City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. Good evening. So welcome to the Joint City Council and Planning Commission meeting. The time is 7.15 p.m. and we will officially call this meeting to order. Mr. King, would you do us the honor of bringing the invocation?

Please stand.

Please stand.

Let us bow our heads and look to the Lord for prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for this day. We thank you for life, health, and strength. It was not our will but your will that we were able to get up, get up out of our beds, walk out of our houses, and do the things we had to do until we came here. Lord, I ask you to, Lord, lean over, guide the leaders of the city, guide the members of the city that we come together for the betterment of the city, the young people and the seniors of the city. Lord, let not our hearts be heavy with anger or grief, but we have an open heart and listening ears to the words that we all have to speak this evening. Lord, lead us and guide us and protect us. In Jesus' name we do pray. Amen.

Amen. Please continue standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Madam Clerk, roll call, please, of the City Council.

Mayor Nolan?

Present.

Mayor Pro Tem Chisholm? Present. Councilwoman Rutledge, excused. Councilman Bishop? Present. Councilwoman Scott, excused. Councilwoman Howard? Here. Councilwoman Richardson? Present. Mayor Pro Tem, you do have a quorum.

Thank you. Moving right along to the roll call for the Planning Commission. Mayor Byron Olin. Present. Commissioner Darrell Davis. Absent. Vice Chair Tanya Williams. Present. Commissioner Mack Willis. Present. Commissioner Ashley Williams. Present. Secretary Norma McDaniel is excused. Chairperson Steva Chisholm is present. Commissioner Cheryl Hayes Bradford. And Commissioner Tavan Hall. We have a quorum for the Planning Commission. Madam Clerk. We're down to Item 2, Approval of the Agenda. Has everybody had an opportunity to review tonight's agenda? City Council, yes. Planning Commission, yes. The floor is open for a motion to approve the agenda.

So moved.

Second. It's been properly moved and seconded. Is there discussion, additions, or deletions? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion passes. We're down to item three, number three, presentations. Introduction of guests and announcements. Madam Clerk, you said how many presentations do we have this evening?

We have one by Chief Tamika Jenkins introducing the new City of Inkster officers.

At this time, I yield the floor. Chief Jenkins, you have the floor.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor, Council, viewing, and visiting audience. So we wanted to take the time out today to introduce our newest members of the Inkster Police Department. We had four gentlemen that graduated from the Police Academy on yesterday, and we just wanted you all to meet them and greet them and welcome them to the city. You guys can stand. Thank you. we have officer hill we have officer hamzy officer parker and officer jackson thank you thank you all right all right welcome welcome um i believe

There was some comments about Inkster's officers graduating at a certain level or leading something like that.

I guess I should have mentioned that. This was one of our greatest classes that we've sent through to the, I would like for you all to know that they went to Oakland Police Academy in Oakland County, Auburn Hills, Michigan. And this is the first class that brought home two awards from the academy. We had, you were the class president? Yes ma'am. We had one of our officers that was the class president. He actually gave the speech at the graduation, did a phenomenal job. Our other officers, they excelled in the program. Test scores ranged between 85% and 100% throughout the whole academy.

All righty. Thank you, Chief. And thank you, gentlemen, for coming aboard. We welcome you. Are there any other presentations, introductions of guests, and announcements? All righty. Moving right along down to item number four, adoption of minutes for planning commission. Our last meeting was canceled. We do not have any minutes at this time to adopt. Therefore, we are moving right down to item number five, approval of consent agenda for city council. Minutes for May 19th, 2026 and minutes for May 27th, 2026. Has everybody had an opportunity to review those minutes from the city council?

Yes.

Yes. All righty. Floor is open for a motion to approve the consent agenda. Motion to approve.

Support.

For property moved and supported. Are there any... additions or deletions to the minutes. Hearing none, all in favor?

Aye.

All opposed? Motion passes. We're down to item number six, boards and commissions.

If you look on the last page of the boards and commission package, you'll see what seats need to be filled.

District 5, Parks and Rec. Antonio Evans, anybody talk to him? Does he want to continue on aging?

I reached out, but I haven't heard anything back.

He might want to continue.

Oh, the Historical Commission, Beautification Commission, Aging on... Is that Commission on Aging? Yes. And then Parks and Rec.

At least. Let's reach out to them because I think some of these folks might want to continue. Right. Yeah. Jean Liddell, you didn't talk to her?

I haven't gotten a return, but I'll reach out again tomorrow.

I haven't seen her in a while.

I saw her about a week and a half ago. She's doing good.

And to the general public, if you are interested in being on a board or commission, please visit the city website or visit the city clerk's office to retrieve an application packet to complete and submit. All right, if there are no nominations or questions or comments about boards and commissions from this body, we're moving right along. Item number seven, public hearing. We do not have any public hearings this evening. Item number eight would be first and second reading of ordinances, which we don't have any to read into the record. Item number nine is unfinished business planning. I don't believe we have any unfinished business from the Planning Commission. We're moving down to item number 10, new business, planning commission. Item A, 2025-2026 fee schedule, planning and zoning fee comparison, redevelopment ready, communities, RRC, annual report. So, Mr. Dowdell, would you like to take this at this time, or AC Williams? Yes.

All right, good evening everyone. So today we're covering about this fee schedule in the sense that since 2026 2022 we haven't. addressed it or revisited the fee schedule. So I included in your packet what our current fee schedule is. And based on an analysis that I've done with Taylor, Dearborn Heights, Garden City, and Westland, our fees aren't the highest, but they're not the lowest. They're sort of somewhere in between, in the middle. And with that being said, um, I, I don't think that we need to, um, increase the fees at this time. And that's what my recommendation would be to remain the same.

