If it's actually an electric motorcycle, does not have pedals, and they can go very fast, electric motorcycle requires the person to have a driver's license and registration and insurance, and it has to be plated just like any other motorcycle car on the road. We have run into times where we have a resident who has bought one of those electric motorcycles for one of their children who is not yet 16 and they don't have any of that. You're required to have everything you did, you're required to have a motorcycle endorsement, you're required to have all that. The laws still apply. So if you see it, let us know, we'll come by. Electric bikes have different rules than electric motorcycles, but there are already rules and laws that are on the books from the state that apply to most of these these problems that we're having that we could enact another ordinance but it would just mostly just duplicate what the state already has the problem is seeing them when it happens and addressing those issues as they happen that's what we want to do but It's very mobile, obviously. It gets around, so unless we happen to see it right there, then we address it when we can. And yeah, it's not safe. We've had issues with people up by the ice cream shop, zipping up and down the street. If we see it, yes, we're going to address it. If it's unsafe conduct, if they have to stop at stop signs, they have to do all of that that they should be doing, and they're still ticketable. Hopefully that answers your question.

How does this relate to other micro-mobility items like scooters, like e-scooters, for instance, or other things that kids might be throwing around?

like top of my head i'm not positive that's something that i don't want to misspeak on that but i know that the rules the motorcycle is definitely different it's in a whole other category than you know scooters and things like that and a lot of it has to do with how fast they go and especially the electric ones accelerate extremely fast um so they're in a whole nother category they're with any motorized vehicle on the road, but and they also electric motorcycle, it can't be on the sidewalk where an electric bicycle is allowed to be on the sidewalk just like a regular bicycle, unless we were to put a rule in that says it can't be on the sidewalk. that would be something we have to make a specific ordinance that would have to be an ordinance for um but then you have to decide do you want that you want all the bicycles in the street or do you want them on the side and there are yeah there are problems with both so and and that i i don't want to speak on behalf of chief lawson as to weigh in on what he would prefer to do um but that's a whole nother topic and we would have to go to planning first probably right There are other communities have addressed ordinances, but I know Birmingham was having a problem with bikes and things like that on sidewalks, so they weren't going to address it. I don't know where that stands.

Do you think next meeting you could give us any data or stats on if there's been any incidents within Franklin with e-bikes or e-scooters?

You mean like tickets, things like that? Not tickets.

I mean, I don't think would you guys give a ticket, but like incidents like what?

we heard during public comment like was there any injury or anything like that so that you know what maybe in the last six months but that doesn't mean that they're they're having i'm not aware of any injuries but just because there haven't been an injury yet doesn't mean that it's not no i know i was just wondering if you had any data like it's not like the last week there was like six incidents put that together and if we could get more specifics on what you want yeah we could provide that as well

Maybe on the other side of that too is encouraging people if they are legal and residents can ride them or drive them, the e-bikes in particular, could we do some sort of safety or announcement or training for, I mean, if parents do have their kids on e-bikes and they are legal, Can we get ahead of it and encourage people to do the following things to make sure that they're safe on the roads? Could that be a program that the police department might consider if this is here to stay and we can't do anything about it?

Yeah, I don't think e-bikes are going away anytime soon. I will say I have one. I love it. When we first got it, my wife got an e-bike, and to me it felt like cheating. I could have used my bike, and I started riding on the hills in Franklin, and I was like, I need an e-bike. because I'm not 20 anymore. So yeah, I don't think they're going away and they're gaining in popularity and they're not that expensive. They're gonna be around. So yeah, the more we can do, the better, yes.

I wanna add support to what, Trustee Gates is suggesting is get out ahead of this, have a Saturday morning in the park session with the police department to talk to parents and kids about safe operation within whatever rules we have right now, which sounds like they're probably adequate, but it seems like starting that conversation with parents makes a lot of sense.

Once again, without speaking on behalf of Chief Lawson, but I'm pretty sure knowing him, he's all for it. He's gonna be all in on that. So yeah, we can arrange to get this together and get the word out. I know we've already posted something on our department Facebook page. We've discussed, we've posted what you can and can't do and depending on what e-bike or what motorcycle and what you have, but more information is better.

Can we make a motion to do a PSA for this?

No, not right now. It's enough for you folks.

Thank you. If we see something, like what I saw at Telegraph and 14th, can we call you guys and try to give you an idea of where that they're going so maybe you can catch up with them? Absolutely. Yes.

Yeah, call us. Call 911. I mean, like I said, whether or not they're still in the area. But if we can, yeah, we'll call us immediately. Okay. Just like with anything else. If you see something that doesn't look right, call us. We'd love to help.

Thank you, Lieutenant.

Thank you.

Chief Averbach.

I'm gonna do things a little different tonight. If you don't like it, you can fire me. I'm kidding.

Did that line work well at Bingham Farms?

Gonna be using that in two weeks. I just wanted to let you all know, this will be my last meeting in Franklin. I wanted to take the opportunity to provide thank yous to my firefighters, my board of commissioners, bless you, the council members that I've had the pleasure and honor of working with, village administrations, as well as those people that have called us in their times of need. It has been ever-changing, life-changing to be able to find someone having their worst day ever and try and make something good come of it, whatever that might be. And it's not just me, it's about a team. And while I am one person who will be leaving There is an entire team that remains. Rather than read off a manifesto, I submitted that electronically last week. It became part of the packet, and we will be posting that on our Facebook page later on this month. With that said though, uh, the fire, uh, department board of commissioners has brought on Kevin church, uh, to become the interim fire chief. Uh, Kevin is right here behind me. Kevin comes with just a little bit of history, uh, 25 years in Livonia fire department. Uh, Kevin has also been affiliated with, uh, our fire department, uh, for a number of years in various capacities. And I've been working with Kevin. Kevin has been working with me. We've been working together for three weeks now towards a smooth transition. So we have been going through the paperwork, the processes, the people. We've been talking about a lot of the things from the administrative side of the fire department that will hopefully lead to my departure meaning absolutely nothing in terms of the change of business. So with that said, I am going to end my personal report and bring you in here's the little different. We'll bring you now to the fire report. So it's a two part.

So give us one sec. Yes, sir. Interim chief churches. But before, before you go, sir, come back. Okay. Now you're going to fire me. Not a chance. First of all, that was an amazing final report. That was a history lesson to all of us. It was a stroll through the last year. 25 years or more than that, almost 30 years of memory lane. Thank you for that. That is definitely something that everybody will be able to refer back onto as we move forward into the next chapter of the fire department, not having you at its home after as long as I've been a resident in Franklin. Thank you on behalf of all of us, on behalf of all the residents. We had a busy agenda today, so we will be addressing you next month. Hopefully you'll be able to come back. We'll give you the time, but as a final report, that was amazing, and thank you for everything that you've done for the village of Franklin and all of its residents and businesses.

It's been my pleasure. I've seen your agenda, sit down. You're welcome.

Kevin, welcome. Thank you. Hopefully in 20 years you'll get one of those.

I just hope to be able to do as good of a job as Tony's done. My goal is to run this department fiscally, responsibly, to meet our ever-growing needs of the department and the village residents. And working along with the fire commission and this body here, I hope we can accomplish some great things going forward in the future. And I hope I don't let Tony down. And with that, you guys have received the written report. I just want to comment on a couple notable runs. Both of them happen to be fires. As the lieutenant was saying, they were doing a house check on a vacation check, and they heard the fire alarm going off inside of the smoke detector. And... For that run, we had a two-minute, 15-second response time from the time we got the call to the time we got there. So that's really good. The other run we had was a garage fire that was found by the homeowner. She could smell smoke while she was sitting in her house and opened the garage door and saw smoke and flames and immediately shut the door and called us. That run response time was about three minutes, which is, you know, very good for the fire service. We were able to extinguish the fire quickly and kept the losses to a minimum. Both these fires, they did not have automatic fire alarms. So one was noticed by the homeowner, the other one obviously wasn't noticed by anyone until the officers got there. So it's important to note that, you know, fire alarms, you know, they save lives, they save properties. In our weekly newsletter, I'm going to touch on that, you know, put out a PSA, you know, having everyone think about, you know, upgrading to an alarm. And I know you get, you know, discounts on your insurance and stuff too for having that kind of stuff. So good idea, makes everybody's job easier, safer. So...

That's about all I have.

Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate both of you. Yep.

For clarity is interim mean you're acting or okay.

So they're going to do a search for a full-time fire chief and hopefully I'll be involved in that also. So, okay. Thank you. Any other questions?

Anyone else? Nope. Okay. Thanks guys. Yep. Thank you. Uh, so Jody is not here today. She submitted her treasurer's report and it looked like the year end, um, final, like final year end budget. Uh, does anybody have any questions or otherwise we can, are we going to get a, um,

actual to budgeted for last budget year. So we know like what we budgeted and what we actually spent the budget year ending June 30th.

That's just something, a report that you can print. Okay.

Okay. And then, um, do we have a, um, final like audit or review of the expenditures that we send Bingham for repayment of the police contract and operations? Do you know how they pay us? Do we have the final expense number?

Oh, let me follow up with Jodi on that question.

Yeah. Because we weren't sure, even talking to another member of the finance committee, if they pay us quarterly or if it's the end of the budget year.

there's a true up at the end of the year okay so it could be more it could be less so depending on the actual yes yeah so i don't have that information okay let me look at yeah yeah i just wanted to put on the radar because i know that we the new budget here

Could I make a suggestion that we have a finance committee meeting planned for the 13th? Maybe we could, if you can have those for that meeting, that would be something I think we could discuss and then bring it to council.

All right, so next on the agenda is consideration of approving the consent agenda. We have four items on the consent agenda, all of which were in our packet. The first.

Remove those?

um all right well we'll just um just we're gonna go we'll go ahead and remove the demolition permit for 32361 scenic lane and the demolition permit for 32875 from the consent agenda do you need a motion yes yep okay so moved second any discussion all in favor aye opposed all right no problem so now we have two items on the consent agenda The first is accepting the check run. The second is an approval that we need to give Main Street Franklin so that they can hold a 50-50 raffle at the summer block party. So if I can get a motion to approve the consent agenda. So moved. Second. Motion by King, second by Ferris. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? My motion carries. All right, so we actually now have two presentations. Pastor John, if you could give us just a quick, brief description of your project, because we have Congresswoman Tlaib who's anxious to get up and probably get out as well.

Oh my goodness, yeah. I'm excited to be here. I've never been before the Village Council and never had a... So this is Pastor Paul from the Franklin Community Church. Yeah, Reverend John Paul. So the church is right here, and it's probably the biggest building in the village. And we have all this space, this great fellowship hall, and it's largely unused. So we had this idea to make a community center there. And this idea has been around longer than me. I've been here for four years. And so we gathered a lot of village partners. Many of you are in the room today. And we've been having conversations for probably two years now. the one distinct thing about this is that we've decided that we don't want this to be a church program or a church community center we want this to be strictly for franklin the village so we're moving toward making a non-profit 501c3 nonprofit and it will be administered by that organization of course the the church still owns the property and and will be an important part of partnership in that endeavor but But we envision it being a place where there is cultural and educational and all sorts of programming because we have so many good organizations within Franklin that love this place, that work hard for this place, but there seems to be a lack of a gathering place. And so to show our seriousness, the congregation just last week voted to approve $30,000 toward retaining a consulting company, Partners for Sacred Places. to come in and do evaluations and do community mapping and do all those things to get us to the point where we can make a really good decision and do this right. We didn't want to come before the village and say we have this really great idea and we're open and then just have it floundered. We wanted to bring in all the community partners and we wanted to hear what what you all wanted. We wanted to know what Franklin needs. So really excited about that. So right now we are, like I said, moving toward that 501 C3. We are looking at, we'll be looking at our bylaws for that, this upcoming meeting. And we are just so excited. So I hear there's some pain in the room, some wounds. And I hear, I just hope that this is a joyful thing that you received because I think it's going to be good for all of us. And if you have any questions.

Anybody? Yeah. I know that the project's been going on and I know it's really starting to pick up some steam. Yeah. But it sounds like, you know, something that would be super beneficial to the community, a place where somebody can go and rent it together and have whatever meetings or you have your kitchen. Yes. So the whole thing sounds pretty exciting and we look forward to hearing more about it as it grows and Anything that we can do to assist in making that happen? When the time comes, the deal was zoning. Appreciate that. Pam, did you go?

