City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everybody. Today is Tuesday, January 27th, 2026. It is 6:31 and at this time I call our city council meeting to order. We will start with the pledge of allegiance. An invocation will be given by second ward council member and vice mayor Mr. Freddy Danty. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Um yeah let's pray. Oh God where hearts are fearful and constricted grant courage and hope. Where anxiety is infectuous, widening grant peace add resurrection res reassurance. Where impossibility close every door and windows grant imagination and and resistance where distrust distrust twist our thinking. Grant healing and illumination. Where spirits are daunted and weakened, grant soaring wings and strengthen dreams. All these things we ask in the name of Jesus Christ our savior and lord. Amen. Amen.

Madame clerk, if you will proceed with a roll call, please. Mayor Mahoney, present. Council member Robinson, present. Vice Mayor Dansancy, present. Council member Gun, present. Council member Wood, present. Council member Hunts, present. Council member Forgrave, present. Present and accounted for today. Uh, brings us down to the adoption of the agenda. So moved.

It's been moved and supported. Any discussion? Seeing hearing none, the clerk will tally and display the vote. Oh, we'll do a roll call vote. Council member Robinson, yes. Council member Dancy, yes. Council member Gun, yes. Council member Wood, yes. Council member Hunt, yes. Council member Forgrave, yes. Mayor Mahoney, yes.

Okay, agenda passes. That brings us down to item number five, presentations and proclamations. And we have a presentation tonight from Jackson College. Good evening. Thank you so much for your time on your agenda today. My name is Ashley Van Heast. I am the chief strategy and transformation officer at Jackson College. This is Keith Book. He is our chief of staff. We have some updates from the college that we wanted to make sure that we got out to everybody. We're excited. Thank you again for the opportunity to chat with you tonight. Sir, if you could go to the next slide. We've got a short little video to intro.

The nursing program was a challenge, but JC helped make my dream of becoming a nurse reality. JC was my launching pad. It was flexible enough so I can balance working fulltime and taking classes. This has been a great learning experience for me, hopefully leading to me to my journeyman's license and to engineering school.

Thank you. You might have seen uh out on billboards and things our newest advertising campaign which is education reimagined. So, we just wanted to showcase some of our different students, the different kinds of programs that we have. We have some some base information. What you're looking at here, these are the top uh graduated from programs at Jackson College. Business is a high point for us. Health sciences is a high point for us. Nursing is always in the uh in the top of our programs. We wanted to share sort of the types of things that our students go into and what they're graduating from. Next slide, please. We are really excited primarily about some of the newest programs that we have coming up. So, we're going to chat about a new building that we have coming as well as a new medical simulation space. Because of that, because of that investment, there is a an advanced area of manufacturing and trades that we're able to dive into. We're bringing back the HVAC program that was a really big thing that we had several years ago. Uh we're just very excited about the new space that we have to get back into this type of training that's very needed. High demand careers in the area as well as continuing to expand in our health professions through the medical simulation center. we were able to uh thank you for providing the information through the addresses of all of the students that we had registered for the fall of 25 who live in the city of Jackson. And so we just wanted to give you a view of what those city students look like or what they looked like for the fall of 25. That was 442 students who reside in the city of Jackson that registered in the fall of 25 and told that just over 4,200 registered credit hours, which is a really huge huge number for us. Uh point that I thought was interesting, nearly half of that population is a student that is 19 or younger. And so what that

means is there's a really high proportion of dual enrollment in the area, specifically 192 students that live in the city of Jackson that are participating in the Jackson County Early College. So we're really proud to be able to have that opportunity for all of the local high schools to participate and get that free college credit. Some of the newest things that we have coming up and you may um go to the next. We just recently opened and we're really grateful for the funding opportunity that we received from the Glick Foundation for a medical simulation center. And if you've not had an opportunity to go out to the college and see this space, we really uh we would just love to have you and sort of host you there. There's a number of different simulations. It basically you walk in and you feel like you've walked into a hospital. every service that you can imagine that exists in a hospital from intake to imaging uh emergency services through our EMT program. All of that now exists in one space that was designed to operate the way that a hospital operates. We've even got new uh there's a new elevator put in that can manage the size of a stretcher. So, we really tried to emulate so that our students could have that realworld experience of what it would be like working in healthcare. Now that exists in uh Justin Whiting Hall through the medical simulation center and again uh thanks to some funding support that we received to be able to bring that together. We have a a short clip next so you can get a sense of what that space looks like in the simulation. All right.