So just for the public that is here and those who will watch after the 2025 26 fee schedule, the site plan review, excuse me, that section. For commercial, less than one acre, the fee is $1,750. For commercial, one acre or more, it is $1,800 plus $50 per acre. Site plan revision, $500 per resubmittal. Final site plans, $250. Administrative, $500. Performance guarantee, that is determined by city staff and estimated with improvements. down to commercial reoccupancy. Application and review is $200. Special land use. Special land use review non-marijuana is $1,450 plus $6 per acre. Special land use review marijuana is $5,000 plus $6 per acre. Rezoning. Rezoning review is $1,706. Conditional rezoning review is $2,000 plus $12 per acre. Zoning board of appeals. A residential variance is $800. A commercial variance is $900. Zoning code interpretation is $550. Plan neighborhood development. PUD, which is plan unit development, is $1,850. And PUD revisions are $640. Miscellaneous. Pre-development meeting is $250. Public hearings are $350. Zoning verification letter slash form is $150. Zoning confirmation application, $75. A special meeting request, $1,500. Land division lot split slash boundary review, $750 plus $50 per lot. Street slash alley vacation request is $800. Sign review is $50. This initially was approved by the Inkster City Council on October 17th, 2022. Based on the 2024-2025 fee schedules for these municipalities, here's a comparison of common planning and zoning fees. Inkster fees are generally positioned in the middle to upper mid-range for standard commercial applications. Planning and zoning fee comparison. I just went over those for us, and this actually has listed for Inkster, Taylor, Dearborn Heights, Garden City, Westland. And it just shows the difference in the cost, again, based off of those cities. And as Mr. Dowdell says, it is his recommendation from the planning department that the fee schedule remain the same. So impact the next steps. By aligning our master plan and zoning ordinance, Inkster has successfully established a more transparent, predictable, and efficient environment for local developers, business owners, and residents. Moving forward into the next reporting cycle, the city will focus on updating the municipal fee schedule to ensure cost transparency. This proposed fee schedule is included in this package. Enhancing interdepartmental collaboration between planning, building, public service, fire, and code enforcement to accelerate site plan reviews. Continue collaborations with various organizations like the Community Economic Development Association of Michigan, the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, Wayne County, and the University of Michigan-Dearborn to assist the city with grant opportunities and resources. Marketing priority redevelopment sites to attract sustainable investment to our major corridors. And the next page is the Redevelopment Ready Communities, RRC, annual report. AC, would you like me to take this, or would you like to? All righty.

Good evening, council, planning commission, residents. The redevelopment-ready communities, so I have to give this bill every time I come up here in case there's someone who hasn't heard it before. Inkster is on the path to become a redevelopment-ready community, which is a technical assistance program offered by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, or MEDC, The purpose is to streamline our practices and get us in a position for development, attracting businesses, and also improving our housing stock. Like a lot of cities in Michigan or across the country, we're missing middle housing. We are predominantly single-family homes, and we're trying to introduce different types of housing, including duplexes and ADUs as a part of our zoning. And so once we're certified in partnership with the MEDC, it makes it available, makes us available for certain funding and we can also market that to potential investors, letting them know that we have done the work to meet best practices and that they can come here and expect a predictable experience and hopefully, you know, want to come to Inkster and do business and live here. So as a part of one of the requirements, we have to do an annual report. And overall, our key accomplishments to note recently include, of course, adopting our Inkster master plan, which happened in March of 2025 this updated framework reflects current economic conditions community driven goals and modern land use strategies it's what's informed our updated zoning and then we of course passed our comprehensive zoning ordinance revision to implement the vision of the new master plan and the city's completed a major overhaul of the zoning ordinance The revised ordinance streamlines the development review process, eliminates archaic regulations, and introduces modern zoning techniques that encourage adaptive reuse, commercial corridor revitalization, and diverse housing options. And so in addition to that, I would just add that we also have upcoming things related to becoming RRC certified and that includes introducing permit ready plans or site plans so that when it comes to the type of housing that we've just introduced, including duplexes for example, we can hopefully make the review process or the application process easier. saying hey these are the ones that we've already pre-selected and approved and if you just go with this then you could hopefully go through the planning department a lot easier anything else to note so over the next six to 12 months the city will focus on moving from planning to implementation of course we just adopted these things you got to give us time to put them into action uh we're going to advance the redevelopment ready community certification process if i have it my way we'll be certified by the end of the month yay um active yay thank you activating marketing priority redevelopment sites and so there's certain areas of the city that are you know big um ideal for certain housing or commercial development and so we do have a packet of sorts in a way or a plan to market those sites and attract developers for those we want to advance housing stability initiatives including affordable strategies tenant protections and housing preservation tools. I've said this a lot on the Planning Commission, and I've also said it here, that anti-displacement is dear to my heart. I want to make sure that the long-term residents of Inkster not only see the changes, but get to experience and benefit from the changes that we see. We deserve to have experienced the good things. If we're here to get through all the bad, we deserve to experience the good. supporting the Michigan Healthy Climate Fellow work on municipal energy assessments. Part of the requirements and zoning updates included green infrastructure. And so we did partner with, like I said, the Michigan Healthy Climate Fellow, and she's helping us with our infrastructure upgrades and resident engagement. continue any campaign or marketing strategies that we have as a part of a requirement we had to do a marketing campaign and we've called it being Inkster campaign and one of the things that we have as a asset is our people We have people who love living in Inkster who have been here for generations. We're proud to be Inkster residents and I think we should use that to our advantage, talk about why we're here and promote it. And so we actually have certain marketing strategies in place in order to even interview, for example, like the Funkateers. And they talk about their experiences in Inkster, where they come from, where they're going. And we can use that as why Inkster is so great. And then communicating, implementing progress opportunities for residential involvement, and of course, pursue transportation safety mobility improvements identified through the Safe Streets for All. So those will be the things that are upcoming. Any other comments or feedback?

Thank you. Council, do you have any questions, comments for Commissioner Williams or the Planning Department? Yes, Commissioner Williams or the Planning Department at this time. Great job.