Well, I just wanted to mention that the consulting company, Partners for Sacred Places, is actually an organization that works with Main Street, Oakland County. And it was really facilitated by Main Street that got you guys to them. And you know, their proposal is amazing. And I think it's going to be a good, a good outcome. Good product for sure.

That was a good job. I connected us with, with those folks and it's, and it turned out, it's turning out great. Excellent.

Thank you. Thank you. All right, next. And I guess finally, so I have the pleasure of introducing Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who is from the 13th district and our, 12th and 13th. Oh, I'm sorry. My bad, sorry. From the 12th district, our district, and our representative in Congress, thank you for being here. I know that you want to address us as well as a presentation, and I know you have with us Elena Burke, your aide, and

So Elena Burke, you're going to see her a little more often. She'll come back and tell me all about the million dollars and all that stuff. We'll talk about it later. But she is basically my eyes and ears on the ground. And Elena Burke is actually a community organizer, tutored young people. This is her first full-time job outside of college. We're very proud of her. No, really. She's had like four or five jobs doing all kinds of community events. She's also an urban farmer. She's just an incredible person. So we're really excited about having her on board. BUT I'M HERE BECAUSE I WANTED TO COME AND SHARE THAT I GOT YOU MONEY. BUT IT'S FOR THE VILLAGE OF FRANKLIN PEDESTRIAN AND BIKE PATH. SO THE PROJECT IS GOING TO PURPOSE A PARTIALLY ABANDONED UTILITY EASEMENT TO CONSTRUCT AND INSTALL A PEDESTRIAN AND BIKEABLE PATHWAY. THIS CAME FROM THE VILLAGE AND WORKED WITH US IN THE PRIOR ADMINISTRATION, PRIOR COUNCIL, AND I KNOW BILL IS HERE. HE WAS VERY, VERY INCREDIBLY HELPFUL. AGAIN, TO CONNECT. WE DIDN'T SUBMIT ANYTHING THIS YEAR. I JUST WANT YOU GUYS TO BE AWARE BECAUSE I THINK IT WAS DURING THE TIMES OF TRANSITION, BUT THINK ABOUT SOME IDEAS OF WHAT TO SUBMIT. AND I SAY THIS LOVINGLY BECAUSE I'M URGING BINGHAM FARMS, BEVERLY HILLS, EVERY YEAR THEY'RE PUTTING THEIRS IN. THIS IS EARMARKS, BASICALLY, COMMUNITY FUNDED PROJECTS, AND I ALWAYS PUT ONE ASIDE FOR THE VILLAGE. OF FRANKLIN. SO THINK ABOUT WAYS THAT WE CAN FILL IN GAPS, ESPECIALLY BECAUSE OF, YOU KNOW, I CALL IT GAP FUNDING, MAYBE THAT YOU HAVE A PROJECT READY AND IT JUST NEEDS A LITTLE BIT OF A PUSH. YOU CAN SUBMIT THAT TO OUR OFFICE AND WE'LL WORK WITH ALL OF YOU TO GET THAT MONEY. WE GET 15 PROJECTS EVERY CYCLE NOW. WE USED TO BE 10. AND AGAIN, WE'LL BE MAKING SURE IT'S GEOGRAPHICALLY DIVERSE AND THAT THE VILLAGE GETS AT LEAST ONE SLOT. WE HAD A SLOT AVAILABLE. WE COULDN'T MAKE IT WORK. IT WAS DURING THE TIME OF TRANSITION. YOU HAVE TO DO LETTERS OF SUPPORT AND POSSIBLY TALK TO ALL OF YOU IN APPROVING IT AS WELL. WE SHOULD BE GETTING THAT MONEY SOON. THERE IS A WHOLE PROCESS WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. IT SHOULD BE EASY. But yeah, you have a historic commission. You have a number of really great places that you don't have that extra funds, but you can definitely submit it as long as it's obligated and spent within a year.

Thank you, because you and your staff were wonderful in urging us during that time period.

I know we put pressure on you guys, but it's important. No, no, that's great. But you'll see, it's really important. We appreciate that support.

We have an infrastructure committee and the infrastructure committee will definitely be working on those types of things this year so that next budget season we do have some projects in the hopper.

I'll give you an idea of what is very popular and very bipartisan supported is we got a new fire truck and EMS truck for Inkster. We got we submitted for Dearborn Heights who needs a new firehouse. I'm just saying these are some Beverly Hills is constantly submitting for their water infrastructure needs. because it's a big big issue. I'm just saying you know I know I'm giving you ideas for but all of its public for us to submit. We have to publish it on my website so you can see now know that we publish what we requested and then they don't always give it to us. For instance, I requested 5 million for home repair dollars. We got two point. I'm taking it 2.1 million for home repair, but we worked with like Oakland County or Habitat for Humanity. We got 3.1 million for home repair for Southfield. but these, yes, oh, you got ideas, yes. We do want to give you guys a certificate and submit it. I grew up with Publishing Clearinghouse, so you remember how they showed up with the big check? Yeah, I used to cry. We didn't bring balloons this time, but yeah. Yeah.

Is there an allocation dollar cap per geography, or is it based off of any? No. Okay. Yeah.

So I can tell you it's up to whoever's in the majority, and the chair of the appropriations will tell you, okay, 501c3s can apply, which is something they changed, where I could have went directly to Oakland County Habitat for Humanity, Oakland County, but I couldn't. So Southfield had to be the applicant and the primary submission of the application. Same thing here, Village of Franklin would have to submit on behalf of maybe another PROJECT OR A PERSON, BUT YOU ALL WOULD BE THE ONE SUBMITTING THE REQUEST. I'LL TELL YOU, ONE YEAR THEY DID COME UP WITH A CAP. I THINK IT WAS LIKE $4 MILLION FOR CERTAIN PROJECTS. BUT I FIND THAT WATER, FIRE, PUBLIC SAFETY, THOSE ARE USUALLY VERY SUCCESSFUL IN SUBMISSION. um but it's when i start talking about rec centers for instance we got two million dollars for redford redford is part of the 12th congressional district and they have a rec center for the first time it's beautiful if you ever go look at it it's very humble but it's really really nice it's for kids family seniors it's beautiful and so um we were able to provide the gap funding but we couldn't call it a we had to call it a wellness center THERE ARE DIFFERENT THINGS, BUT WE WORK WITH YOU ALL AND WE WORK WITH THE SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIRS, REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT, AND WE WORK WITH THEM TO SUBMIT IT. SO FAR WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO GET $68 MILLION BACK TO THE DISTRICT WITH ALL THE DIFFERENT PROJECTS.

WHAT ABOUT THE RESTORATION OF A HISTORICAL? OFFICE OF A SMALL VILLAGE IN FRANKLIN.

BILL SHOWED IT, THE WHITE BUILDING. NO, THIS ONE. OH, THIS ONE. I THOUGHT THE HISTORIC COMMISSION. WE CAN WORK WITH ALL OF YOU IN SUBMISSION. BUT AGAIN, REMEMBER, YOU HAVE TO OBLIGATE IT WITHIN A YEAR. PROBABLY HERE IT WOULD REQUIRE, AND AGAIN, I REMEMBER WE HAD TO PULL BACK ON ONE OF THE PROJECTS BECAUSE THE HISTORIC NATURE AND IT WAS NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO BE FUNCTIONAL, BUT WE WORK WITH ALL OF YOU. SO WHATEVER, FOR INSTANCE, I'LL TELL YOU, I HAVE ONE CITY, THEY'LL SUBMIT FOUR AT A TIME AND SAY, HERE'S FOUR. YOU GUYS SEE WHICH ONE IS THE BEST TO SUBMIT, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN? BUT YOU PRIORITIZE, WELL, THE ONE THAT WILL GET THROUGH THE SUBCOMMITTEE WITHOUT, BECAUSE LIKE, I submitted for two fire trucks. They only gave me enough for one, but enough of money was there for the EMS truck, but we really needed two fire trucks in Inkster, but we weren't made it work. I'll tell you, we submitted millions of dollars for new sidewalk in Southfield. They only gave me 250,000. They gave us 250,000, which as mayor of cyber will tell you, that's like a slab, you know, like what is, but you know, that's why we have to, we work with all of you. Like I didn't expect that. I expected them, especially infrastructure to come back with more. BUT THIS IS MY FOURTH CYCLE WORKING WITH APPROPRIATIONS. I WAS IN THE STATE HOUSE FOR SIX YEARS. I GOT TO KNOW ALL THE SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIRS, TALKING TO THEM, AND WE TALKED TO THE STAFF BEFORE WE EVEN SUBMIT BECAUSE WE WANT IT TO BE WORDED WITHIN THE BUCKETS AND WITHIN THE LANGUAGE THAT IS SUCCESSFUL.

Yes. Thank you for this informative briefing before you award us. But are there themes or priorities? Because this year, like, we didn't hear about it until late. And then when we went on to the website, it looked like you had to group your request under, like, certain buckets. And then if they don't fit a bucket,

Should we still submit it so we get submitted over 70 requests get submitted? We only I can only submit 15 now this cycle 20, but it was less money They spread it out was less money. I submitted 20 and it was less money So some so I did a bunch of school districts this time to include a lot of the school district So I I fill in the gaps.

Is it sled? I mean all slide gets like state local education

Yeah, so any government sub. Now, if we get a majority, it probably will change so we can allow nonprofits. OK, but it's just lead for now.

So there's plenty more panther work.

Yeah, that's a good point. This was two years ago, though. So does it take two years from point of submission? Sometimes.

I'll tell you, Trustee, we are probably not going to pass a 2027 budget this cycle. SEPTEMBER 30TH IS OUR CUTOFF. THEY DID A CONTINUED RESOLUTION WHICH MEANS EXTENDING THE CURRENT BUDGET AMOUNTS FOR 2027 TO WORK BASED OFF OF 2026 NUMBERS. THAT IS GOING TO BE IN EFFECT UNTIL AFTER NOVEMBER. We may or may not be able to get one done until after. So after the election, I think will get a sense knowing folks if they lose the majority, they're going to try to push one out before the end of the year. Because right now there's going to be a new appropriations chair. There's going to be new what we call budget goals for the majority.

So anytime there's a midterm or I think election things get honestly, it's always like this. Yeah, OK.

I'VE SEEN IT ONE CYCLE. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. GOT THROUGH WITHIN A YEAR. BUT THAT'S WHY WE WARN PEOPLE. WE ACTUALLY TELL THEM, BECAUSE THEY'LL CALL US AND SAY, WHEN ARE WE GETTING IT? AND I ALWAYS TELL THEM, IT MAY TAKE A YEAR OR TWO YEARS. AND ONE TIME THEY JUST GOT, WE DIDN'T EVEN FIND OUT, I READ A NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE AND FOUND OUT THEY KICKED ALL OF OUR BUDGETS OUT, ALL OF OUR PROJECTS OUT OF THE BUDGET. BUT THIS ONE'S GOT SIGNED INTO LAW. THAT'S WHY WE PRESENT. WE ONLY PRESENT WHEN IT'S SIGNED INTO LAW AND IT'S COMING.

With the upside of that, the delay be that if you're awarded a project, but you don't get the dollars until a year or two later, you have that time to plan for and ensure. That's what I'm thinking.

You say it has to be obligated within a year. Of when you get it. Of when you get it. So if you submit it now, but you still need to do six to eight months of...

Well, you can obligate it. You already have a contract. You already put an RFP out. You see what I'm saying? You already obligated it. It doesn't mean it has to. It's obligated within a contract that it's going to be spent. I'll tell you, in some cases, I will say no just because I don't think it's service-based. It's too far.

I AM FOLLOWING YOU ON THE MAJORITY AND THE APPROVAL PROCESS. CAN YOU GIVE US AN IDEA ON A CALENDAR CYCLE? I AM PRETTY CLEAR WE ARE INTERESTED.

END OF JANUARY, BEGINNING OF FEBRUARY YOU WILL HEAR FROM ME. WE SEND IT OUT, YOU SUBMIT IT, AND THEN IF THEY MAKE ANY CHANGES, THAT'S WHEN WE CALL YOU GUYS AND SAY THEY JUST MADE A BUNCH OF CHANGES, WE NEED YOU ALL TO RESUBMIT UPDATED LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION, SUPPORT. YOU JUST HAVE TO CHANGE THE DATE SOMETIMES. AND THEN SOMETIMES THEY'LL COME BACK AND I'LL TELL YOU GUYS, RECHECK YOUR NUMBERS. COSTS MAY HAVE GONE UP. I WANT YOU TO READJUST THE NUMBERS BEFORE WE DO FINAL SUBMISSION.