She's a These are just some clips from our ribbon cutting. You can see that our board of trustees was there. uh that space is full sort of uh from birth all the way through uh the end of life where we can have training for students to participate in a number of different areas. The newest space that we have upcoming is called the applied technology center and we are particularly excited about this a 15,000 square foot facility. Um if you're familiar with the layout of campus it's sort of up by where the water tower is. This is the space that will house things like our alignment program, our new HVAC program, all of the things that we'll be able to dive into in terms of energy efficiency, uh, what industry 4.0 really needs to begin looking like. There's been a number of really key employers who have come to the table to help us design that space as well as design the programming that goes into that space. We did want to offer up an invitation. The ribbon cutting for that is on February 16th at 5:00 pm. There will be tours available so you can learn more about the building and the space. Um you are all please very welcome to attend. We would love to have you and host you in that space. Uh again thank you so much for your time. We just wanted to kind of come and give a a quick little overview of some of the newest things that we have. We appreciate the opportunity to be with you tonight. If you have any uh questions or or needs, we're happy to take that. We do have some leavebehinds as well that we can just set on the chair if anyone is interested in taking that on their way.

Council, did you guys have any questions, comments, concerns? Thank you guys for the presentation. We appreciate it. Thank you.

Okay, before we go into this public hearing, uh I am going to ask for Troy to come up and give us an introduction to this project and then we will go into our um public hearing after that. Good evening, council. Thanks for having me here tonight. So, tonight you're going to have a couple items on your agenda to talk about Gansen Street. Um, the first thing we're going to do is a public hearing to talk about the assessments, but I think it's appropriate to do a run through of what we're talking about in terms of the projects, the specifics. So, we're talking about repaving Gansen Street from Elm out to the east city limits. Um, I guess the first question would be why? Well, because it's in bad shape. It's uh it's got potholes. It's cracked up. Um, it's a decent pavement, but the surface has failed. And, uh, anyone's driven through there, it's a fact. It's in bad shape. So, the project we're talking about would mill off the surface of the pavement and re and repave it with new asphalt. Um, another part of the project that we have to do to accommodate all users would be to fix the sidewalks, which is good because they haven't been fixed around here in a long time. So, we'd take out all the tow stubbers, the broken sections, and we'd fix all the sidewalk ram so everybody can use them. But I think in terms of the the thousands of people that use it a day, it's going to make it's going to clean up the pavement and uh make it nice. So, I said, why why are we doing this project? And I said, "Cuz it's in bad shape." But we've got lots of streets in bad shape, right? And we all know this. But what makes this possible is we've gotten a federal grant for about 500,000. And that's really what makes this project possible. The thing is with the federal grant, we have to match it. We have to have some skin in the game and we got to pay a portion of it. And

that's why we're here tonight talk about the assessments. um the assessments doesn't completely cover our portion, but that is the main vehicle that we use to uh pay for street construction. So, we're going to use our $500,000 grant to do towards it. Then, we're going to use assessments and then the gap that doesn't quite where the assessments don't really add up enough to cover the portion, that'll be paid for with street funds, major street funds. Um and that's the funds we get through gas and weight tax. Those are the funds that are used primarily for maintenance, keeping traffic signals going, and then sometimes they do contribute to construction like this. So, um I think that's an overview. I think I've explained to you why we're doing it, what we're doing, and how we're going to pay for it. Um I'd be happy to answer any questions for the project limits.

We're going to do it from Elm out to the east city limits. Does it stop at Horton? straight. No, it'll go uh like the half the city limits go about a half block past that past Horton. Okay. You know where there's the old staming plan on the left once you get past that and before you get to the old uh where the uh the Spartan building had to be torn down. So, you go up another half a block up there. Does that make sense? Okay. Thank

Thank you. Okay. So, that brings us down to uh public hearings. Item A, special assessment row number 3455. At this time, I would be looking for a motion to recess as city council and convene as the board of review. So moved.

It's been moved and supported. Any discussion? Seeing or hearing none, the clerk will tally and display the vote. All right. And now the um would like a motion for us to open a public hearing on confirmation for special assessment role number 3455.

So moved. It's been moved and supported. Any discussion? Seeing or hearing none, public hearing is now open. Um, I don't have any slips specific on public hearing, but I know I see a hand from a uh a lady who I knew was going to speak. When you get done, ma'am, if you could, there's a bright orange slip over there. Could you fill that out and just make sure that gets to uh the dis up here once you get done, please?

My name is Cindy Fidler. I live at 1608 East Scansson Street and I talked to a couple of you before this started, but um this is my first meeting. So when the man was talking about the project, I heard him talking about just milling up the street and repaving. Now, there was some discussion about water works also that when that happens, what's going to be with that? Um, some of the pipes would be replaced because you said you didn't want to do it all at, you know, two times.