Thank you. I also mentioned that some of the fee schedule information and the redevelopment ready community progress report is actually online. If you go to today's meeting for the agenda packet, it's a part of that packet if you guys want to see it. And that's it for me. Thank you. Thank you.

and a report here that is in our packet for redevelopment-ready communities. The reporting period is 2026. The municipality, City of Inkster, Michigan. The executive summary reads, the City of Inkster continues to align its municipal planning and economic development practices with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation's redevelopment-ready community's best practices. This annual report highlights our major milestones achieved over the past year, focusing on institutional updates that remove barriers to development, streamline administrative processes, and establish a clear, predictable vision for the city's growth. key accomplishments. Our primary focus for this past year was modernizing our foundational planning tools to achieve full RRC certification status. We are proud to report the successful completion of two major pillars of municipal governance. The first one is the Inkster Master Plan update. We have fully adopted and implemented the comprehensive updates to the Inkster Master Plan. This updated framework reflects current economic conditions, community driven goals, and modern land use strategies. It serves as our official roadmap for the future development, infrastructure investments, and neighborhood stabilization efforts over the next five years. The second one is comprehensive zoning ordinance revision. To implement the vision of the new master plan, the city completed a major overhaul of the zoning ordinance. The revised ordinance streamlines the development review process, eliminates archaic regulations, and introduces modern zoning techniques that encourage adaptive reuse, commercial corridor revitalization, and diverse housing options. If there is nothing further, which there isn't, this is all discussion and basically an update from the Planning Commission to the City Council, which is required at a joint public meeting. There is no action needed to be taken at this time. The fee schedule. Oh, the fee schedule. I'm sorry. Got to recommend. So the Planning Commission has to vote to recommend this. Or not. or not it's just a recommendation approve or deny to the city council and then the city council will have the final say so in approving this planning commission is there a motion to approve or deny the 2025 to 26 fee schedule it's been properly moved by commissioner tanya williams and seconded by commissioner cheryl hayes bradford is there discussion And you move what? I'm sorry. To approve or move to deny? Move to approve. Move to approve the recommendation of the city council. And Commissioner Cheryl Hayes Bradford, is that what you were supporting? Yes, sir. Thank you. Is there further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion passes. And it's under new business now for city council. So that's going to be at our next meeting for the . OK. Cool. All righty. Moving down to public participation. If you have not done so already, please grab a public participation card from this table as you have entered the chambers. You have vote for those who have filled out one. You have three minutes. And your time will start at, excuse me, at the podium. You doing the time? All righty, great.

As soon as you pronounce their name, would you hand it down to me so I can flip it over and write on the back?

Absolutely. Our first person is Opal Gray. We will honor that request. The second person is director Lisa B. Can I go last? Right. Somebody go in the kitchen to cook dinner.

I don't nominate myself for that. Good evening, Mayor, Council, residents here, and viewing audience. We are in the first day of June, and we want to start off by inviting you guys to join us for our In the Cycle Stop the Gun Violence Peace Walk. That will happen on June 27th at 10 a.m. We are still working out the logistics on the location. The final destination will be at the rec center, but we're just letting you guys know, put it on your calendars for June 27th at 10 a.m. to join us for a peace walk. If there are any individuals, vendors who would like to have a resource table, any information you would like to share to help stop gun violence, stop to get our youth involved, anything positive for the community and for our youth, I encourage you to send me an email at lburneycityofinkstermi.gov and let me know how you would like to participate in this event. Another save the date is the Summerfest that will be July 17th, 18th, and 19th. So make sure you mark your calendars and save the date to come out and enjoy, you know, hip-hop, jazz, R&B, blues, gospel, and just a lot of fun. And if there are any vendors that are interested in being a part of that as well, you can contact Carolyn Wilson at 313-456-8300. seven last but not least I encourage families if you have not registered your kids for this summer camp that begins July 6 through August 14th please make sure you do spots are filling up fast you will not be able to register your kid once a summer camp starts, so please make sure you go online and register. I have the link with flyers here. You can follow on either the city's social pages or the police department's pages for the link to register your kid. And lastly, I'd just like to thank everybody for coming out on Monday for the Memorial Day Parade. It was a huge, huge success. Thank you. The parade grows every year. This year, I think, was much bigger than last year, but everyone did a phenomenal job. And so just wanted to make sure and invite you guys back next year, whoever participated, and the more the merrier. Thank you.

Thank you. Council, we do have a trustee member from Wayne-Westland Community Schools here, and I'm going to recognize her at this time, Trustee Abney Mitchell. Let's talk about residents and students from Wayne-Westland Community School District.

Good evening, everyone.

Good evening.

It is so what a great pleasure it is to be back here in the city of Inkster doing Inkster business. It's rough out there. I just want y'all to know that we just graduated. Excuse me. On Saturday, we graduated three high schools, three of our high schools, more than 750 students. We would each have, they all graduate, we was there from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at EMU. So it was a great day. It was a great day to celebrate. We're still celebrating. In May, we missed our little celebration for the students because we was busy. So what I'm asking Mayor and Council now, would they put a letter of recognition, a letter recognizing our 2026 students, at the rec center, here at city council, and acknowledged them at the Summerfest. Just announced the students that graduated class of 2026.

You want to do it at Summerfest?

Yeah.

What do y'all think? Adorba.

It's an announcement. We'd have to just open up for all Inkster graduates.

We'd have to do everybody.

The Inkster graduates.

Are we going to add kids from AIA?

AIA is an Easter, yes. We add them every year. You guys don't participate. I've been off to the last.

Oh, it ain't that kind of. I'm sorry.

But, yes, we're just going to recognize them because I was going to say I wanted to be on the committee and, you know, recognize them in an hour window and give them hot dogs and everything. But I realized that during the Summerfest I will be out of town. So, but yes, just make an announcement recognizing them. If they come up, you know, buy them a bag of chips or something like that. Or, you know, just have a box of chips and some cookies there or something. Just give them something. Just recognize them. They work hard. It's really hard leaving your community going to a neighboring community for education.

Can you do us a favor? You have a chance to submit those names of the Inkster graduates to the clerk's office.

As of right now, with school over with, I don't have those names available. And then I will only have the names available for the Wayne Westlands kids, the kids from the neighboring schools. Now that the graduation is over with, I wouldn't be able to get them. When I tried to get them in May, it's like it's rough getting them done, so now I know I can't get them.

Okay.

But we'll figure something out. We'll figure something out. And just the other thing, I would like to thank you guys for y'all continuing support and just recognize our students. I know Wayne-Westland has more than almost 1,300 school kids from the city of Inkster. So Inkster kids bring $13 million to the Wayne-Westland School District every year. So that's just our school district, and that's not Taylor, Romulus, and Westwood. So thank you for all y'all doing.