So we need it would behoove us to get started thinking about you gotta have ideas now.

I know this is new because they had they didn't get the community funded projects didn't exist 10 years ago, so this is very new to the new leadership here, so we just have to be prepared of what to submit. Some others already have stuff they already submit to the state constantly, so they're ready to roll by the time we get to them.

DOES IT HAVE TO BE OWNED BY A SINGLE ENTITY OR COULD WE DO A JOINT PROJECT WITH ANOTHER COMMUNITY?

YOU HAVE TO BE THE APPLICANT AND RECEIVER OF FUNDS AND THE PROJECT CAN BE IN PARTNERSHIP JUST LIKE SOUTHFIELD SUBMITTED TO HUD. WE SUBMITTED $4 MILLION. WE GOT $3.16 MILLION FOR HOME REPAIR AGING IN PLACE. THIS IS TO HELP OUR SENIORS IF THEY NEED TO CHANGE THEIR BATHROOMS TO GET IN THERE. You know if they're if they're yeah also ramps things like that some some need help with roofing gutter all what I mean by that is Southville does gets the receipt receives it but they can hire or contract out or say sub grant out to

another entity. Yes.

So Wayne County, Wayne County submitted on behalf of Boys and Girls Club. You see what I'm saying?

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. This is really helpful. Yeah.

Separate and distinct from CDBG funds from HUD.

YES. IT DOESN'T COUNT. I ASKED EARLY, EARLY ON. IT DOESN'T GET COUNTED. NOW, LET ABATEMENT, THE STATE DOESN'T LIKE IT, BUT IT DOESN'T GET COUNTED AGAINST YOU ALL. BUT LET ABATEMENT IS HUGE. REDFORD, ALL MY CITIES SUBMIT FOR LET ABATEMENT, MOST OF THEM. AND THAT, UNFORTUNATELY, SOMETIMES WILL GET CALCULATED TOWARDS THE AMOUNT OF MONEY THE STATE GETS. BUT I DON'T WANT YOU GUYS HAVING TO COMPETE. And wait years and sometimes being offered revolving loan fund versus the direct grant. And that's why I've been trying to get Redford needs clean water. Inkster needs clean water. Garden City needs clean water. Every single every single community I get, I get notices from the state who are high amounts of lead. I haven't got one for the village, but yeah, we all have our own filters. Well, they test they test the water. Yeah, they do. Yeah, they do sample testing.

Is there because then I think about how to put together a compelling. We help you just come up with that.

Yeah, resources or places and spaces that we can either ask or understand as soon as the buckets come and and you know, Sayana Sayana is my legislative director and she's SHE WILL WORK WITH YOU. SHE WILL TELL YOU ALL THE DIFFERENT BUCKETS AND THINGS LIKE THAT. BUT IF YOU GUYS HAVE PROJECTS, THAT'S WHEN YOU SAY, LOOK, THESE ARE SIX THINGS THAT ARE A DREAM OF OURS. THE BUILDING HERE, MORE BIKE PATH, HISTORIC COMMISSION WORK, WHATEVER IT IS. BECAUSE NOW THAT I HAVE 20, I COULD, ESPECIALLY IF YOU GUYS DIDN'T, SO ONE CITY DIDN'T SUBMIT BEFORE, I SUBMITTED TWO THIS TIME FOR THEM. BECAUSE THEY'RE COUNTING AND THEY'RE WATCHING. THEY'RE LIKE, YOU DIDN'T SUBMIT ANYTHING. I SAID, YOU DIDN'T SUBMIT IT ON TIME.

yeah last question i promise so so we've got um an infrastructure committee that would represent many different areas within the village including things like pathways or it might be a way to create more community spaces downtown could it be an obligated project with a few different um PROJECT GOALS. IT'S NOT ONE SPECIFIC. SO IT COULD BE A WAY TO DO. YEAH.

SO I DON'T HAVE CITY OF WAYNE. WE DON'T HAVE CITY OF WAYNE IN THE 12 CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT. BUT THEY JUST GOT A BRAND NEW AMPHITHEATER. AND WE GOT THEM HALF A MILLION DOLLARS FOR THE AMPHITHEATER. THEY JUST OPENED IT UP. IT'S INCREDIBLE COMMUNITY SPACE. IT'S INCREDIBLE. BUT IT WAS ONE PART. of a larger project. So they have a splash pad they're trying to put in. They're trying to put in a kind of exercise for many of our disabled neighbors in Wayne wanting a playground for our kids there, accessible playground. But all of it is a bigger project, so they took pieces of it. Hello. Took the hello. I swear we should bring kids and pets in the Congress on the floor. It would really make people calmer. So I think I think that it definitely could be a piece of yeah. So for instance, Beverly Hills submits. They have these all these projects and things that have been talking about for 20 years or 10 years. I think they told me and so they give me a piece of it every cycle. Yeah, they said this is our next phase. This is our next phase. This is our next phase. Yeah, yeah, dream big. I can't be there forever, but I will definitely always put a slot ready for you. That's why I pressure you guys. It's just because I don't think you realize village having to compete across the country for these dollars is too hard. I know that. It's always major cities, and I love it. I'm born and raised, live in Detroit. They can apply directly to the federal government. Smaller municipalities cannot. You have to rely on the county and others, yeah.

Is there anything we as a council and a municipality can do to better engage with the federal government to, I mean, aside from this, as far as like voter turnout or any like nonpartisan ideas for our residents to take more advantage of the programs by the federal government?

So we have newsletters that we send out with the different programs and resources and we have an e-newsletter.

Do those go just to us, or can they go to residents?

They go to residents sign up. It's mostly residents that sign up for the e-newsletters. If you don't get it, you can. And you can skim through and find things that you, but everybody I meet with, anybody wherever I'm at, it's almost like a journal of my week of people that came to visit us, what bills we signed on, what letters we're leading, things like that. But I can ask you all, you have two senators. They can submit projects separately from me.

That was the green project. We were going through Jeremy Moss.

That was for the state. So the state can do, the state is doing, they call it something different, but it's federal dollars. They got a bunch of ARPA money, American Rescue dollars, and that got sent to the state, and that's where that money is coming from, too. But they've created their own system to put money in for different projects. BUT YOU HAVE TWO SENATORS THAT CAN ALSO SUBMIT. I DON'T KNOW, ONE OF THEM SPECIFICALLY, I'M NOT GOING TO GO INTO DETAIL, BUT ONE OF THEM SPECIFICALLY WILL ONLY DO LARGE-SCALE LIKE UNIVERSITIES, HOSPITALS. NO, WE DO LOCAL MUNICIPALITIES. THAT'S WHY YOU SEE THE DIFFERENT MUNICIPALITIES MOSTLY FROM US AND BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB AND DIFFERENT PROJECTS THAT ARE MORE COUNTYWIDE. All right. Well, this comes back with us because we write it, pre-write it. But this is for you guys. I don't know if you guys want to stay there and I can come behind you and hold it up. You want to do that? Okay.

That'd be great. First of all, I do want to, again, recognize former President Lamont, who was integral in...

Yeah, Bill, I remember calling you the night before or something and was like, give me this.

All right.

I'm going to try to hold it up. Is this okay? All right. This is not how they do it on the publishing clearinghouse. Oops. Thank you

It was Bill, it was Jeremy, and others. That was my whole shtick. But I'm really happy she's plugged in now. Whatever. Who's Sheeta?

Hmm?

Sheeta. Sheeta.

maybe yes wait we didn't put a note in there all right that was wonderfully helpful um i thought it was two thousand dollars at first i didn't see it was two hundred and fifty thousand dollars i was like oh two thousand and we can get some like people grab what you can get no that'll probably that'll be that'll be too bad

Okay, next on the agenda are council reports. First is president's report. I will be quick. I just want to make a couple recognitions. First, I want to start out by thanking the Historical Society for sponsoring again this year the Music on the Green. We've had two of our three events. We've had wonderful weather. We've had wonderful turnout. Wonderful music, it's great having everybody on the Village Green in the summertime enjoying each other, food truck. So thank you to the Historical Society for once again putting that together for us. Looks like they've collaborated with the FCA as well. I believe it was the FCA that was involved in getting the for the kids, which made it a much more enjoyable event for having the kids down there who might not care about 1970s rock and roll, but they at least got to have fun. So again, thanks to both groups for that and the FCA for their ongoing projects. uh the sleepover which had some rain but all of the different events that we've been having from the fca and getting the newsletters is very helpful so thank you to both of those groups um i'm sure most of us have seen but uh a thanks and a kudos to uh jay farner and his team for opening up uh twist on maine uh It's been wonderful seeing bodies downtown in the summer. We've long been missing the ice cream that we used to have at the farmhouse. So that's a wonderful addition. And for those of you that don't know, I believe they're open daily four to 10 for ice cream in the building that used to be the consignment shop and is now part of the Franklin. So thanks to them. And then last, a thank you to all of the residents of Franklin who supported our police department and approved the police millage. It was an excellent choice. Everybody will be proud of the decision that they made. We will have an opportunity now to properly fund our police department, free up funds for the village of Franklin and I just want to thank all the residents who voted in favor of that. There was still a significant number who did not support it and I still welcome the opportunity to meet with any of you to discuss the situation and see where maybe you were misinformed. So my own thanks to everybody that participated in that. And then lastly, although Lieutenant Midlosky mentioned it, a special call out to Jessica Allen, the officer on duty who, in doing a house check, essentially saved the people's house. There was no one there. It was late night. That house could have burned to the ground before anyone knew it. So amazing. Timing is always funny. We're supporting our police department, and then we go and see what amazing things they do. And those house checks, which you don't get in other communities, maybe save someone's house. So special kudos go out to Jessica. And that's all I got. Anybody else want to comment? Jeff, start without at the end.

I have a liaison report. I don't know if you want to wait.

No, let's wait on reports. No comment. Angelina?

Yeah, so... I have a question about public comments. So sometimes you read the public comments that are submitted and you say what they're about and other times you don't. And just as a matter of process and.

So the public comments we get today were for an agenda item.

Oh, so if they're for an agenda item.

It's not a public comment, it's for an agenda item. I'll recognize her letter when we get to that item.

Okay, okay, and then if it's not for a specific agenda item.

I recognize it at the public comments.

Okay, okay, I just wanted to clear you on that.

No, I didn't miss it, but thank you for pointing it out.

Is there a time, too, that the residents need to submit public comment by? Or is it just before the meeting? Sorry, before four, you said?

Four o'clock would be great.

Four on the day of the meeting?

Yeah.

Okay.

Right, but I just want to clarify, and I've had a couple conversations with Dan Kelly about this, and he clarified for us that public comment is public comment. It is meant to be done in person. If somebody sends something in writing, it can be submitted to the board, but the board does not have any responsibility to read it out loud to everybody. If it is important to the residents to speak during public comment, then they have to come here and speak.

Is there any way we could like write this down and just put it on the website. So that way people know, like if you submit it, it won't be read, you know, it can be included, you know, just so everyone has an understanding of like, why aren't they reading my letter or, oh, I should be going to the meetings because it's not received the same way. Right. Okay. Yeah, I think that would be helpful. Thank you so much for clarity.

Thanks, President Gilbert.

Typically, I do recognize the letter and try and give a brief synopsis of it, but no, we don't take the time to read it verbatim. We could be here reading forever.

Yeah, I just want to make sure that the public knows there's a difference.

No, absolutely. Thanks for pointing that out.

I have just a comment. I'm picking up on a conversation that we have had. Didn't act on it, but we had talked, council had talked about hosting some listening sessions, community conversations. quarterly or from time to time where people, we would have it at the church or here and people could ask questions, get answers to questions that they have. I'm wondering, Rachel, have you had any chance to move ahead on that particular activity? No, we never talked about it.

I submitted it like four times for agenda but never made it through legal.