Yes. So, there's lead line replacements that'll be happening uh that will coincide with this project. Is there any water mane work, Troy, with this? So, just lead lines. Just lead lines. Okay. But that will be done at the same time, right? In conjunction with Yeah. Okay. Do you mind if I expand? Go for it. It'll actually be done under a separate contract before that will be all done and um we'll get all the lead liners replaced before we even start this paving project. Okay. So, it'll be actually two phases. You'll see one group come in, replace lead lines, and then the next group would come in and repave the street. Okay. And also, when you replace the sidewalk, is that more money or is that all included in our All included. All included. No. No surprise. Okay.

Thank you. No more surprises. Um, and you said there is like help if needed, a possible help. Yes. I don't know if everybody knows that or everybody who is affected by this assessment will be mailed that information so they can have that opportunity to receive the help. All right. I just didn't know if everybody knew that or um it's brand new, so like we're going we're being very deliberate and methodical about uh making sure everybody hears about it. All right. And I'll make sure my neighbors do because I have a lot of older neighbors that do not answer their doors for anybody,

especially in the climate that we have now. It's kind of scary. Our neighborhood's changing, so roads aren't the worst thing in that neighborhood right now. So, um, and this is we can do payments and it's done you pay with the summer taxes, right? Okay. Correctly. All right. And are you getting besides the federal grant, you said there was um some other Yeah, there was um our major street fund. Okay. Which is from the gas tax,

which is the gas tax. The taxes we pay up to the state that sometimes come back to the cities and villages and townships in the state for roads. Emphasis on sometimes. emphasis on sometimes and not as much as we send up. Maybe angry people will have to call and make sure it gets there. If there's a group who wants to go to Lanceling and we'll pay for a charter bus to go to Lancing and make a difference. Okay. So, other than that, that's the only money you get. And this is a normal thing. We're not just special a special group. When you do city the streets, you ask for these for everybody. This payment you are definitely special. But this process of how we do roads is is going just want to make sure we weren't that special. So

you don't want to be circ. Okay. All right. I think that's my main questions. It's just really hard on some people. So I mean if there's any other help, please make sure they know. It's there's a lot of them that can't afford some of this. Me being included, but work it as we we get there. So, thank you.

Mr. Minn, I got you. I'll just call. Yeah, you're good. I'll call you up next.

My name is James Minnick and I'm from Columbia Township. Um but what I have to say is germaine to what's happening with this assessment. Uh almost all of Lake Columbia is getting repaved and has been getting repaved for the last uh couple of years. How it started is uh somebody went out and petitioned uh all of the neighbors and after you get 50 plus one petitions, you're able to go into your to your municipality and see if they want to participate in a uh um a contribution where you you can get your um roads uh repaved. So, speaking from the position of I guess what you'd call a fiscal conservative, um I was against it when I seen the guy driving around and uh chased him away the first couple of times. Went to several public hearings and I'm not going to bore everybody with the details, but it was the best thing that ever happened to Columbia Township and uh my family's house. Um, and after studying Act 51 and how profit revenue sharing um, costs come back uh, to your municipality to even do road funding, special assessments like this are the best way to go and the best way to go for homeowners right now. Um, I guess I'll kind of leave it at that because it all becomes opinion after that. But these self- assessment or I mean these these special assessments like this especially when you have a contribution by a municipality in a grant and the extra funding that the city is willing to do this this long term is going to help uh everybody in that community whether you plan on living in your home uh uh long term you plan on selling your home or you plan on building a home it's it's just going to be a win-win in my in my opinion. So, I was wrong in my perspective in the beginning and uh I guess that's all I have.

Thank you, Katrina Clayon.

I'm new to all of this. So, I apologize for my ignorance ever since um I received this bill in the mail which is regarding this. It's the reason why I'm here. And before I received this, there was some guys from the church. They just bought it across the street. They had a petition they wanted me to sign. I just got out of the hospital for having a stress related heart attack. So, you can imagine how I felt when I then received a bill that says I will be paying $5,321 if this special assessment goes through. So, I um the be did the best I could. you know, I talked to them and then I've talked to others, but last minute I received an entire package of addresses of this chunk of street because I know I've gone I drive down it. It's a very busy street. There are tons of trucks. My house shakes. I bought it a year ago. My husband died and I got bonds. That's about it. And um bought this house and then I found out about the t, you know, the interest. I had a I had a um loan, we'll call it pay payments IRS on some tax I just paid off because I've been paying it a year and just touched the balance because that's what the interest is about. So, it's going to cost more money if we have to make payments and who's got 5,321 extra dollars and that's on top of my regular taxes. So, as you can imagine, I ran around like a maniac since I got all these addresses. I should have brought them and showed them to you because I had them spread out, tried to organize the you know what, and um go to knock on doors. Nobody wants to answer. It's freezing out. Talk to a few people. This is not a very nice neighborhood. It's not. So, I can't imagine everybody being able to afford this. I know I