Trustee, I need to mention before you leave, when we all were, those of us who were able to attend, one of the things that you said from the dais was asking, and multiple trustee members have asked, just like any staff from any of the schools have asked for the support from the community to come out to those meetings or events that you have. from you, yourself, would you be able to put that plea out so that people here are coming directly from you and not just from us?

Absolutely, absolutely. And most of the people that came out to the meeting, they was older people who kids already graduate. So if you got students in Wayne, West, and Taylor, I advise you to go and see what's happening in the school. I advise you to go to PTA meetings, to gyms. right there where our kids, our student athletes, they play sports. The gym in the fields is full when it's the elementary level. When you get to the high school level, it's nobody there to support those children. And we need to be out there supporting our children, everybody else's children. So if you got five minutes, come up to the school and see what kind of safety plan they got. I went up there with Chief, and I learned a lot of things about the safety plan. It's a safety plan for each school, and then if an emergency happened, you wouldn't have to worry about where your child went, because they'll let you know if in an emergency your child will be displaced. So come up there and be involved. Be involved with the meetings. I know we are busy. What's more important than our children? What's more important than the school that they go to? At least knowing a little bit of information about it. I'm not even asking you to get the teacher's name no more. I'm asking you to know something that's going on with that building. You have kids bringing eatables to school, weapons. You wouldn't even imagine what goes on in these schools. I couldn't believe it myself until I was in there. So get involved. Go to the bus stop. See the kids. We just had an incident. It wasn't in our school, but thank God the teacher was smart enough to know that the preschool backpack wasn't supposed to be that heavy, and she found a weapon in it. So just as simple as that, tying up their shoes. You might smell something or a gummy or anything might drop. Just get involved with the kids. They need us.

Thank you. Ms. Maureen M.

Thank you, you can take me back too. Hi, I'm Maureen Monahan, high city council, mayor, residents. Got another water issue at the corner of my street, Amherst and John Daly. It has also been brought up to the DPW people and someone just filled it with asphalt. It hasn't rained in like two weeks, there's a big puddle. There's a problem, but it hasn't, It's been over a year. It's been two years. This water's just sitting there. And when you look over there, nothing's getting done. I just wanted you to know that.

We're standing in front of your house. Which way?

It's right at the corner of Amherst and John Daly.

John Daly, okay.

I also mentioned to our... Assistant over here. There's also a it seems like it's a maybe a fire hydrant leak at Monticello and John Daly He said he would look at it. I don't know what that is. There's also a leak at Sunningdale and John Daly That's just viewing out of the curb. I don't know what that is either, but we paying so much for water What's it going down the drain for? You know, so I just wanted people to know okay, thank you.

Thank you I Dr. Phyllis Long.

Good evening to our mayor and our mayor pro tem and to the city council and to all of our Inkster residents. I'm here to announce journey with lupus having a lupus support group meeting June 6th at the Leanna Hicks library located at two five zero zero Hamlin from 12 to 3 and for this meeting we will be having our speaker Katrina Harris is an urban homesteader And she has been a vegan for many years, but she's a vegan that's living with an autoimmune disease. So she will be discussing. container gardening, vertical gardening, and square foot gardening, and different things pertaining to gardening, different things pertaining to a vegan that's living with an autoimmune disease. And if you would like to see the type of things that she does, you can see her on Instagram at Katrina.the.earthyvegan. And that is this Saturday. June 6, from 12 to 3. I am also the director of the Samuel B. Ware Community Center, located at 29124 Eaton Street in Westland, Michigan. And we will be having our summer camp, which is a free summer camp. The ages are from 5 to 13, and the camp starts on June 22nd, and it goes through July 31st, 8.30 a.m. to 2.30 a.m., Monday through Friday. We'll be having field trips, arts and crafts, indoor and outdoor activities. It's a fenced-in play area. We have special events, special guests. It's a safe environment, and we'll be having breakfast and lunch and also snacks. So the registration form, which we have a few there because the space is limited, it has to be in prior to June 19. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Sandrew King. I'm sorry.

I was trying to give my neighbor an opportunity first.

Good evening, city, city council, guest. So I come here about a couple of things. Once again, I come about the property that is behind my house that is at, I have the address here, 26118 Plum. I'm still having issues with the amount of time that is cut. And now that there's been some limbs that fell on this lot, the workers are cutting around the tree stump. I have a six-foot patch of bush that's growing along my fence, which is growing into my yard. I've sent the pictures to Councilwoman Kim Howard. It is becoming not only an eyesore, but a nuisance. This is a property I would like to buy, but I'm not buying it in its current condition. If I have to go out there and start maintaining it, I'm going to charge the city. Because to come out and see people literally take the riding mower and drive around a branch that's fell off a tree is ridiculous. To have people starting to throw trash on this property and it's adjacent, behind my house, is ridiculous. Now, this county owns the lot next to it, and it's cut regularly, and it's maintained. So to have one lot maintained and the other one unmaintained is an eyesore. And this is like the fifth or sixth time I've spoken about it. I know the city is busy. But if they're going to half cut it, don't cut it at all. Because it's ridiculous to see a track. I watched a man drive around a branch, pull up to leave a whole mess of overgrowth behind my fence, and then pull off. So if that's the type of work we're doing on our city property, You know, that's a problem because it affects those who live in that neighborhood. My second thing is about ordinances, the ordinance commission, or how we're doing things. Once again, we have this lot that's in the middle of my lot, my neighborhood, that was supposed to be for, I don't know, there was supposed to be a grow house behind it, and this was supposed to be whatever they were supposed to do with that lot. It is still undeveloped. We have like 12 to 10 deer that come and eat in the morning. It's become a foraging area. I have a problem with that because it's in the middle of a residential neighborhood. We just had those two homes on that block, including my four homes on that block just purchased by my family, my neighbor, and two new families in the neighborhood. So we are now living in that area where we're homeowners and we have to look at this big empty field consistently. It's been six years for me, four years complaining about it. I'm a homeowner now. Y'all are going to have real problems out of me in a minute. Because I was a renter before, now I'm an owner. I have a stake in this city. And I hope that the stake that I have is shared by the people who work here. Let's do something. If they're not going to develop it, find a way to get it from them. It needs to be rezoned and turned back to residential so people, now that we have a plan, so new houses will come in that neighborhood and we can have families instead of...