We talked about it briefly at legal. and i am doing that right now oh okay no i'm looking forward to it i was just never made an agenda i am that's what i'm doing right now because it hasn't been on the agenda so i apologize i was writing down the comment about putting it on the website and i missed part of what you said would you ask me the question again i i would like i um i'd like to know since the conversation about community conversations has occurred periodically over a couple of years, actually, and you had talked about doing it. We had talked about doing it at legal. Didn't act on the suggestion, but I would like to urge you to add that to the list, and I'd like to get those scheduled out in advance. The last time we talked about it was before, it was after the first community meeting related to the millage and before the second one. There were conversations going on in public meetings at that time, but now that the second meeting is put to bed, the millage is over, I'd like to unearth that idea and see if we can get some conversations scheduled through the next year, and I'm recommending quarterly on a regular cadence so people can anticipate them. Okay. We should take a motion on it. Well, since this is we can do that, my question is just what is Rachel thinking about? Because that's kind of an administrative thing.

Why don't we let Rachel put something together and present something to us to consider, maybe map out dates, days of the week that work best, location. We've done them, you know, when we were introducing employees, they sort of segued into those at the library. Sounds like you could have a community center in the near future.

Can I ask a legal question? So when I proposed it, I was thinking only three of us could be there at any one time. Is that still going to be a requirement, or could we all attend, just not vote?

that don't have to be noticed as a public meeting.

Yeah. So if three of us are there, then we cycle the quarterly. Right.

So then the question would then become the council's then action would be to decide if you were representative of the council with less than quorum present. Otherwise, anything that you were doing would be sort of more as an individual or what we mean, notice requirements or minute requirements. But in order for you to act as representatives of the council, then this council would need to take action to say, when we have a public forum where there are three people present, they are representing the council. Otherwise, at any point in time, three or less of you could put something together, but you are just not representing the council unless this body says you are.

Yeah, I think the intention was it's kind of like a reverse town hall. Instead of us talking to the residents, the residents talk to us. So.

But we could notice it up as a public. Yeah, but I just mean like as far as like.

And you would get to determine what the rules of the engagement board, the same way that you determine what the agenda of this meeting was, it's more of an interact, you would lay down those ground rules.

But I'm just wondering as far as minutes go.

If it is a public meeting, then there would need to be minutes. Okay.

Yeah, I mean, we're talking four times a year. Nicholas could be there.

I just want to get them on the calendar. So I support having Rachel run with this and get back to us. Thank you.

And Abby? Anything for me. Okay. Rachel.

Okay, so I. Yeah, I have that, I'll get to that. It's on our agenda tonight, but I did want to note that on July 15th, the Birmingham Area Cable Board approved a grant request to help cover our Comcast charges to modernize our fiber connection. That request was in the amount of $12,960. And then on July 30th, I attended the second fire department meeting with Bingham Farms. And during this meeting, the fire department has agreed to come to our finance committee meetings during budget prep to help us understand and be on the same page as them rather than just submitting their budget to us and having us try to figure out exactly where we're going with this. This will give us a better chance to work together and better allocate the funds that we have. The third item that Abby requested, I actually prepared this for something else, but I'll just give it to you now. I'm not going to go through and read it. You can read it on your own. But essentially, for the crowd, what this is, it's just a timeline of where we started with Huntington Bank. Well, where we started with the approval of all of the banks that I brought to council. And then a timeline just kind of outlining how our interactions with Huntington have happened. So I'll read a little bit of it. March 9th was the approval of the banking institutions. March 13th was our initial interview with Huntington, but I was on my own. I didn't have a treasurer at that time. On March 30th was Jody's first day. So on May 5th, we had a follow-up meeting with Huntington where they did their presentation again. So with her being the treasurer, she is responsible for banking, so I wanted to make sure that she was going to be comfortable with what they were presenting. And then it goes into emails and how we responded and the timeline of signing things. So basically where we're at is the... signature card has been signed by everybody that needs to sign it. The treasury management agreement has been signed. So all we need to do now is start actually moving our funds over. So that's gonna be a little bit of a process because we obviously have a lot of outstanding payments. So we're gonna have to figure out what lump sum we need to leave in merchants to make sure everything that we have spent through them is still covered, but then move everything else over to

Curious about the treasury management document though, because it was brought to my attention that those were originally sent by DocuSign on July 2nd, and as of August 7th, so just over a month later, they were still unsigned. And so as we're talking about the recovery of these dollars from the fraud situation last year, and knowing that we have brought legal action for the village on behalf of the village for both, the insurance company, our insurance policy, as well as the banking institution. My concern is that that delay undercuts our opportunity, like a part of our case, because there's been a substantial delay in sending DocuSign agreements over a month. It just signals that we were worried enough about the security at First Merchants Bank to move our money, and yet it's now months later. We still have not completed that process, and it seems like there's enough of a lag time on the signing of that agreement that signals to me, and I mean, we represent all of you, that is there a sense of urgency there would be my concern.

So I did meet with Fink-Brasek about that, and Nate Fink told me that it doesn't...

Nothing about the conversation on the records. It's for any client privilege. Okay. Thank you.

Is there, what is still outstanding at this point and what is the expected timeline of completion for the moving of dollars between those bank accounts? I think that would be what I would like to understand too is at what point will this be complete and can we, I think at the very least in the interest of transparency because I hear public comments and I think you have every right to raise those concerns, I do think we should at least have some sort of uh... updates for residents either here or or in some place that shows here's how we've rectified the situation both in terms of moving our uh... village money into an institution we feel is better a better place to handle privacy, security, anything of that nature, but also just the transparency of showing what this process will look like from a governance and controls perspective. I think that is a really reasonable way to respond to resident concerns in a moving forward sort of capacity. Same reason I suggested that moving forward we should also do an e-bike training. If we can't address what had happened, we can address it moving forward and giving some update moving forward in ways that show that we've rectified the situation in these ways and it won't happen again because of this. I think it's a really reasonable set of actions that we can take. That would be my request.

Okay. I'll provide you with a timeline. Thank you.

Um, I support trustee Gates and, um, just making sure the public feels that we are, um, addressing the financial controls of the village appropriately in a timely fashion. I have a question regarding, um, signatories and authority. Um, do we have a governance plan mapped out where it says who has authority to do what, who's responsible to execute what, who's the secondary approver for what. So that way we can ensure there's checks and balances so we can mitigate further financial risk and loss.

Yes, we do.

Okay, can you share that with council? Sure.

Okay. So that is why we're using Jenna as our treasury clerk because we cannot have a person approving invoices that input the invoices into the system. And the person that signs the tax should also be a separate person. So I am a signer. The secondary signer is the police chief. The treasurer manages all the funds, creates the reports, but she is also not the person that is actually inputting the invoices into the system. And it's better to have more hands touching all of these invoices than it is to just have the treasurer handle everything like it was done in the past. So we've created this system where we're spreading the duties across multiple different divisions, if you will.

No, I mean, separation of duties is definitely like a hallmark and, you know, checks and balances. I only ask that it be like shared so we can all just see the documentation. And that way, if there's any turnover or someone's acting on your behalf, like when you're on leave, if Chief Lawson is your acting, but he's also the secondary, do you know what I mean? And is he signing non-police checks? Yes. Okay, so then who's signing the police checks? You know what I mean? Just so there is an understanding of how do we balance giving a small staff? What would happen if you were on leave for two weeks or there was a turnover or do we need to have the finance committee act as some sort of reviewer, whatever it be, just so the document, or the governance is documented and understood and shared and filed away and recorded and used.

Okay, so I think it'll be easier if I write it all down and send it to you? Yeah. Okay.

I think it would be helpful just to see how everything works, and we don't, we feel like it's, while representing controls. I mean, I know in our priorities in February, that was one of the top items. Make sure we have good governance. And I know, Rachel, you're working on it. I think just advertising all the work you're doing will be helpful to make us understand everything that's happening.

Yeah. And... I'm sure Abby has lots of process tried and true with templates, but... Not for this. Okay, well, I mean, sometimes we just use something like a RACI chart, like who's responsible, who's accountable, who's consulted, who's informed, to see our ACI, to kind of see these are the roles and responsibilities, and this is who owns it, and this is who's informed of it, this is who's consulted by it, and it kind of just breaks it down, and I think having... clear expectations of roles and responsibilities is gonna go a long way for, to Jeff's point, all the work you're doing, that you don't have to redo it when someone's new coming in, or if you're out, then you don't have to put together a whole leave plan because you're out for a week or something.

Anything else? Anything else?

No.

Okay. Liaisons.

Yeah, thank you, David. Historical District went to the meeting last week, and Alex and Laura asked me to bring a couple items to you all. One of the things, and we don't have to make a decision on this tonight, but I wanted to just surface it, is that the State of Michigan Historic Preservation Offices identifies, they want us to have strategic objectives ongoing that will prove that we're working on historical district committee goals and basically items that we want to do to make sure we're continuously staying in compliance. That usually includes a historic study committee. We've had these in the past and they would like us to consider revisiting having a historic study committee. Particularly noted was there's a number of mid-century built homes over 70 years in age that may require historical governance, and they wanted us to think about that, to have some sort of study committee ongoing, not only because of that item, but I guess to have in compliance with the Historic Preservation Office. So that was one thing. I can, you know, if you guys have any questions or comments, that could be something that potentially goes on a future agenda. And then Gary Roberts, one of his last HTC objectives was there is a printing and distribution of a Village of Franklin Historic District Guide, but we have limited copies of that. And we don't, Evan, correct me, have like current funding for those types of like actually printing them.

The HTC does have a budget, and I'm actually working to get those printed right now with one of the county commissioners. So it isn't possible.

OK. So more of an FYI then. But the one reason I say that is it has very good description of all the things that you need to do if you live in the historic district. And as many items have come up in recent meetings for compliance or something, it's better to get ahead of those things rather than having to learn them post-hoc.

Can that be put on the website in a digital form?

It is.

OK.

It's just something we could also distribute to the whole .

Can we add the link to the minutes for this meeting? Sure. So that way, if someone watches it on TV, they can access it. Thank you. Thanks, Jeff.

So I guess maybe if you go to the next meeting, we can talk about it, but if historic district study committee would be something we need to approve.

I support having a discussion like that. The study committee had the most recent discussion work product of that group was the plan to re-district, to expand the historic district and include some non-contiguous properties in the historic district. Then they disbanded. They haven't always had that supportive council. and i really i'd love to have this council literate about historic preservation and excited about it because there's a lot of things we can do that really lend to the character of the village that isn't going to impose on it's not a hardship but looking that might be one direction um but but i you know i think that conversation about that is really worthwhile yeah so i guess we should think about if we want to have that as an agenda item okay I'm just saying, yep.

Okay, thank you. Any other questions, comments?

We'll do infrastructure. So the infrastructure committee

We demoed a constituent issue management platform and I guess resident communication app last week because one of our priorities is obviously to understand what infrastructure projects the public would want to see. And we talked about a survey in the past, QR code, like how do we get people involved. How do we make sure that what we're doing is actually of interest to the public? And through various times the last year, we just haven't gotten it off the ground. But next meeting, to Jeff's point, we'd like to put it on the agenda. And it's used by White Lake right now and Howell. It's a customizable app. It has the ability for residents to say, submit like, hey, I have an issue with e-bike, and then upload a picture, and then put their comment, and then it would be assigned to a staff member. They could respond. Someone else that might also be interested in the e-bike issue could follow along with that issue so they could see the response from council. It could be anonymous so like no one knows who's reporting it but you're following along because it's an issue that concerns you. It could also be that when someone submits an issue on eBike, it links to the ordinance, like the state of Michigan ordinance on eBike, so that person could be like, oh, there already is a law on eBike. So I think it's a really good communication tool. It also has, this is something that I was excited about, the ability to export reports, so you can see what issues are important, how many people commented, and then obviously whether it's a written comment for a council meeting, a verbal comment at a council meeting, a call-in to the village office, a walk-in, or just any other way that residents, or if it's done by a resident on the app, it's all aggregated so we can have like a full portfolio view of issues and then those linked to outcomes or say someone wants to say there was a dog off a leash, you know, then you can say, here's where you go to report that. So I just think that in the age of digitalization, it's really important that We provide information the way that our residents are used to consuming it, which is on their phones. So we'd like to bring it up to the next council meeting. It's a very low investment and comes with training, support, customization, and it's built for government, so it's 508 compliant. It's accessibility, they have translations in different languages, and it's inclusive of all the things that we would look for to serve our community.

do you have any oh you asked a great question on the demo oh sure sure so i was also impressed having been part of the demo and one thing that stood out to me was the ability to provide notice to residents of what's going on in the community i feel like that sometimes has been a challenge we talk to neighbors and they don't know that things are going on so by having this app residents could very easily access a calendar or a village administration can even send out alerts about various items

Yeah, that's a good point. Like today I emailed Evan and Rachel. I was like, our power's out, Jeff's power's out, is the villa's power out? You know, and we were kind of like emailing and then she was like, our server's down, I can't even get to my email. So it's like a great tool. That's a great point, Dan, for communicating in an emergency situation. Okay.