bought a double lot. I just moved in a year ago. As we'll say, it's very busy street. It runs from Michigan A all the way to the airport. So I've been recommended to c contact the state of Michigan because it's a highway. It comes from the highway. People go all the way through the city. You know, if you don't want to go to Michigan have downtown, you're going to take Gansen Street. So I'm paying for all of this. And I know everybody else that lives there would oppose. I'm speaking for people who I could not reach in in less than 24 hours. That's what I have. And I apologize for anything I did wrong. I tried to get emails. This these were neighbors. We're grandparents. I I can't afford this. So, I don't know what to tell you. If it passes and people have to pay for it, I don't know what questions to ask or what to do about it. Well, I can't afford this. It's tax on t on tax, isn't it? And interest on top of that. That's all I got to say.

Thank you for your time. Thank you, Rosemary Tanner. Rosemary Tanner, I have three questions. When are you planning on this fiasco? When's that going to start, Troy? Uh, it would it would probably start after um probably the middle of summer because we would have to do the lead services first. So, you're probably looking at a start of construction in June, but you would see construction before then to do the lead services. So, Okay. And how long do you um project this to occur? Um, we're going to be out there for several months. About like Cooper Street, huh?

No, not that long. Oh, okay. Um, and what are you going to do about the traffic? It'll be detourred. It It'll be closed to traffic during construction. It'll be detourred over to Michigan Avenue. Oh, all of that traffic. You're going to detour to Michigan Avenue? Yes. Okay. So, if I'm remember correctly, aren't they trying to shorten Michigan Avenue? I mean, not with but where is it? Yeah. Yeah. That you're talking about like an MDOT project in the future. Is that the MD dot project? Yeah, that's something they're they're they're looking into for the future. Okay. Okay. I just wanted to know when to get prepared. Thank you,

Madam Clerk. Did we receive anything via email regarding this?

Yes. Shandra Deopacar of 1608, excuse me, a for 1445 North Gorum. Ted Kristoff of 1800 East Gansen and Marty Wicki of 2112 East Gansen all submitted protests via email and those were emailed to you all earlier this evening. council. Any questions, comments, concerns that you guys have? Okay. Looking for a motion to close the public hearing of confirmation for special assessment role number 3455. So moved. It's been moved and supported. And the clerk will tally and display the vote. Okay. Public hearing is now closed. None. I am looking for a motion to approve the resolution confirming the special assessment role number 3455.

So moved. It's been moved and supported. Any discussion, questions, comments, concerns? Okay. Uh seeing or hearing none, the Um, just a quick question. The lady that Yeah. that has a $5,000 assessment, is she aware of that? I know we mentioned it, but I'm just Yeah, I just spoke to her directly the assistance the fuel the street relief fund. Yes. Y

and then guess just a follow-up question. And how are we noticing the rest of those citizens who are on that street? They're getting mailed the forms. We're going to be very, like I said, very deliberate, very methodical in making sure, especially on this first one, we overcommunicate and do everything we can to make sure people know. Okay. All right. Thank you very much. Any other questions, comments, concerns? When does the payments begin? That's a good question. We'll be on this summer.

Okay. CL will tally and display the vote. Set it again. All right, item passes 6 to one. And next, I will be looking for a motion and support to adjurnn as board of review and reconvene as city council.

So moved.

It's been moved and supported. Any questions? Seeing hearing none, the clerk will tally and display the vote. Okay. Item passes. Do I need a motion? Okay. Thought so. Thank you. Okay. That brings us down to item number seven, citizen comment portion of the meeting. And I will start as we always do with reading the rules for speaking before the city council. Number one, each speaker will state their name and address prior to addressing council. Number two, each speaker is limited to up to three minutes during the citizen council, excuse me, citizen comment portion of the meeting. Council members will not debate or answer questions at this time. Number three, each speaker should be polite and courteous to the council and members of the public in attendance. While any speaker is free to express his or her opinion on any subject, no speaker may direct personal attacks at any member of the staff or council unrelated to the manner in which they perform their duties, use obscene language while addressing the council, or engage in disruptive or disorderly behavior during a council meeting. Number four, should any speaker cause a breach of the peace through their conduct, the mayor may declare the speaker out of order. Number five, if a speaker is declared out of order by the mayor and refuses to cease and desist from disruptive or disorderly conduct, the mayor may order the person removed from the meeting. Number six, each speaker may speak once under public comment and may not yield their time to others. Gina Hastings.