Oh, okay, good, because I wasn't going to stop.

Anyway, I just hope that we have a plan to redevelop that land and get that property back because it's an eyesore to the people who live in that house and that area. Last thing, I appreciate the hard work that was done with the Inkster Parade. It was amazing. I'm glad we were invited to participate. I hope that we can come together and do more community events like that for not just the city, but also for our young people. We need to put on for our young people the way we did for the parade. I appreciate this time.

Thank you. Mr. Tim from Dunning Street.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, and residents of Inkster. The reason I'm here is because of a public safety concern that I have. And I used to be a former union officer with AFSCME. And one of the things that I learned is when members would call about issues and concerns that they had was call them back. There's been two pit bulls terrorizing the neighborhood for the last several weeks. They done killed two cats in our backyard. They done killed a lady's rabbit. On May the 22nd, they were across the street in this field that a gentleman just spoke about, Mr. King. roaming through the field looking for whatever they can grab, and the mailman was scared to go down the street to his van. He said, man, can you take me to my van? I said, sure. So I took him to his van, and the dog's just romping in the area. So I went around the block days before that, letting people know, and on my block as well, me and Mr. King talked about it as well, about these two dogs that are roaming and killing everything that they run across. So I saw this lady on Plum Street between Bayhine and John Daly, she was sitting on the sidewalk in a wheelchair. I didn't know if she was physically or mentally challenged or not, but I asked her, I said, excuse me, can you talk? And she said, yes, I can talk. I said, well, listen, you don't need to be sitting out here on this curb. And she was waiting on a pace vehicle to come pick her up. because there's two dogs around the corner, they're roaming, and we need to get you back in the house. So at that time, the Pace vehicle pulled up, and I shared that information with the gentleman, and he addressed it with the residents of that home. Fast forward to... Memorial Day. I got my grandkids coming over, daughter coming over and you know on the street there's no fences around none of the homes and you know the field Mr. King talked about it'd be all kind of wildlife over there coyotes everything I've seen ducks go over there but Memorials Day Two pit bulls were in the back. I was going through to the kitchen and I looked out the window and one of the dogs had a cat in his mouth. They done killed two cats. You know, my old lady had, under her vehicle of a hood, one of the cats was dead up under there trying to get away from one of the pit bulls. I didn't even know it was under there. But I saw some blood dripping and I thought it was transmission fluid and I asked her had she been anywhere and she said that she hadn't. I said, well, raise your hood. And there goes a cat with puncture wounds up under there. So anyway, I came around here the day after Memorial Day. I filed a complaint. Can I continue? I filed a complaint and I was reluctant because I said, ain't nobody going to call me back. And the lady said, no, we're going to forward it up to people that somebody's going to get in touch with you. I haven't heard from anyone. I haven't seen the dogs lately. But my major concern is if they're killing these animals in the neighborhood, they're two big, healthy pit bulls. And they're getting out of someone's yard, allegedly, on Princeton Street. I'm not for sure. But these dogs need to be captured. The owner needs to be held accountable for these animals because they're roaming through the neighborhood, and it's a matter of time before they grab one of these little kids. Several adult foster care homes on our street, or they grab one of the adult foster students that is autistic, one of those in the backyard or something. Somebody's going to get hurt real bad, and it's going to be a liability on the city of Inkster. These dogs just running around, running around, running around. So there's a shed in the house next to me, and the cat that died was a female cat. So I dug a hole and buried the cat, put some dirt over it. I didn't want to put it in the garbage because I didn't want the cats stinking and everything. So I looked out the kitchen window, and I saw two little baby cats coming out the side of the shed. They had been in there for a day or two, and the mother is deceased. You know, so I looked. I said, wow, that's two little baby cats coming out the shed from the hole that she would crawl up under. So I picked those up and put them in a box, and I took them around the corner to the Inkster Police Department. They said they couldn't take them, but thank God there was a couple of young gentlemen that was in the lobby that said that they would take them because the gentleman said he always wanted a cat. I said, well, God brought me around here, and now you got two. So I just wanted to share that with you guys about these dogs roaming the area. If these dogs aren't captured or put to sleep or something, something's going to happen to somebody because they're romping. Like I said, the mailman was scared to death. He said, man, can you take me to my car? So I just wanted to bring that to your attention. And all I wanted was a phone call. That's a phone call. Let me know if it's being investigated, had a dog's been captured, anything, you know.

Mr. Tim, I believe Chief Jenkins is going to address that.

I was just going to say, if you can give me your name and phone number before you leave, I'll make sure we follow up with you tomorrow, okay? Okay. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Thank you, sir. Thank you.

James Screw Everhart.

All right, good evening, council and residents. I just wanted to come up to talk about June 10th and 11th and really give a thank you to Councilmember Scott and the administration as well for supporting CVI Day, Advocacy Day. Just to give the residents an update, for those of you that has been interested in participating in things that's going around the state to advocate for gun violence initiatives, we are doing Advocacy Day in collaboration with the state of Michigan, but an organization, Force Detroit, from the city of Detroit, that leads kind of the advocacy space and the gun violence space in the city, does an Advocacy Day every year in Lansing. We will be busing roughly about 200 people up to Lansing on June the 9th to June 10th to do advocacy day to speak to our state reps and our senators around the House Bill 4605 and 4606. to initiate more funding around community violence intervention so we had a great influx of Inkster residents that did sign up so I just wanted to congratulate our residents for participating in this and trying to drive some initiatives and some resources back to our city as well in the city of Inkster We do still have space for people to participate, but unfortunately the bus and the hotels are filled. But if you would like to participate, you can drive up to Lansing June 11th, and we will partake between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. We will be meeting at 124 North Capitol Ave. in Lansing, Michigan, and we'll be in the Mackinac Room. I also wanted to share with you all in regards to these House bills that this initiative is not new. This initiative, I used to work at Force Detroit. I led the advocacy work for the CBI initiative. We started this back in 2023. And in that time, it has grown. It has been accepted through the state commit, through the state reps, through one of the committees. And so we're just supporting for it to be expanded through the state of Michigan. So it's not just the city of Inkster and the city of Detroit. We have people coming from Flint, Muskegon, other black communities across the state, and we have some communities and rural communities that will be participating as well in Advocacy Day. So I just wanted to come and thank the residents. If you are interested in it, participating in it, just get with me. If you want to write your state rep, our state rep or our senator, write them a letter. If you can't go in person to support, please write a letter of your support so they weigh in on their vote and support as well. So thank you.