Anyone else?

No.

Main Street, Franklin. Pam?

Hi, I'm Pam Migliore, 32725 Franklin Road, and I'm here to talk about Main Street. It's been, I've watched the meetings online or I've come here in person, and I just want to try and explain where we are, what we're doing, and I know at the last meeting you had a lot of questions on who performed the, which wasn't called the block party because it wasn't in the block. We did that on purpose. I can tell you why it was changed. At that time, we decided to have it on the green because there were so many empty buildings in downtown Franklin and we didn't want to bring more attention to what we were missing. And at this time, we've got a lot of new owners And the Van Avery building's filled. We're getting the plaza completely filled. The Poly, or now the Twist, is open and ready to go. Lisa's building is probably October. So we have a lot of great things happening in downtown Franklin. Sorry, I have another business in Franklin. So we wanted to let people know that. So I just brought the letter or the poster that we had last year of all of our sponsors, because there seemed to be confusion of who did the party last year and who's done the party every year. This is our sixth year. We've called it the block party for five of the six years. And the reason, because we weren't on the block, we weren't in the downtown and we changed it as a meeting. We were all sitting there. Frank Novick said, hey, what do you think about summer heat party powered by DTE? We're like, cool, great. No second thoughts because we didn't think it was that big of a deal. But as you can see, DTE and all the other sponsors that we had are all sponsors. They did not put on the event. Main Street Franklin put on the event just like we are this year. And Sarah did this poster, and I think it's very nice. And that's very helpful because we spent a lot of money hiring people to do this for us. So she's a great... And we have our sponsors at the bottom just like we do every year. And just because they're a sponsor, they don't get to say more than anyone else. We wanted to emphasize DTE because they're a huge sponsor for us. They're our biggest sponsor. And we decided they deserved a little bit more notice. So that's the only reason, that's the only thing that was about. But this year, it's August 19th from 5 to 8.30. I want you all to come. We're going to have a lot of cool things that we haven't had before. We're going to have a dunk tank and a bounce house and adult cocktails. We've had those before, but not last year. Arts and crafts for the kids. A lot of great things. And special announcement that Rachel is going to be one of the people in the dunk tank. And the other volunteers are our fire department.

I was about to say, probably police and fire too.

The police aren't going to be able to make it, but the fire department is going to do it for us. So that's awesome. And I also wanted to thank you all for giving us Evan. Even as a part-time, he is a gem. I can't tell you how much we enjoy. We know that.

We know.

He is. I mean, our little board, I mean, there's been times that we've been all the way up to like nine people and down to two people. And with me and him and Sarah being steady, it's nice to have some person, a part of the village that is helping us make the right decisions and doing the right things. But I don't want you to ever think that you're not invited to our meetings, that they're private, they're not, they're open, the public, the community, anyone who would like to come and learn about us, you're more than welcome. Sarah?

And are they on a set date or do they fluctuate?

The parties?

No, the meetings.

Oh, we have a list of our meetings. They're usually Wednesdays at 10.

Okay. Sorry, where's the location?

Right now it's at the church parlor.

Okay. And do you need volunteers for the Main Street Black Party? Who should they call?

Okay, Evan. And yeah, we could use a few more, because then I would be able to give people, like, instead of having to work the whole event, they could do half, and that would be nice, that they could participate.

You can take students for community service.

Oh, yeah, for volunteer hours, yep. Oh, sorry.

No, I'll just wait until you guys are done. What? No, I will...

And I just wanted to say, Angelina, you were right. It was not called the Black Party last year. But their money was spent just like everybody else's money to support the event. They didn't get anything different. Thank you. Yeah.

In terms of the volunteers, we are actually having our last meeting before the block party tomorrow to finalize what else is needed, and then we will put a call out through Evan, so be on the lookout for that. I also wanted to provide that we want to do better as a board in providing status updates to both the village council and the broader community, so we will do our best to be at all of the monthly meetings to be able to provide that. We've been working with the church on the community center project, and that has been a wonderful project that we've been working on that has been incredible to see all of our stakeholders, so I appreciate them being here. We have a save the date. Our Franklin Stein will be October 24th, so that is the Saturday before Halloween because, of course, Halloween is on a Saturday this year. So parents, get tired now because it's going to be a long haul this year. That's interesting. another exciting thing we are working on a ten thousand dollar technical assistance grant that would directly address professional and organizational development marketing and community visibility organizational infrastructure and business community engagement so we've been working really hard with the county to be able to do that so we're really excited um we are also updating our bylaws to be more clear and better structured and we are currently waiting on our legal advising for that to be able to go through but once that is all set we will put those updated bylaws on our website as well I want to second Pam and that working with Evan has been absolutely phenomenal. I am a grant writer myself. And so working with Evan on the grant side, working with him on the community projects, everything that he brings to the table has one, made us more organized and two, I think it also continues the passion that we bring to the table of just having someone there to support us and back us up and sort of bring life to our ideas. So we really appreciate him. And if anyone here or in the area owns or manages a business within one mile of Franklin and would like to be included in our directory, have event sponsorship or participation, or just wants to be a part of the work we do, we are so happy to include you, welcome you, add you to the website, whatever you need. We are just happy to be a part of the team and represent the heart of Franklin.

So that's amazing. I want to address each one of you, Pam, Thank you for all the hard work you do. You're the backbone right now of Main Street. So thank you for holding it together. I know there was a little lull as we were getting our administration put together, but thank you for always being there for us. Evan, this is phenomenal for us at Council to hear that you've taken it and run with it, that you've brought the Village and the Main Street Board back together. and corroborating, so really happy that you've done that and super proud of you. And then Sarah, I know you're on planning commission. You're a wonderful planning commissioner. I know you've been involved in the community center project and now to see that you're on Main Street, you're a gem in the village. Everything you touch moves forward. And special kudos to you. Any project that you've had your hands on has gone forward.

I second that. Thank you.

It's been great being part of the team.

She's a pleasure. Okay. Yes, Angelina. Question. For the business, just to clarify, they don't have to have like a brick and mortar. No. It could be.

Nope. So yeah, I think within ours, we have to be one mile out towards the boundaries of Franklin. That's the only stipulation. And we're trying really hard to just engage more and more businesses so that way they feel welcome to be part of our organization.

Is there any way we could partner with Bingham and get them to send an email to their sad district?

Mark went to the council meetings for Bingham, Beverly Hills, and I forget the third one, and introduced us to them and told them that we'd love them to use our downtown as their downtown. So we're starting that path.

More and more partnerships are happening, and we're trying really hard to build the community well within just not our village, but also the surrounding area that also views it as their village as well.

I just want to read our mission statement. Well, yeah, okay. The Main Street Franklin Fund is a 501c3 nonprofit organization focused on planning and development within the village of Franklin, Michigan. It is our mission to enhance the downtown businesses corridor by implementing safe walkable and attractive village center while preserving and promoting the historic agriculture charm and magnificent rural settings in this in the incentivized residents and visitors to live work and play inside this hidden gem at the heart of the main street fund is the deep desire to bring much needed resources to franklin's downtown historic district And that's our goal. And I've been doing it since 2008 when the first day we decided we were gonna do this. So I really love this place. I don't live here, but I have a business here and I really love it. And I would love for you all to share those feelings with us.

Thank you very much.

Thank you. You're welcome.

Do we miss Stewart? So I can give a report for planning.

Yeah, why not?

i don't know i i was a little confused e-scooter and we forgot about him i was just standing right in the back right there um i thought i was giving you i was giving you the hey you know me i'm right here look but it didn't work out um so anyway um just as a just for planning commission um since we've been transitioning to liaison report and trustee sally would have had he been here, but I'm happy to cover like I used to do. So we did move our meeting from planning from normally being held next Wednesday, but because of the block party, we moved it to the day before to Tuesday of next week. And we are currently discussing the more of the the noise nuisance abatement work covering abandoned houses and grass uh maintenance lawn maintenance and how we want to handle that and comparing against other neighborhoods so we started discussions last month on that we also are updating are looking to update our ordinances on fences like was directed by council last month we started discussions on how do we update the fence ordinance to keep with sports courts versus listing out specific sports in general like tennis courts are called out specifically within our Ordinances, but there are other sports than tennis that require fences and people's properties. So updating those then we're also Working on Working on a site plan review process proposal for council to handle some of the site plan reviews that could be more handled at the Planning Commission level that are handled at Planning Commission level at other municipalities, rather than having to have two site plan reviews with council and with planning. If there are certain ones structured in a way that the building representative could review and then go to council, it would streamline the process for people trying to get a site plan review. within the village, especially those that are in the downtown area. It can be months sometimes for them to get a site plan approved after going through planning, then going to council. So if there's things that we can do to streamline that process to help businesses in the village, that would be great. So we're coming up with a proposal of what we would recommend. We've got a couple on the table that we're looking at. I think that's good for the public to see. We did the same thing a few years ago with regards to solar panels. Used to have to have a site plan review for solar panels. So you'd have a building review. Solar panel would have to have a site plan review. Then go to council to get permission to put solar panels on your roof. And you were a part of planning when that happened as well, President. And so it's kind of the same methodology of thought process for helping those that are trying to do something to improve the village. Yes.

Is there a statutory sequence or can they happen like asynchronously?

What do you mean by, what process? Usually building looks at things before they come to us because they're not going to want to review a site plan with us if it's obviously not going to pass building. So they do usually go through a building process first because Bill will help them make sure that everything is prepared correctly, as well as our clerk will help them as well. Because otherwise it takes another month if there's any grievous errors for a site plan. So that's really what the idea behind it is. But at the same time, there's a risk also because normally since council has a chance to review it, if we deny a process for someone that has a site plan, then we say, no, we don't accept it. What's the appeal process? Can they go to council? Things like that. So those are the things we're working out, trying to figure out with regards to the site plans. The other thing that I've noticed in most recent, we haven't, because of all the the building um administration turnover and things going on we haven't had consistent treasury reports we've been getting them regularly and one of the things that has come to my attention um the last several ones that we received is that public hearing costs have gone up um i think whether closer to like 900 and something dollars is what the last billing i saw in our account is It must have been combined. It used to be around $300, but we're trying to find a way to make them cheaper because the public hearings has to have certain stipulations within the state of Michigan to be able to hold a public hearing. And they're a lot more expensive than they used to be because we don't have a local newspaper. We go to Oakland County. The EGLE has a process, but it's a much more difficult process. You have to much more notice in the EGLE, whereas if you have a publication that has this more frequent, you can have a public hearing notice go out in a shorter distance of time. So those are the things we're looking at. Since cost is a big factor we're trying to consider within our budget, we're also trying to figure out how do we streamline public hearing costs as well. Because I noticed that Bingham Farms, they have public hearing notices go out in the Birmingham Eagle.

Yeah, so does Beverly Hills.

Beverly Hills. But we're special. And we're more expensive for that reason.

Where would we, what would the alternative be?

What do you mean? We can use the EGLE. But there's really only two options that I know of is Birmingham EGLE or the Oakland Press. And we can't use the EGLE because?

The issue is. We're trying to move projects forward as quickly as we can, and because we have to get the notice into the EGLE so early for their once-monthly publication, that if anybody comes in after that notice has been sent, they're automatically pushed a month out. So yes, it can cost more. The Village should not be covering that cost, though. That cost should be covered through their application fees. So we'll have to do an assessment and take a look.

But ordinances, too, though. How do those work, then?

Ordinances are our fees, yes.

But with ordinances, we could wait.

Yes, that's right. Usually we don't have the same urgency with an ordinance as we would with a site plan for a public hearing.

Do we need to have a process that says if it's not urgent, we use the e-goal, and if it is urgent...

And that's the challenge we have to work through with administration and that we're also thinking about is how do we deal with it if someone's looking for a public hearing in the Eagle and then they miss it in the Oakland Press because it's a site plan, then how do we deal with that situation? So we don't want people saying, oh, we have to look in both places because that's less productive for our villagers to be able to look for a public hearing. So these are the things we're looking through as well, yeah.

Do they still give the, because I know I've gotten them in the mail, like the notice to residents with an X amount of?

We do those. That's also part of the site plan review. And it's specific things that require that.

That's by state law.

OK. And you have to send it in the mail, yeah?