Good evening, mayor and members of city council. I'm Gina Hastings, 1231 Highland Boulevard. I am back to speak about um the topic of extreme ownership training, the program that the city has spent on it. I appreciate Councilman Connor Wood's clarification that he is not running for mayor. Noted. Um I also heard Councilman Freddy Dancy's comments emphasizing how helpful and valuable training can be for city employees and operations. I completely agree. Professional development and training are important investments. They can improve performance, leadership, and service delivery. And I'm not here to argue against the need for training in general. My concern remains focused on one specific thing, transparency about the cost, the total cost of this particular program. From the foyer response I received a few weeks ago, we know that the city has spent several hundred,000 on extreme owner uh ownership traveling se um sessions. That's real taxpayer money. And while training may be beneficial, residents um deserve to know the full exact amount spent. The initial FOYA showed that pulling together the precise travel and hotel total would take significant staff time costing more than the $52 I already paid. I also brought with me a copy of the book, which you can get on Amazon for $10. So, tonight I'm respectfully asking um C Councilman Dancy and the rest of the council to help provide or um direct staff to release the exact figure for the total amount spent on extreme ownership, including all training fees and travel expenses. This isn't about uh questioning the value of training. It's about basic accountability. When hundreds of thousands of dollars

are involved, taxpayers shouldn't have to piece together partial information or face high barriers to get the full picture. I urge the council to prioritize this transparency. A simple, straightforward disclosure would go a long way to building trust that our city government is open about its spending decisions. Thank you for your time and thank you for listening. William Hastings. So, yeah, we're back again to the subject of extreme ownership tonight. So Will Forgrave in his um in his council member comment at the last at the end of the last meeting he said words to the effect that well you know because of extreme ownership we've really had a mood shift at Jackson City Hall. Now this isn't really something that's quantifiable in any way. I mean how how do you measure a mood shift? But the damnedest thing, the damnest thing is I made a point of talking independently and and uh to a bunch of people I know who work at Jackson City Hall. And you know what? They told me that since the executive order, um groups of employees are now spontaneously breaking in into song in the halls here. That's that's very very nice. Um they even said that a new scented candle is placed on the mayor's desk every single day. Never the same scent twice. It is sweet. It is so sweet. It is so nice. But but to um but to kind of move away from the humor just for a minute, here's the thing. If whether you want to say assert that uh extreme ownership training has great value, a little bit of value, or no value, what can't what you can't argue with is there's multiple options to get this training for your employees. There's a $350 uh remote training option, 100 employees, $35,000. There's a more deluxe remote training option, $600. So, per employee, 100 employees,

$60,000. There's a mighty big difference between spending $35,000 or $60,000 on this program and sending upwards of of ha of half million. We don't even know the true cost. Um, if if actually if extreme ownership was training, I probably should have gotten a call from Jonathan Green the following day. And one thing I really wish you to be serious for a moment, you would kind of dig a little bit all of you um into what extreme ownership is. A big part of it because this is done by these former Navy Navy Seals. A big core of the program is the ownership part is there's no such thing as a bad team. There's always it's it's only a bad leader. And you have to have a a a culture of accountability and you have to have a a a culture of ownership. And yet here we are in the coldest weather I can remember this century and we're about a fiveminute drive from the TA Wilson building that seems to be I don't know if it's permanently closed. It is not open for homeless people. You you you champion this, Jonathan Green. You champion this. Okay. This isn't a question of whe whether this was a a defective or a flawed program. Dude, is a fullon catastrophic failure. You've you have personally exhibited no ownership for this this travesty. And there and there hasn't been any inquiry by the members of city council that enabled this. So, you know what? There's an old saying, never has been more aptable than it is tonight. The fish rots from the head down.

Nicholas Thirstston.

Um, hi, good evening. My name is Nicholas Thirstston. I own Jackson, Michigan, 410 Van Beerren Street, apartment B. Um, I just want to clarify some things for people. Uh, I don't love McDonald's and Walmart. I just use them as examples because uh there's a McDonald's or Walmart in pretty much every city and they're pretty universal. Um they're very neutral. Um and I think that uh public uh resources could probably have more of a retail like transparency and neutrality to them and a better customer experience. Um you think about companies like Walmart or McDonald's. These are just examples and they're very successful and um uh you know there's been a lot of push for like uh development in um the the black community and black businesses. And I understand that there's uh a huge disparity between how a very uh successful international corporations run versus how a lot of businesses in the black community or even Latino businesses or Asian businesses or women businesses or gay businesses are run. They basically look within their demographic and advertise only to their own demographic. Whereas you look at like a very successful neutral company that they hire outside of their friends or family. They market to everybody. Um they want to make money and do business with anyone. And I think for a lot of these reasons, the black community might never develop. Uh and not just in Jackson, but across the country, maybe even the world. Uh a lot of businesses that I see the model is too tribalistic. It's too focused on the self or the demographic of the owner and not as much on the product or service, how it's presented to the public or um the general market or um even expansion. You think of how many blackowned businesses in Jackson? Could you name 10 of them that have