Thank you.

Michael Green.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. I just wanted to, I should have came up with Lisa Burney there because I wanted to thank Mayor and Council and the residents of Inkster for the opportunity to have your loved ones, veterans that have passed away, participate in the Memorial Day Parade. We had a couple little glitches that we tried to work out, Lisa and I. Anyone that did not see their loved one's sign, please get with me or with Lisa. I'm throwing you out there. Or Lisa. There were some people that had submitted information, their names, but not enough information to make a sign. We had some people submitted pictures, but no military information. They had where they retired from, but it had nothing to do with the military. And we were so busy trying to get together that Mary and I had a had a moment that I was so busy, I didn't even get my own brother out there. And Mayor's dad, we didn't get him out there. And we were trying to get everything else done. So if you still have, we still have the names. Let's get the information now, if they have it. And we'll get everything set up, because we still had a template. We'd get everything ready for next year. One of the things about the signs, anyone that's been out front of City Hall, All the signs out in the front of City Hall are connected to Inkster in some way, relatives. So next year, what I want to do, we have eight out there now, and I'm giving this to police chief because I used her name to force it. But anyway, because you had promised Ms. Oden. So I want to get this to you to get to her.

Is that former council member Oden? Yes.

So one of the things... It's all about accountability. And when we do these signs, I keep track of every one of them. As you know, we talked about Canton Cup in soccer, the soccer tournament, Memorial Day weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We had about 480 teams competing from all over the country, including Canada. And these signs are placed throughout the field. So if a family member came up and said, hey, where's my loved one? I had a list, and I didn't tell you exactly where that sign is. We are very protective of them because we have to. One of the things I want to share is that, and I hope when I pass on, somebody has the same passion I have to do this. This is the opening or preamble of the American Legion. I'm not going to go through all of it. But one of the things I want people to understand, at every meeting of the American Legion, they start off. Can I continue? Please continue. Okay. It started out, for God and country, we associated ourselves together for the following purposes. And one of those purposes is to preserve the memory and incidents of our association in all wars. It is up to us, the living veterans, to keep our past veterans' memories alive. And we can't do that without the families. If we could get the information, then we can honor them the way we did this past Memorial Day. And I want to thank the police chief with her assistance. Her team helped collect the signs that we had them all down Michigan Avenue. But the ones that had ties directly to Inkster was here at City Hall for the mayor's presentation. And I'll give you my number. Don't call me late. My number is 734-678-4949. If your name or you didn't see your loved one, give me a call. Let's get that information so we can get the signs made. And you can take the signs with you. You can have them for Veterans Day or whatever, whenever you want them. It's at no cost to you. The Cannon Cup takes care of all of this. But we need military information. So, again, thank you, Mr. Mayor, Council, and Police Chief.

Barbara Cooper I'm not this tall

good evening mayor and council residents of the city of Inkster and I'm one of those who did not get her work in in time enough but it will be next year for my husband as well as my sister-in-law and uncle and everybody else the list just grew I said oh my god okay my one concern Is the rock that's out there with the names on it? If somebody, please, please, make it Paul D. Jones. It says Paul S. Jones. It's Paul Davis Jones.

That's on the Veterans Memorial in front of City Hall.

Yes, he was a Marine. Yes, and he and He passed. He was killed over there. He's one of the first ones from Inkster, I think, during that first Vietnam going over there, and he was the first one to be killed. And, yeah, that's the class, I think, of 66, something like that. He graduated from Inkster High School. But I would just love for that to be done so when my cousin does come back to Texas, he can see that his uncle's name is there. and because my cousin is the only one left in his family and we just want to keep that I just want to let everyone know I'm one of the commissioners for Nankin Transit and Inkster come on start using Nankin Transit transportation Each city pays so much into this. And I think it's Westland, Inkster use it the most, I think. But they were saying, we don't have too, too many from Inkster. I said, okay, I'll start announcing that. But they take care of you going to the doctor and coming to pick you up and all of that. And that's Nankin Transit. And... Would you happen...

Nankin. Nankin.

N-A-N-K-I-N. Nankin.

Yep.

N-A-N-K-I-N. You've seen it.

You just didn't realize that's what it was. It has multi-passenger buses with orange, white, and black on it. That's Nankin Transit. If you look closely, you'll see a Nankin Transit seal on there.

Yes. And they have a nice budget. Very nice. And they just passed it. And I was like, oh, Inkster got to do what they need to do. And that's what I wanted to say. And Mayor, you don't have to get somebody else along with me to have two. And they said it needs to be somebody that was voted in the office.

Kim Howard, I think you up.

We meet every third Thursday. Where they get this time from, I don't know, 5.45.

That's to get y'all there on time for six.

No. And if everything goes right, by 6.20 you getting in your car. They go right through it and they do everything that they need to do and just learning a lot.

Outside of being an Inkster resident, are there any eligibility requirements for persons who seek to utilize that transportation?

Not that I know of, but I will check to see if there are any. I know it can't be over a 20, 25 mile radius or something like that. It's like that. They do have fees, but most of them aren't over $3. That's why we need to take advantage of it. Because they're brunting the cost of it. And they have brand new buses. They got rid of all the diesel buses that they had. They have all brand new buses. I think it's about 10 or 12 of them. And all of them have been equipped with radios and everything in it. So they have everything that they need to stay safe and keep everybody else safe. Nankin Transit has the funds to get you where you need to go if you're in the city of Inkster.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Mr. Ron on Arcola Street.