Yes. Do we have residents saying that they've been looking for notice of public hearing because they haven't been able to find them because they don't know which publication to look at?

I'm just looking at cost.

OK. No, no, no. I was just wondering because I feel like we notice public hearings on the website too, right?

I felt a little envious of Bingham and Beverly when I noticed their public notices of hearings when I looked at the EGLE. And I was like, why aren't we doing this?

Yeah, because I was saying that we can say residents They could be in either publication, but if you want to know for sure, go to the website.

Yeah, so I don't mean to discuss this out here. I'm just letting you know that's one of the things we're considering because we really need to find, since we've had to move to Oakland Press and the costs are going up for them, I don't, I'm trying to figure out how we can adjust that. We had a pretty, our largest budget item last year was public hearings, which is a lot for our budget. So anyway, all right. One of our largest, I guess, McKenna's our largest, but our next largest is that.

I don't, did you say this already, Stuart? Are we constrained by having like paper, newspapers, or?

It's circulation, I believe, is the requirement. It has to have a certain amount of circulation coverage, and that's why we went away from the previous.

Oh, okay, okay.

Yeah, okay, thank you. Can you also put the link in the minutes to where they could find public notices?

So you send them out to all the homes also?

It depends, yeah. If it's specific for, if there is something affecting a specific home and it requires the state of Michigan to, sorry, the state of Michigan requires us to send out a notice within, I think it's 1,000 feet of the home, then they will get a mailer that tells them to come to the hearing at a certain time. But that's usually if it affects something with their property, the exterior of the property that someone else will object to.

There's a problem with the mail. There's a problem with the post office. You can send postcards to a certain zip code. You don't have to address them or anything. The mail carriers will give them to everyone that's in that. It's a lot less expensive than mail.

So I believe a public hearing, though, has a different requirement from the state of Michigan's requirements than just a mailer. The mailers do happen for certain circumstances, but the public hearing goes out to everyone. So people that really need to be informed get the mailer. Like people that it matters because they pass by the house every single day, they'll get the mailer for sure. Cool. And then I'll be here for later in the agenda as well.

Thanks, Stuart. Okay, that's the end of reports. So we're on to old business and we still have a bunch of stuff. So my question is what is people's thoughts on postponing the board and commission appointment process being that Trustee Solle is the one who put this together and isn't here or do we want to, you guys want to tackle, try and tackle this right now?

I'm okay to move it later. I think he's coming. If you want to move it later. Are you saying postpone it entirely?

Well, I wouldn't say postpone it entirely, but for the time.

Or move it down. Like to next month.

Like next month, yeah. But that's what I'm suggesting. But if he is still coming, then that would be helpful, being that he was the author of it, or author of the changes. so um do you guys want is this something that's important that you want to make sure we tackle now to have in place and we already have guidelines in place which we generally follow we're about to fill the last of our commission openings right now but

I'd be okay deferring it, tabling it until a future meeting, given the fullness of the agenda.

Yeah, I think it's worth discussing, but unless there's some absolute urgent need that needs to be approved between now and September, I think we can table it. Yeah.

I agree.

All right, well, I'm going to move that we postpone consideration of old business item A, board and commission appointment process to the September meeting. If I can get a second. Second. And a motion and a second. Further discussion?

Do we have to re-approve the agenda or not? I don't know what I'm doing right now.

Okay.

All right, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? All right, thank you. The next item is sort of a clerical cleanup. This is an ordinance that we had actually reviewed and approved. What?

What happened?

Our clerk never posted it. Oh.

It was a different law firm, not this lawyer. This is why we have new legal counsel.

So essentially, back in 23, the Planning Commission considered the height of buildings in the village. Our ordinance was completely outdated. We essentially had buildings that couldn't be taller than 20-some feet. We had... We had two story buildings that couldn't even fit. You had permission to build two stories, but you couldn't fit two stories in 20 feet. It was just archaic. It was for when buildings were being built with seven foot ceiling heights instead of nine foot ceiling heights. So at that time, to be consistent with pretty much all the other communities out there, The Planning Commission considered it and recommended to council that the height of buildings be two stories, not to exceed. The maximum height of a building be two stories, no higher than 35 feet at wherever the point in the gable that they calculated. And apparently that's where it ended. So now here we are to finally bring it through the formal process. And Stuart, I mean, if you want to give us a background, but I mean, that was pretty much so. Yeah, I mean.

Yeah, I was chair at the time. Operating off the assumption of this ordinance was codified.

I don't think anybody's built a new building in downtown. This was done for, it was really done for the Zielinski renovations to their dentist office, which was the impetus of this because their proposed plans were way taller than 22 feet. And that permit's never been pulled, and we never fixed the ordinance to allow it anyways, but that's what we're trying to do now.

Yeah, we went through a little. We had McKenna help us go through and figure out what's been missing.

I was going to ask if there are any more that you guys find.

Oh, yeah. Any more that we find, we're going. Definitely. Because, yeah, it is frustrating. But, yeah, you gave the summary of what it was. There's really nothing more for me to add. And this is our first reading. It's our first reading, so you're going to be able to see.

You'll see the formal ordinance at the next one. IT'S IN OUR PACKET. IT'S A TWO-WORD REVISION.

IN YOUR OPINION, STUART, DO WE NEED TO UPDATE ANYTHING ON THIS?

NO, BECAUSE IT MOSTLY AFFECTS THAT ONE DISTRICT OR THOSE DISTRICTS. they're already constrained heavily already. And so this is a relaxation of other building requirements. So I don't see a material change. The impetus, like President Goldberg said, they haven't pulled a permit on it yet. But we did work on it. We did make some recommendations. And I don't feel a reason not to move forward with it. Do you have it up?

So it's changing the language. I want to make sure I understand. It's 14 and a half to 32 stories not to exceed 35 feet. Does that change?

One second. I'm loading the page. Thank you. I have to get to it. It's 126 pages. Thank you. Yes, so yeah, so it's basically changing for the R01 and C1 district, changing it to instead of 14 and a half to 12, 35 feet. So that's just it. That's the basic difference. So no, nothing new.

Do you need a motion?

It's first reading, right? So.

So I need a motion to accept the first reading of the amendment to zoning ordinance appendix B regarding building heights in the R01 and C1 zoning districts.

So moved. Second.

Moved by Hanson, second by Gates. Just one further discussion.

Just one thing. I think there's, Evan, there's a, autocorrect, I think, changed your name.

Is he Miller?

I don't think our clerk's name is correct.

It's first reading. If we have time to change it. For the purposes of cleaning it up, we want to make sure the clerk's last name is correct.

Sounds good to me.

Okay, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Next item is considering a resolution to appoint a last person to the planning commission.

Are we doing the new business A?

What about the table board? Oh, I missed the peg thing. Too many notes on here. Our first item of new business is considering a resolution to accept the BACB PEG grant funding for Comcast, modern fiber optic internet connection to the village offices and police department. And this would help in vastly improving our streaming abilities, which would be great.

that was one of our priorities no absolutely uh is there anything aside from like is it an upgrade of existing service or are we talking new equipment yeah it is the connection so right now we are on copper and we're moving to fiber which improves the ability to speed and we need the speed so we can better um thank you there we go

If you watch on the live.

Yeah, it does live. And will this affect this building? Does that affect the gazebo and the other locations in the village? Or is it just, what's the scope that the upgrade will affect?

Yeah, it's what we have now. But the same service we have now, just a Bruce.

I think the question is, you know, we have like the Wi-Fi that is on the gazebo.

The gazebo, the Krieger house, this building.

Yeah, will the network also improve stability of those access points? I don't know if that's an answer.

That was my question. Yeah.

You would assume that having the faster fiber optic speed brings it into our router at a greater speed. And then we, assuming our router has the capability, that we can then distribute it.

as far as it goes out on the village green using that fiber optic what we discussed with comcast was this building in the police department okay we did not talk about extending it to the krieger house we can ask what the additional cost would be and we did not talk about the gazebo at all because it's not on our property that was you've answered my question the answer is no i'm good

We should do this. And I was under the impression that the network that goes out over the village green was actually in the attic of the Grieger house, not in the gazebo. But I don't know that that might. I do not have information on that. But either way, if it can enhance that, or we can, as increasing the speed into the village increases.

I think it's worth just further discussion.

For sure. I mean, to the extent that we could do that, we should look into that.

Yeah.

Okay. To make it go all the way. Yeah. Okay. All right, so we have.

But only if it's free. Like only if they're giving us the grant for it. Yeah, well yeah.

Or find out what it would cost to do whatever needs to be done if it's increasing the router and we can go ask them for that as well. So we have... Did we take a motion? Do we have a motion? We don't have it.

I don't think we do, but basically you just have to have a resolution. No, we do.

We don't have a motion to accept it.

We need a resolution to do this, right? We have a draft resolution.

It's up there.

That's why I have been saying consider a resolution to accept the BACB. So we just move to approve it and then the village, the resolution that we have in front of us is the one we use.

I'll make a motion to adopt for the resolution as presented to accept the cable board funds to pay for improvements to the village offices and police department.

I'll second.

Further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Thank you for looking into this. Yeah, good job. I had been asking you guys to figure out a way to get fiber optic here and thank you, appreciate it. Consider a resolution to appoint a last member to the Planning Commission.

I think, though, I was going to say that one of the candidates that we appointed last meeting is running for council. So whoever doesn't get appointed today, I just want them to reapply because it might be that we have another vacancy in two months.

And although we didn't get to it, one of the things that Trustee Solle added into the process was every time we appoint someone and that there's more than one applicant, that we appoint a first alternate. That would either fill in if the person never accepted the position or the next person up in line if an opening were to occur. And yes, if... commissioner drake is to win in his election bid then yes another opening would be on the planning commission but today we're considering um yeah fulfilling this is jeremy warner's the last so this is jeremy's spot So we had applications from two residents, Rebecca Bemis and Michael... Firstin, right? Firstin? Yeah. So I do not know if Michael or Rebecca are here, but if either of you are here and you would like an opportunity to address us, feel free to come up. We have had their resumes. I personally had a chance to speak with With Michael, I reached out to Rebecca and did not hear back.

Rebecca's out of town.

Okay, that makes sense. But is this Michael? Michael, please. Pleasure to meet you. Hey. Hey, everyone.

All right. Good evening. My name is Michael Furston. I'm a villager at 32644 Colony Hill in Franklin. I want to start by saying that this isn't just a civic interest for me. This is personal. I grew up on Pickering Road, so just off Maple and Franklin there. After school, I'd bike down the hill into the village, go into places like Market Basket, the old Franklin Grill, the Cider Mill, to the park, and this village was really my backyard. It shaped largely who I am, especially my childhood. So now that I planted roots here with my wife, I wanted to give some back to the community that gave me so much growing up. So that commitment to Franklin isn't just personal, it's also professional. I'm a general contractor and developer. I have a bachelor of science in construction management for Michigan State. Over the course of my career, I've successfully completed projects in multifamily, hospitality, historic restoration, government, and institutional sectors, completing over 200 million in work across Metro Detroit. That isn't a credential on paper. That's a decade of being in the field, in the room, and at the table where real decisions about real developments get made. Through that work, I've dealt directly with the majority of municipalities across southeastern Michigan, navigating planning processes, zoning ordinances, permitting code requirements, site plan reviews, and the complex relationship between developers and communities. I've sat across the table from planning commissions, I've submitted plans, responded to conditions, negotiated approvals, and seen firsthand what separates communities that plan well from those that don't. I know this process from every angle, and I know what it costs a community when planning decisions are made without the expertise to evaluate them properly. That expertise is what a planning commission requires, not in theory, but in practice. Every single meeting when a developer comes for this commission with a proposal or the planning commission with a proposal, the questions that protect this village are technical ones largely. What does the site plan actually say? Is this density appropriate for the infrastructure? Are these traffic projections realistic? Is this proposal what it claims to be? Is this project harmonious with the village? And I'll know those answers. I won't need them to explain to me. I'll ask the questions that protect Franklin before a single shovel would hit the ground. The decisions made in this room are permanent, I guess, or like you said, maybe not. What gets approved, what gets denied, what Franklin looks like for the next generation, it's decided in the planning commission and in this council. This commission is not a ceremonial role. It carries a real consequence for every villager in this community. The appointment you make tonight should reflect that weight. BEYOND THE COMMISSION ITSELF, I WANT TO BE AN ASSET TO THIS VILLAGE IN EVERY WAY I CAN, WHETHER THAT'S WORKING ALONGSIDE THE BUILDING DEPARTMENT, ADVISING ON CONSTRUCTION MATTERS, REVIEWING PROPOSALS, SIMPLY BEING A RESOURCE THAT THE VILLAGE CAN RELY ON. I'm here my commitment to this village doesn't end when the meeting does I've already had the privilege of speaking with Planning Commission chair a council member and the village president those conversations reinforce what I already believed that Franklin is a community that takes its future seriously and I want to be a part of protecting it Franklin is not just any village. It's character, it's scale, it's history. These are worth protecting with the same care I grew up experiencing as a kid on Pickering Road. I understand what's at stake here. I spent my entire career understanding exactly what's at stake. I'm not here to push an agenda. I'm here to work, apply real field-tested expertise to service this village. The same village I grew up in, same village I intend to spend the rest of my life in, and I look forward to working with this council and planning commission to ensure Franklin remains an exceptional community as it's always been. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Michael. I mean, so Rebecca is out of town. She's at Mackinac Island. Oh, that's too bad. All right, so.