developed within the last um couple of decades? Can you name 10 within the city of Jackson or the county? 160,000 people in the county or 10 million people in the state are there 10 of them that have expanded and developed and they hire uh outside of their own friends or family group. They market to people outside of their friends or family group. the whole country over 300 million people and I think this is uh creating a stifling condition where there isn't really the the growth or the ability for other cultures to adopt look for jobs do business um share culture offer knowledge and uh talent or skill and um I also wanted to touch on the fair housing stuff. I understand why people are frustrated. A lot of money was spent on the TA Wilson stuff. very little to no work was done and they are like one of the business I described. They're focused only on themselves, their friends, their family, their own demographic and they've not open to the public. They've been closed for at least I think since July last time I know they were open. All right. Thank you.

Wow. Uh Rosemary Tanner. Rosemary Tanner, City of Jackson. I speak tonight to the people of Jackson. Think for a moment that gut-wrenching feeling when you discover that your wallet has been stolen or lost or your purse has been stolen along with all the money inside to pay for your groceries, rent, and bills. Do you feel violated? The city in which you live in a sense has robbed us all since 2022, paying exorbitant amounts of your tax dollars for a program called extreme ownership. I'm not going to bloate about the program. You can listen for yourself on the 101023 YouTube video. A few quotes from that video. We need to be better. How to lead better. Get the most from our people. Admit mistakes. Take ownership. Accountability. Improve the quality of life relationship for or with our residents. Outstanding quote that stood out in the city's mission statement. Financial responsibility. Every one of us in this city pays taxes, property income assessments, parking. That's citation, taxation by citation. Recent foyer re revealed that this city has spent well over $500,000 on this program for just registration. Sending city staff and junkets to multiple warm city uh warm weather cities. Education is good, but spending this amount for every city employee should raise the hackles for every citizen. Misguided spending should have been directed to essential road repairs, increased police boots on the ground staffing to fight crime, decrease um not increase water bills, to name only three. Jackson is not a wealthy city. Remember this when they cry they need more of your tax dollars. And oh, they will. In closing, I quote from our

city manager, Jackson, we can do better. Yep, we must do that. John Hopkins.

Hi, I'm John Hopkins. I live on Berry Road. It doesn't I'm rare to come up here. I don't think uh a few of you guys know me. I'm I'm a very active person in Jackson. I founded and started the Jackson Inventors Network. Um, and I'm also the vice president of Michigan Veterans Coalition, which makes Michigan the number one inventor support state in the country. I founded the uh maker space in Jackson. So, I am a active person here. After what happened this weekend, I just wanted to um make a public statement. I'm sure all of you guys uh are pro the Second Amendment, but what happened this weekend over in Minnesota was horrific. And uh um I just want the You don't have to answer this, but I want to know if if you guys support ICE coming to this community. I I hope you guys are on the lesser side of that. uh they're they're not doing a good job for our country. Um and uh sorry, I made some notes and um um I would like to ask the city to be minimally receptive to ICE if they if they want to uh get active. What scares me? If I shows up, I will be one of the Jackson Knights on the street and I'm afraid what might happen to me because I'm not a silent person. Thank you, Greg Stevenson.

Good evening. Greg Stevenson, 5312 Camelas Court, Jackson, Michigan. All right. Uh, city council members, elected officials, and fellow members of the Jackson community. Uh, my name is Greg Stevenson and today I'm speaking on behalf of my friends and colleagues who make up Movement Jackson LLC. Uh later today we are on the agenda. So I wanted to make a few comments about um that item. So we are a passionate group of lifelong Jonians uh who are now raising Jonians of our own and we represent a larger network of parents and passionate volunteers seeking to enhance our community's well-being. So back in 2023, we identified an opportunity in Jackson to tackle an ongoing issue that I'm sure you've all witnessed. We adults and youth of today, and I'm kind of being ironic right now, are spending too much time on our personal devices and too much time socializing through technology, which is inadvertently isolating us from the very essence of community and overall well-being. This is a growing concern with today's youth, and parents like myself and my friends are seeking out ways to foster activities that draw people outside and encourage exercise and community engagement. The good news is that we were not alone in trying to solve this problem. A movement is already underway in Jackson and across the country. Just ask our parks and recreation department, Experience Jackson, Accelerate Jackson, and many other community agencies. People across the country are looking for more outdoor amenities and activities that bring people together through various forms of recreation. And Jackson is loaded with outdoor gems that have already put us on the map. But there's more that we can do. After this realization, my friends and I developed a vision and project plan to leverage our strengths so that we could privately fund public park features that are growing accessibility across all