Good evening. um seeing mr nolan a couple years ago about that lot next door to me and trying to get a meeting with you talk to you could you speak into the mic for me please right into the microphone there you go flip it up there you go okay better i speak loud because you're recording okay um so i wanted to talk to you about what's going on with that lot with the uh the his title and research that I did on it and nobody's have been doing an investigation well since then what's going on with it now he doesn't even want this property I've made him an offer and he refuses but he's not even take care of it so I've been fighting with this guy for six years I want to talk to you what is going on with it now so he's not taking care of it doesn't want the thing And the whole neighborhood looks like shit just because of him. And he's still harassing me. I'm still going to court over this piece of property. I don't know if anybody could live with it like this. It should not even be happening. I'd like to talk to the chief, get some investigation going on with Yusuf. I don't know if you're affiliated with him. Or the city, what's going on? But he's been harassing me, making false police reports. I'm sick of it. I'm tired of it. I can't even live in that house. Can't even sell a house because what's going on over there? I've never seen nothing like this in my life. I bought and sold a bunch of houses. When you look at his title, it doesn't even look right. And there's federal charges on that piece of property. back in the day, and he still owns it.

Why is this? This is a vacant lot, or there's a house on the lot? It's a vacant lot. And that's the address you wrote down there in the name? Mine is mine. It's right next door. Right next door. If you're facing your house, is it to the left or the right?

Facing the house, it's going to be to the left. You got the other neighbor here. She wants to know what's going on. There's lots on Arcola. I don't know how far Arcola is, or if it's just between Chiller Hill and Somerset. You've got all those lots. You've got tires around there. Nobody's taking care of this stuff. I've cleaned up a lot of it. Since I've had that property, I just want out because nobody's doing nothing about it. I'm just kind of tired of it. I don't know what I can do with this house now. But, like I said, I bought a few houses in Inkster. I bought and sold them. And this particular neighbor is a nightmare. And why am I still going to court over this? He puts a camera up and watches my house on a vacant lot. He takes a camera and points it directly at my house to see who's coming and going out of my house.

Okay, hold on one moment for me, sir. I believe Chief Jenkins wanted to address you.

If you give me your information, we can look into it and give you a call tomorrow. Nobody's called me. I've made complaints. I've made police reports. Okay. If you give me your information, we'll make sure someone follows up with you tomorrow.

I'd appreciate it.

So this is your information here on the card that you submitted?

Yes, but no phone number? Yes. Okay. So I've moved in and out of that house three times.

Okay.

So I bought the house, fixed it up, put a bunch of money into the house, fixed up the neighbors, and then he gives me a problem, so I move out. And everything's cool, and I'll move back out. Then he gives me a problem again. All right.

Can you do me a favor, sir? Because your phone number's not on here. The city clerk would like, or, okay. He's going to give it to the chief. All right.

I appreciate it.

All right. Thank you, sir. LaWanda Thomas. You can bring the mic down.

Hello, city of Inkster. My name is LaWanda Thomas. Although I am not an Inkster resident, my family is. Probably maybe 80% of them live here and have been here for decades. Today marks 99 days that my brother was killed in this city on Middlebelt. To this day, the only communication has been if I, myself, or his wife initiated. I sent emails, no response. But I will say thank you to the chief because she's constantly in contact with me. She will respond. So I do appreciate that. We actually were going to meet today. This is the first time she's seen my face. This is the first time anybody has seen my face, but I am constantly emailing. I have emailed... The mayor has emailed MSP. I have been in contact with Ms. Jenkins, and I've also been in contact with many of the state representatives, and still it's been 99 days. My brother was not killed at nighttime. He was killed at 7-something p.m. on a major street on Middlebelt. How could that be? How can people feel so comfortable on a major street that they can commit that kind of crime? That is my biggest problem. Although, again, I do not live here. Anytime there's something going on, whether it's my brothers, cousins, or whatever, if it's coats for kids, whatever is going on, I am constantly contributing. I have done it forever because I still feel like it helps my family as well. Never have I ever thought on these streets of Inkster, where my family have lived again for decades, that my brother will be killed on these streets. We've always felt safe here, but recently it's been a huge change. I sent an email asking, what is being done to deter? What is being done? Although we cannot stop, we cannot stop it, there are certain things that can be done to deter it. We do know that there are certain things, okay, for kids up until 13. The kids up to 13 are not the ones committing the crimes. It's still young people. But they're the 15, 16, 17, 18, 19-year-olds. What are we doing to deter that? What are we doing for that? I only ask that it would have been nice if a response was sent to us, that it was a little more empathy opposed to us having to reach out, that someone would have reached out to us. I made the first contact. Nobody contacted me. This is the first time anyone is seeing my face, but I know you've seen my name. So that's the only thing that we have asked. That's the only thing his wife has asked for is that there's constant communication to tell us where we are with things and not just where we are. What is being done for future? Because although I have lost my brother, that I cannot change that. I still have family that's on these streets that still live here. I still have another brother that's here that does business in this city. They're still those same people that's still out there. What is being done? I just want to have some contact. I don't want to be the initiator. I want someone to come to myself because at the end of the day, that's my brother, and I'm going to fight for my brother. Until, like I said, it's been 99 days. I count those days. We count those days. And I know that people don't understand it could hit their family. And I'm sure many of us have had it hit our families, but it's hit mine. So you will know my name. My name is LaWanda Thomas. Was formerly LaWanda Lockhart, but it's LaWanda Thomas. So I'm sure you know my family's name.

I was just about to ask you. I know exactly what you're talking about.

So I do ask that there is continued communication, letting us know, not just for that, but for our own safety. Because, again, I do still have another brother that's here. I still do have cousins and family that is here. Although I do not live here again. I still contribute to this city when I'm called upon and will always do so because it still supports my family. I do again thank you, Chief, for constantly being in contact with me, but it would have been nice that I didn't have to do the initial communication that someone would have communicated with us first. because at the end of the day, it's our family. We love him, and we're going to continue to ride for him and continue to be there for him, and not just for him, but the rest of my family that still lives in Inkster, and again, has been here for decades. My grandparents, my mother, my father, both sides of my family, Inkster, my mother's family and my father's family have been here just about their whole lives. So... I just wanted to know what is being done. Is there cameras? What's being done? There's no way someone gets to feel that comfortable to be able to do that type of crime. Again, not at 10 o'clock, not 11 o'clock, 7 something p.m. On a major street, not on any of those side streets, on a major street. That's some comfortability for you. Thank you for your time. Have a good night.