Well, I can speak a little bit since I spoke. Yeah, I do know Rebecca. She's my neighbor and a friend. And most of my contact with her is walking dogs and dodging children. I KNOW THAT SHE HAS WANTED TO BE ON, GET INVOLVED IN VILLAGE GOVERNMENT FOR SOME TIME. CIRCUMSTANCES THAT PREVENTED HER FROM JUMPING IN UNTIL RECENTLY. I think she's a person of character and is, like a lot of people that are looking at positions on the council and the various commissions, is someone who is looking for a way to jump in. So even if she isn't selected tonight, I would encourage us to consider her again when another opening comes up in the planning commission. I think she'd be a great addition.

Yes. I'll speak to Rebecca as well. She's been here publicly like every few months. I know she came spoke about the stop signs on Wing Lake. She came and offered ideas regarding an ice rink and pavilion in the green. The last three or four years she's been coming every few months and getting involved, speaking during public comment. also looking for opportunities to be more engaged. I know that she is not here tonight because she's at Mackinac Island with her family, not because she didn't want to be, but to Pam's point, she now has more time and availability and knows that attendance is valued on planning commission, so didn't want to commit to a role until she was sure that she could satisfy the obligation.

Was she the woman that had asked about the stop sign?

Yeah. It was that terrible corner. Yeah, we got her.

And then she asked about the brush.

She lives right up that place. Like Suzanne and we like. Remind me, what's the process for planning commission? Do we take, is it a... At the last meeting, David had implied that it was an appointment by me in approval, or is it just a vote, a nomination by?

I believe it's an appointment by you that they support.

Interesting, okay. I'm getting confirmation that it is. Sarah's just happy to get another commissioner. Okay, so that's how it starts. I wish Rebecca had been here, but I do know Rebecca and her credentials hold a special place in my heart. My daughter is a clinical psychologist as well. So, but, and traditionally I have always, taking the position that it isn't really knowledge to be on any of our boards. It's commitment and ability to put in the time. Although, in various instances, we do have certain nuances. We've always kind of liked to have an architect on the HDC. That helps having someone with some legal background on ZBA. probably for the last 20 years and we've been missing it for maybe the last since Al Ludwig resigned. There has really been someone with a building and development background on the Planning Commission. I served in that capacity when I was there and after I was gone there was Al Haddad and Al Ludwig. Right now the Planning Commission is missing someone with that background. good background regarding construction and how the development process works and how it works in other communities. And and it always is never fun when there's two people applied for one position. Although, but in this instance, I'm going to make a recommendation that we appoint Michael Fursten. Rebecca has been wonderful and I enjoyed getting to know her. I went by her property a couple of times as we were investigating that stop sign and then eventually approving it. I think she would be a wonderful addition to any of our boards It's not part of the process right now, but since we're considering it, I would say that she should go to the top of the list for the next time we have an appointment as long as there's an opening. Emails, Evan, we have our credentials. That's part of what we'll discuss in this. Once you've submitted your credentials to us, I'm not sure it has to be an ongoing thing to do, but I'm going to recommend that we appoint Michael first in this instance and ask that Rebecca please come back for consideration and maybe in a couple months when the Planning Commission might have another opening. Wait, wait, wait, one second, Pam. I made an appointment. So let's go to discussion as well as get a second. If you want to have a question, Pam, you can come up. But discussion amongst ourselves. Let's start there.

Does planning have alternates? I can't remember if it's only zoning.

They do. That was my question.

Oh, okay.

They do.

They do. Planning has alternates. Or not alternates. They have... No, we don't have alternates.

Okay, I wasn't sure. The zoning has two alternates.

Now, as it turns out right now, the Zoning Board of Appeals only has one alternate.

You really got a ripple out there.

Planning is defined in our village ordinances of how it's structured. There's no alternate.

The only alternates we have are on the ZBA so that somebody doesn't come for a legal hearing and not have a quorum. Because usually lawyers are scheduled and it's not really good to postpone someone because we can't have a quorum. So that's why there's always been one or two alternates to make sure we could always have at least four people there. But no, but I think in a mental place, I think that yeah, I think Rebecca's super qualified and should be at the top of our list the next time we have an opening. Any other discussion? A couple minutes to you guys now. Someone have to move to support my appointment or not?

I'm sorry, I should have spoken up. I think it's always tough, right? We have to make a decision. And I would love both of these people to be involved. And so any, I guess, any, the decision we make does not reflect us believing that both of these people will be well. We love the interest and want to make sure they don't feel discouraged from continuing.

And I'm glad you say that because we've had this a couple cycles now where we've had whatever three openings for various bodies and four people or five people apply. And of course we can only choose three of the five. And then we ask the two people that weren't appointed, you guys are wonderful candidates, please, the next time we have an opening, apply. And then we don't necessarily hear back. So I don't know if there's something we can do to make that better or keep a list, keep a running list of people that we have passed on in the past and make sure that we put them on notice that there's another opening so that they can be considered.

I will say like I did, I've noticed that trend and what I found out when I found out with people is that they were looking for an opportunity to get involved and then join like another board. got another position you know what I mean like they had the time in their schedule and they felt passionate and so like I know someone who had applied for an appointment to the council and then I reached back out to her and I was like hey there's opening look oh I just applied to another board and now I'm swamped with that so I feel like you know It's a good thing, because it means that they're true volunteers, where they want to get involved, but the opportunity and timing have to work out for people.

Volunteerism's needed everywhere. So the fact that their volunteerism went somewhere else makes me feel better that it didn't go to waste that they wanted to be here, and I do think that we should keep a running list of people, especially the last time around when we had to wait an extra month just to fill this seat.

Well, it either happens like Sarah, where you have one volunteer on three boards, or you have one person who then volunteers for three other boards outside.

Is there anything this person might do? Do we need any extra sets of hands here? Do we need volunteerism? in the office to do anything. I mean, we sound... Well, that's what you said about ZBA, but you can't apply. Like, I think about Covington, how they have, like, parent volunteers at the front desk and in the front office, and that becomes a good amount of their staff. I think in two months we'll have them.

I think so.

I mean, just considering other opportunities to get involved if we need to help other places.

Did you post for the other ZBA alternate position? I mean, not... Or it's open?

Yeah, it's open.

Okay. I... I feel very comfortable supporting your choice to appoint Michael. Even though I feel very strongly about Rebecca, I think that it would be a good first choice just to knock down any barrier that you might be feeling from my perspective.

I like Rebecca a lot and if you want to go ahead and shoot her an email and say we have an alternate and a ZBA, it's a place to start.

Okay, so I will say this.

She wouldn't be the first one to go from ZBA to planning in that route as well. That's happened at least in the last 10 years. There have been several people that applied to planning but ended up making a spot, either an alternate or a full-time person on ZBA, and then moved to planning. And then they had that experience to bring to planning as well, which was very valuable to have. So it's, yeah, please stay involved.

Yes, please. Okay, so we have, are we ready to take a vote? All right, so we have a motion on the table to appoint Michael Furston to the Planning Commission. All in favor? Aye. Opposed?

Do you think I, was it roll call? You can do roll call.

I'm not sure what I'm concerned about, who motioned it and who seconded it.

I motioned it.

And you seconded it.

Yep. We can do roll call.

All right, Trustee Angelina Slapa?

No.

Trustee Degene?

Yes.

Trustee Eddie Gaines?

Yes.

Trustee Daniel Perez?

Yes.

Trustee Pam Hanson?

Yes.

President David Goldberg?

Yes. Michael, thank you. Rebecca, thank you. When you watch this, we hope to find a place for you.

Okay, just wanna say really appreciate your support on this and I'm really excited to get involved.

So thank you very much for that. Appreciate it.

All right, next on the agenda is item C, which is consider a resolution to participate in the court and law enforcement management information system, often referred to as CLEMIS. This is a program that we have participated in ongoing, and I think we're just up for a new renewal.

Is it like, this is almost procedural, right? Yeah.

Is this for police? This is. So this is a program, it's typically referred to as Clemmas, and it is, oh, are you going to present on it?

At first I was like, is this code enforcement or law enforcement? No, this is police and it started with Oakland County. There are 400 agencies across the state that participate in this. Originally it was part of Oakland County itself and they've become a private entity. But for our purposes, it changes basically nothing. It doesn't change our costs. It doesn't change our services provided. The only thing that I am aware of that changed was the helpline phone number. And other than that, everything is all the same. It's just because it's a private entity, they need official agreement. So that's what it changed. Bless you.

I have a question. I was reading through the documents that were provided to us. Would you, if there's a possible to do a two sentence answer to this, but I don't understand the relationship between Franklin, Bloomfield Township, White Lake, And the scope of the interlocal agreement.

They were, those were mentioned, and it's more of, it was, they were one of the first agencies to be part of Clemis. Okay. And so, It's like they got their name on the bill. Is that what it is? That's really all it is. As a matter of fact, because I wouldn't have known except Chief Lawson talked to me about it beforehand. He's like, just in case they bring it up, that's why. They were basically the first two communities that started with Oakland County. It's like this. They get their name on the agreement. They're all over it.

They were in two big documents.

It really means nothing. A Michigan body.

The actual document, it does say, and all other member communities.

Yeah, it does. It just was weird that they got the naming rights.

They did. They got naming rights is basically what it is because they were one of the first ones.

Sorry, I just want to clarify. Is this included in what we bill Bingham for, the cost of the software? when we do a trip. That would be part of our budget.

It would be part of the Chief's budget and anything that we pay is part of the Chief's budget from the police side.

This is in the budget. It would be a budget item.

If we approve this agreement, does it have to go to Bingham to approve it or does this cover?

I can't answer that. I don't think it does because they're basically, we have the agreement with them and then we provide services to them.

But we are equal partners, right? Yes. What do you mean with Bingham?

The size of the agency determines how much you can pay. Right, yeah. So we don't pay as much as Bloomfield Township because they're so much bigger than us.

Right.

But we have equal access. We have equal services that they do.

Okay, that was my question.

Thank you. So when we pay based on our population, they include the population of Bingham and us.

It's not paid. So what I believe is the size of the agency. It's not based on the population of the village.

So it's the number of officers.

I believe. But that one I would have to get back to you on. But I believe it is size of the agency and our technical requirements.

I don't think that there's a cost.

There's no cost in this agreement. I think what we're doing here.

It's the same cost that we were already paying.

I did get.

Just for the public.

Yeah, it's right in here. Here, let me see it.

I wrote it down. Just hold on.

Just hold on. I got her.

Chief gave it to me. um so our cost this year is uh twelve thousand six hundred and seventy five dollars it was already budgeted that does not change um this has been in the works that they were moving for a year year and a half now um it's just official have you felt any impact since the move or Like I said, the only thing that I noticed was we got an email that said that there was a new number for a helpline, and that's it. It's the exact same service, nothing changed.

I'll make a motion to approve it.