populations across the world and making of them available um for generations to come in Jackson, specifically in Ellisar Park. We are calling our project Movement at Ellisar Park. Movement Ellisar Park will be the first of its kind public outdoor destination, tying in the unique offerings of Ellisharp and what they're already known for today. Our goal is to advance health and well-being through an all-wheel skate plaza and skate park, a pump track, a revamped mountain biking trail system, bouldering structures, and a community space with food options that's accessible to the entire public. It is ambitious, but this is more than a park. movement is a blueprint for transformation showcasing how community passion and collaboration can advance public health for generations. We are proud to partner with the city of Jackson Park, Jackson Community Foundation and many other growing list of supporters and of course the Jackson community to create this new destination. Your approval of memorandum of understanding and the associated footprint design will enable us to continue acquiring funds and gathering support. Thank you for your time and consideration. Chris Davis.

Good evening, council. My name is Chris Davis. I live on North Brown Street. I just wanted to come tonight to kind of talk about our new volunteer-led initiative called Caring Hearts Clearing Paths. Um so far we have about six volunteers that have volunteered over the last four or five days and we've been able to help um a little over 50 about 55 residents clear their sidewalks and driveways. Um so we just wanted to come and talk about that a little bit and reach out to the community if anybody is in need of uh that assistance to either um contact council member Hunt uh Jimmy Minnik or myself and we will get a volunteer out to your residents. Thank you. Jonathan Quickso

Kyote. One more time. Kyote. Kyote. Like the book. Okay.

Hi, council. Uh, my name is Jonathan Kyote. I live on West Michigan Avenue. Uh, I moved up to Jackson about six, seven months ago. Uh all the Jonians laughed at me when I tell them it's my first winter here. Um but I moved up for uh hypertension reasons, you know, blood pressure and stuff like that. And this city has a lot of history to it and it's really cool history. And I've been here a few times and what I've seen are people that are locals that care about the community here. And so I'm part of the uh the Caring Hearts Clearing Paths uh volunteer group. I've asked some some locals about what I could do in the community. And so I met up with Miss Hunt and uh we've formed a small group and it's it's fun. It's easy. Um I've never shovelled snow before, so I'm a Georgia boy so I don't have a problem doing it. Um it like I said, it's fun. If anyone's here tonight would like to join us. Uh we've got our contacts and everything. And uh I I besides that, I just want to thank everyone for for welcoming me to to Jackson. It's a great place and I hope we can make it better, continue to make it better. Thank you. Mr. Minnik. Hi everybody. James Minnik. Um I also am a part of the volunteer program that's doing the shoveling. And it not only is so fun, but I kind of want to talk about something else because uh being out all day every day when it's snowing terribly, I've had a chance to watch the city snow plows and the downtown group uh clear clear the ways down there. And it looks to be like a military operation. Uh when I'm driving past these uh city trucks, sometimes I got to look in the driver's seat because it just the way they're moving looks like there's computer software because

they're just all of them move at one time. they're uh uh doing things in coordination to get the uh um most output with the best purpose. And it's just been it's just been exciting to watch. So, without even the roads uh being cleared, we wouldn't even be able to get out two two shovel sidewalks. So, I can't be the only one that has noticed this because I swear to God, it looks like a video game when I'm just looking around in first thing in the morning and I just see these trucks start moving and then you just start seeing them throughout the day criss-cross like a grid. Um, it's just been it's just been pretty cool. But thank you,

Mr. Hammetry.

Evening, council. David Hammetry at 800 Block Durand. I want to echo Mr. Mimick's comment about DPW and the work that they do in times like this. And I thank you all for your work as well. I'm here as a representative of the community police oversight commission to promote what we do this year. We are going to have five meetings every other month. I call them the odd number months uh at every ward so that we can reach out to the community. So more on that. I have the dates and places set. Everything's ready to go and we'll get the promotional materials out there. But I'd like thank you for your cooperation. uh council members and I just want to let the community if you're interested in the police oversight commission uh please contact me council member Hunt again can be a contact she is a liazison for the commission March 12th May 14th July 9th September 12th and November oh September 10th and November 12th will be our meetings in every ward so more to come thanks much for your time take Okay, council, if you will refresh your screens so that your voting apparatuses are working. That concludes our citizen comment portion of the meeting. We are now at the consent calendar and I would be looking for a motion and support on the consent calendar at this time. It's been moved and supported. Any questions, comments, concerns? Seeing or hearing none, clerk will tally and display the vote.