Good evening, Mayor and Council and to the resident. I'm just going to take a second because you've been sitting here a long time. I just wanted to remind everyone that the Inkster Farmer's Market will be opening on Wednesday, this coming Wednesday, and it starts at 4 p.m. And it's going to go to 7 p.m. And we would like for all of you to come out and buy fresh fruits and vegetables. And it's going to be at the Dozier's Complex right here on Middlebelt. So you come and park your car, and there's going to be entertainment, and other things are going to be available for the residents.

They're going to have some students coming up and doing things, young people.

Because we want to involve our young people, so they're going to be included. So we want you to come out and help us with this. The task force. is the sponsor of this farmer's market. We had it last year, but it was on Inkster Road, and there was nowhere, you know, it wasn't convenient parking. So this time you have plenty of space to park. So we want you to come out and buy some things and help out if you can, because there's going to be plenty of activities that you can get involved in. And we'll look forward to seeing you on Wednesday. And if you don't have a flyer, I have these here.

thank you that concludes the public participation That concludes the public participation portion of this meeting. We are down to Madam Clerk. Do you have any communications at this time?

Just one. We're gearing up for early voting, and the primary is in August. I am looking for election inspector workers. If you would like to be an election inspector, please stop by the clerk's office, complete an application, and I will provide training.

Thank you. Mr. Treasurer, anything at this time?

Just a reminder that we are having our second budget study session for council on Wednesday at 6 p.m. It's a public meeting. Encourage anyone to come on out this week.

Thank you. We are down to communications for mayor, city council, and planning commission. Planning commission. Do you have any communications at this time? AC Williams.

So we are calling all community groups, whether you're a local business or nonprofit organization or an individual with a passion for making a difference, to please go to the Inkster website and sign up for a central registry we're trying to create where we can have in one place all the different services that Inkster has to offer. So if you're, you know, financial services, youth groups, whatever, I know there's a variety of groups that we have doing a lot of good things in the community, and it would be nice to have one central place where someone can go and figure out where everyone is. I also have flyers, QR code. You can scan it. It takes you to the registry, and it's really quick. It takes less than 30 seconds. You just put your group, your website, who the main contact is, click all the different services you offer, and then that's it.

So that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else from the Planning Commission? Seeing none, all right, I have two items from the Planning Commission of Council and Commissioners. You have a master plan implementation progress report before you that is yours to review. That is just a communication from the Planning Department over to the City Council. And then also the New Resilience Hub Network Funding Opportunity. The Wayne County Sustainability and Innovation Division requests proposals from nonprofit organizations to be part of a network of resilience hubs actively supporting vulnerable communities across the county. Awardees will receive up to $25,000 in grants to participate in facilitated community resilience trainings and develop a community emergency response plan. This is for eCourse, Dearborn Heights, Highland Park, Inkster. I'm sorry, they will be hosted in eCourse, Dearborn Heights, Highland Park, and Inkster. The one for Inkster will be Tuesday, June 9th, 2026 at 5.30 p.m. And I misspoke just now. The one that will be hosted in Inkster will be Tuesday, June 9th, 2026 at 5.30 p.m. here at the Inkster City Hall 26215 Trow Bridge. A Community Emergency Response Plan is a structured framework that helps communities prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies by coordinating resources, roles and communication among residents, organizations and local authorities. Purpose and importance. A community emergency response plan, CERP, C-E-R-P, provides a methodical approach to engage the whole community in preparing for potential crises. Identifying required capabilities and establishing clear roles and responsibilities before, during, and after disasters. FEMA states that it ensures that communities can respond efficiently, protect vulnerable populations, and maintain essential services during emergencies. So I encourage you all, if you have an opportunity to come out. I know we watch a lot of stuff happen on TV, and we never really think it can happen to us until it happens, and then panic is amongst us. So it's better to be prepared and proactive than trying to figure it out on the back end. That is it from the Planning Commission. City Council. Councilwoman Richardson.

Just one announcement. Vangelis Cooper forgot to announce No Child Without a Christmas. We are having the Inkster Goodfellows, No Child Without a Christmas, Paint with a Twist fundraiser. This is Saturday, August the 22nd from 5 to 9. The cost is $40. I did leave flyers over on the desk. And it's also they have vendors. If you would like to be a vendor at this event, that flyer is there too. And that's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilwoman Howard?

Nothing at this time.

Councilman Bishop? Nothing at this time. And I am going to yield the floor to Mayor Nolan.

Okay.

I was asked to read. Octavia Smith sent me a text. Inkster Chamber of Commerce is putting on an event to support Inkster's finest hometown heroes. They're honoring one, two, three, four, five, six, about 13 people. The event is going to be on June 13th, 2026 at the Booker T. Dozier from 2 to 5 p.m. Tickets are $40. I can't read that small print. $40 in advance, I believe. $50 at the door. I honored a number of people from the city of Inkster, so they wanted me to announce that. If you want to get tickets, just reach out to somebody from the chamber, and you can purchase your tickets in advance. Only other thing I have is, I don't know if you noticed, my executive assistant, Jennifer Red, retired for a second time. So she left us so she can go travel the world. Seriously. So I hired a new assistant. I want to introduce you. She's not really new, but she's new. Priscilla Monroe Crawford is my new executive assistant. Can you please stand? So whenever you want to call and yell at me, just call her. That's all I have. Thank you.

We forgot to say, if anybody had a sign that was done and you would like to take it with you, you can collect it at the end of council. I did send an email out to everyone, so if there are a viewer that's watching on tomorrow, just contact me if you would like to pick up your sign. But if you are here today and would like your sign, you can get that. Thank you.

And I want to, again, thank the mayor. It was his idea to have Memorial Week. So thank you for having that display. Thank you. Thank you.

And with no further matters before this body, the floor is open for a motion to adjourn.

So moved.

Who supported? Oh, I supported. Okay. It's been properly moved by Councilman Richardson and supported by Councilman Bishop. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? This meeting stands adjourned at 8.37 p.m. Motion passed.