I'll second. Motion by Salaka, second by Hanson for the discussion. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Aye. All right, thank you. Next item on the agenda is consider, I guess a consider request from several trustees to send back to the Planning Commission a revision to the Village Code of Ordinances to create temporary sign restriction parity. Some background, if you recall. We had asked the Planning Commission to consider whether or not the number of temporary signs that are permitted on a property should be changed from its current condition, which is everybody gets three, And then anybody who has a second or in some instances a third additional road frontage got one additional temporary sign for each of those road frontages. We sent that to the Planning Commission for a recommendation for them on it. Their recommendation was to keep the ordinance as it is. I believe there are some trustees that don't necessarily concur with that. It's in our purview to not necessarily accept their recommendation. So what we're considering now at the request of several trustees is whether or not we want to make that decision on our own and direct the Planning Commission to revise the temporary sign ordinance to what I believe is being requested to make it a maximum of three on any property regardless of road frontage. Is that the way I should understand it? Okay, so let's start with, before we even get to a motion, one of the trustees that are in support of this and are asking for us to reconsider the commission's recommendation, sort of your thoughts on this.

Yeah, I'll open up. So again, at the time that we were sending it, the comments that I made were, I think initially the question was, should we make it no limit on signs? What are other communities doing? Ultimately the planning commission wanted to come back. One of my concerns outside of just the total number of signs, as I said, I don't really care how many signs we land on. I think if somebody has an issue with four signs, they're gonna have an issue with three signs. If they have an issue with three signs, they're gonna have an issue with six. So to me, that's not the important thing. For me, it was always kind of creating that, a similar standard for all properties in the sense that, The way that a lot of these signs for most people is that it's a form of expression. Similarly, there's a lot of litigation around the fact that signs are a form of expression. And so to permit, and I'm not saying that currently, I don't think that there's any legal necessity for a change, but just out of the fact that I don't think somebody should be afforded to express their views on more things just because their property is situated a particular way. And so when Stuart approached, his statement last time was his recommendation would be that we do nothing, but he said the biggest thing, I don't want to put words on your mouth, but- Yeah, exactly. Is that if we were to make a change, that the reason that they landed on three with the fourth is to manage the amount of signs, like we don't want sign clutter. And so if there were to be a change, it would be, he understood kind of what I was getting at with bringing parity to all properties. So again, for me, this is not a matter of I want to see a bunch of signs out there. I think we just bring it into parity for all properties. And because the initial consideration was three is appropriate for managing sign clutter, bring all properties to three. That way, every resident within Franklin is afforded to express themselves in a similar fashion you know three statements political or otherwise so that's why i particularly wanted to see this come back on the agenda as i know that we asked for recommendation we're recommended to keep the same that being said i think to me it's never made sense that okay because somebody has additional frontage they should have additional expression so anybody else

I have a comment. So, over the years we've had several conversations in council about signs, temporary signs, and this is just the latest. I am not planning to support a change, primarily because we have, we referred this matter, for the reasons various trustees raised last month at the month before. We referred it to Planning Commission. They did their diligence and studied it. Did research, reviewed it. I have never found them to be a body that is less than uber careful. And I am reluctant to, after making that referral and saying, please advise us not to take their advice. They gave a reason, and the reasons sound fine to me. And I'm also not into changing ordinances just for the heck of changing ordinances, even if it's an expression argument. So I wanted to say that and that I'm... I just asked the Planning Commission for their advice and they gave it to us, which we accepted, and then changed our mind.

Was there a vote of acceptance? I wasn't here, so I just want to know. No. Okay, so that's inaccurate or no.

Uh, just for a matter of record, the recommendation came back from the planning commission to, for no change. And then we moved on to the next topic. It was just a report from the planning commission. There was no decision or action taken by council or no acceptance. Correct.

So.

The motion would be to change the ordinance to make it so we restrict. Sorry. We restrict all properties to three sides. That's what our resolution would be tonight.

No. We can't revise an ordinance just ourselves. It still has to go through the process. We would go to planning. Before we ask them for a recommendation. Now we would be giving them a directive. A directive to do this. Schedule a public hearing, change the ordinance accordingly. And to me, if the ordinance were to change, it would be deleting one line that talks about getting additional signs for each additional road frontage. That line would be deleted from the ordinance, and that would probably be the extent of the change needed. Okay.

Can I just ask a question from a logistics standpoint? So planning, typically when we have an ordinance that we go through public hearing, we make a recommendation. We go through the public hearing. The village has a chance to chime in. And then we make a recommendation, bring the ordinance to council with a recommendation. And then council can actually, after that, they can open it up. You can change it to four at that point. or you could change it to five or six at that point. So even though we have a public hearing saying we're moving them all to the same number, you actually, as councilor, could, after it goes back to you, change it to four or five or six or 20 or whatever you want, as the previous council that actually passed the ordinance had that opportunity to do. they had the chance to change the number then when it was submitted as an ordinance. So that's kind of how the process has gone. Accessory buildings was the same way. You could have a certain number of accessory buildings. Council said, we think you should have fewer in the downtown area or you should have more. So that's always kind of the process. So for those that are trying to understand it. So even though you're sending it to us as a directive, you actually have the power to change it after that, so.

Okay.

we have a motion well i think so real quick just based off of what stewart said and this makes sense and i'm just going to speak out loud um or i'm going to think out loud there we go uh is that that makes sense right because when you hold a public hearing just because the planning commission is making a recommendation if there's public engagement that presents a different position then it would be represented to council and we ultimately could make the decision i guess outstanding because we never took any action it remains

under current state where would you all prefer us to provide a directive back to you or just take an action no no so in this case we've given a recommendation so in this case giving us a directive to hold a public hearing to make the change to um to basically eliminate that line right um that's all that needs to be done then we would send that after that we have to send it back to council and at that point you do a first reading and then second reading and make the change. And at the first reading is when you have the opportunity to read through it and then propose the changes for the second reading before it goes into law.

So the readings are meant to perfect the ordinance? Yes.

Yes, because you are the elected officials. We initially write the law or ordinance, and then you are the ones held accountable for the ordinance, even though we make a recommendation. So we're to help you. in that legislative process. We also are there to slow you down in that legislative process because you don't want tossy turn laws, right?

That makes sense. Thank you for the clarification.

No problem.

To speak to the issue, I actually live on a corner lot, but I don't think it's fair that I get more of a voice than other people. So I would support the change, just make it uniform for three.

I think it just makes more sense to have a uniform.

All right. I'll make a motion to direct the Planning Commission to revise the sign ordinance. so that each property receives, or is permitted three temporary signs?

I'll second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Evan, let's do a roll call.

Angelina Szilagyi. Yes. Trustee David Sali. Yes. Trustee Eddie Gates. Yes. Trustee Jeff King. yes no yes no motion carries all right so I guess we'll work through yeah you're not gonna be able to get a public hearing scheduled for your

August meeting, so. Right, so Evan, and you'll have to work with Evan, or Evan, you'll just have to begin the process of getting that public hearing notice for the September meeting. Okay. Next item is a, just a discussion on the village administrator's draft of the Committee structure, although we just have the infrastructure committee, correct? Or we have all of them?

Just the infrastructure.

Yeah, just infrastructure.

Did we skip D? Did I miss that?

We moved that. Yeah, so D got moved to the... Yeah, we moved all the closed sessions to the end. So, yeah, Rachel, you want to... Give us a little background on what you prepared and what's in for this and how comfortable is it?

Yes. So we have multiple council committees. And what we want to do is create a structure for how those committees operate and what they are responsible for overseeing or recommending or looking at. So I drafted this policy. I only sent it to the infrastructure committee members originally and to the council president. I didn't hear anything back. And I feel like it's something that we need buy-in from everybody on because I've started with the infrastructure committee and I'm going to draft these for the other committees as well, but I don't want to be on the wrong path and spend time drafting all of these policies and to bring them to you and for you to say, I don't agree with any of this. So I thought I would bring it to hear what the infrastructure committee felt about it and the other council members felt about it because this is going to affect the committees that you're on too, but obviously in a format that applies to you.

All right, so let's start with Dan and Jeff's and Abby's comments since that's the infrastructure committee. Me and Abby. Don't say Abby, I meant Angela. I'm looking at you and saying Abby.

Yeah. So the reason we didn't, I think, I can say, we were just waiting for the next infrastructure committee because we knew you were bogged down and like I don't want to send you a bunch of red lines. But I was going to respond, thank you so much. I love the framework. What I was thinking would be easier is having one committee policy governance, or one committee governance policy, right? Because we all have the same, it should all be that we bring issues the same way to council. run our meetings the same way, we all have the same powers, we all have the same authority, we all have the same responsibilities, right? So you have one, like, committee governance policy, and then you have the committee scopes. So that way, if a committee scope changes, you don't have to amend, like, the whole policy. So say we have, like, I don't know, like a crosswalk project, right? And like, or that's not a good example. So like say the streetscape committee, right? There was a streetscape committee and then it phased out and then it turned to the infrastructure committee, right? So like that, change of scope you know that now we do all infrastructure not just streetscape wouldn't reckon an entire change to the policy it would just be like the scope of the committee so that way each committee can have like their four or five paragraphs of like or four or five sentences of this is a scope of that committee but you have an overall governance policy of how committees work how they run when they meet and so that way that is like permanent and stays still then if like you know water comes up or something that we didn't account for and say you're like oh what committee does this really go to or we establish a new committee we could just like add a paragraph of like council has added this committee and this is at scope but that this framework is relevant and applicable to all committees and the scopes of the committees are what changes not a new policy for every committee because I think that's a lot of work to your point of like writing a new policy for all four committees you just have a governance structure and then the scopes of the committee changed so that's basically what we have here

So the top half of this document that's all in bold, that's going to apply to every single committee the same. So all that will happen there is I change the committee name. And then the areas of review and recommendations are for each of your committees. So that will be different for each one of your committees. So if I change this, whether this is, whether I take this top half and then just say this applies to all committees.

Yeah, the top half should be the same for every one. It will. And it needs to be generic.

Yeah.

It should say, you know, the Village of Franklin committees serve as advisories, so it's more generic for all of our committees. No specifics of any committee in the opening paragraph. Opening paragraph is the same in every single one.

But what would happen then if we add something to the committee, like say we decide, you know, I don't know. Evan can serve as the, you know, minute taker for the committees. Then we have to change six policies where if you have one committee governance, you only are approving and amending one policy. Do you know what I mean? Because that means every time we change the framework or every time we change responsibility, all five policies would have to be brought back to council and changed. So you like, that's kind of how it would have to work. Do you know what I mean?

I agree with that. You want a single document that serves as a source of truth. And then that top part would just say, incorporate policy.

So I'll combine it all into one. So we'll keep the top part, apply it. broadly to all of the committees. And then I'll have like different scopes. Yes. For each committee built out, just like I do here, it'll just all be in one document. So we won't have one policy for each committee. We'll just have one policy that talks about all of the committee governance.

Okay. Okay. But can we still send you red lines to this though? That was what I came up. Okay. So now I'll send you red lines. Okay.

And then, sorry, for the people who are not on the infrastructure committee, do we have this document outside of the packet?

No.

Okay, could we get that? Thank you.

Any more discussion?

Just a couple of comments that I can keep really brief. I think this is a good start. I agree with Angelina that a single policy or a description of a governance structure makes a lot of sense to me. And then each committee has its own scope. I like the idea of committee chairs. That gives you somewhere to go. I also like the idea of making some statements about how the committees, like integration. How does one committee connect up with the other? What's the overlap? And because often a project will be bigger than one, the scope of one committee, so how will that be managed should go in your overview statement. Another point might be what is the, I got the message about recommending, got that very clear. What is the demarcation of a management decision or not a decision? What's yours and what's the committee's? And how does that work? How does work get to the committee? How does the committee, what are the committee's work products that get back to you? And how is that resolved? would be another question I would have. And finally, I think it's important to address the issue of support resources. As I scan through the list of areas of review and recommendations for this infrastructure committee. It's pretty broad. Many of those items might require some research, some subject matter expertise in order to develop a recommendation. How will the committee get that? Is there a budget to support somebody? Is that gonna be you, Evan? And it goes back to the question of how will you as the management team work with this advisory, this board team, this trustee team? So in a nutshell, those would be my comments.

Then I just have one small comment and I don't know if we can incorporate it or how we'll adjust for it. I do think one of the things we should do as a committee is each committee should have a standing meeting and then they can make a decision that they don't have enough on the agenda and then cancel it. But I think having a starting place of meet forces them to make the conscious decision of we have nothing pressing to go over. I think too often it's easy to just, when nothing's scheduled, for nothing to get scheduled. So.

And there is a small item of Open Meetings Act, which means that these meetings will have to be posted.

I thought it was if there's three, if there's no quorum.

As long as you don't have quorum.

Okay, that's the only criteria?

As long as there's no decision-making. Okay. Empowered with those three. Okay. Fair enough.