Item passes unanimously. That brings us down to item number nine. We are looking for a housing update. Mr. Leaport, good evening. Good evening, council. Mr. Mays, good evening. I see you lining up. I'm just going to sit back tonight and come on up here. Okay, you're doing part two. Okay. I saw him move down up. We are a team and we cover and move and so moving me up here. Um, thanks Corey. I just want to say I've been looking forward to this all week. It's Tuesday.

Since last Tuesday, I've been looking forward to this moment for a week. Okay. Council, first off, I want to say thank you. You have provided us the tools and resources necessary to do the work that we do in community development. Our infill housing projects and all of our other housing initiatives are the forerunners in this entire state. We get called upon by organizations all over to come and present on what we are doing the fabulous work that we're doing because of your affirmative votes to allow us to do that work especially the affordable housing development board. I know you st you're on that and we really appreciate um the support that we get. Do we have a Where's our slide deck clicker here? Show me what I'm Show me when I'm pushing.

Press the down arrow when it when it gets

Okay, that's perfect. So, your votes have allowed us to do all the work that you're going to see here on the screen. Future votes are going to allow us to even more work that I'm going to elaborate on a little bit for you, and you'll be able to see this 30,000 ft view that I'm going to give you right now. And if you ever want to just stop into my office and discuss each one of these, you have any questions on them, stop on in. Open door policy for all of you. 2026 and beyond. What's that hold for us in housing? We are going to continue single family construction. In fact, right now the nine and 1000 block of Maple and William Street, six brand new houses, six Alen Edwin is building, right? I see you shaking your head. We appreciate that. the health district that we had a groundbreaking on just over a year ago. 26 new structures with another at least 10 minimum that are committed to fill that Griswald parcel. I'm going to elaborate more on brownfield projects litec and then write our first refusal. That's a lot. We have a lot going on different than what we heard in these this past week I guess. Agricon Tony Basset. He's going to be on your agenda tonight for Tomlinson Street. A person came to him and said, "I want a house. I want you to build it. I want it infilled on Tomlinson Street." That's one person. We didn't seek them out. They said, "I want to live in the city of Jackson. I want this builder. I can kind of do it." Because they'd seen the product that Agrican had put on streets like Cooper Street. Lancing A infill housing market rate

independent builder buying our lots doing them on spec. If you don't know what spec is, that is they're speculating they're building hoping somebody's going to buy it and they're buying them. Agricon, Tony Basset. Lily Baptist, we have tons of lots south of Lily Baptist in the PAF corridor. We already have commitments from VMG to do six. Alen Edwin is going to infill several others in that area and Lily Baptist is going to do some of their own. I'm going to go quick on these. I only have 10 minutes. Habitat. Everybody asks what's what's in there for chapter 2. What's in store for chapter 2, Shane? More affordable housing. That's what it is. One of our programs is great for 120% AMI, but what we do for that 80% AMI. Here's what we do. We use home funds. Blend those with philanthropic dollars and partner with Habitat and we can get there. We can get people 80% AMI or a little bit less into home ownership through creative programs such as that. VMG Construction, that's the Ray Garcia mayor. You met him, I believe, at the the groundbreaking independent builder who left another community because the ease of building in Jackson because of the votes that you have affirmative votes for things like water and sewer hookup. Lots that are reasonable price allow them to build in and meet their margin. Going to have the entire health district filled up with homes. What else is helping out the health district? Things like us putting in street lights. your commitment to using CDBG dollars to put in street lights to beautify that neighborhood which has all also attracted 100 homes buyers. So no focus building up there in the health district and Edwin built in the health

district and I already stated BMG. What's the next big one we have? I like to say Green Heights. You can say it's because of Greenwood or because of Mr. Green's full commitment to this project and in his belief in staff and getting this done. We acquired through your votes the old Griswald school in which we're going to be able to get 19 19 single family units in there. Some will be part of 100 homes. Some will be part of Alen Edmond. Alan Edund has already committed to six six in that one threeacre parcel. LITC projects, LITC projects, income based projects like the Pearl 55 and over. We we have been working with this developer for a couple years, attracting them to Jackson. They love everything about Jackson. They're in the process right now of submitting again for the April round for LITC 55 and older. This would be at the corner of Pearl and Cooper Street. the Crescent at the corner of Mason and MLK. What other big projects do we have that I'm going to be looking to you for votes in the future? We have brownfield projects where we're reclaiming some dirty properties. We're going to turn them into useful properties for housing. Places like the Stetler dry cleaner on Cooper Street. We already have the commitment from the builder once we get through the process with Eagle work on brownfield. Nine brand new houses there all market rate. The old Gumman Tire site. Alan Edwin fell in love with this site. One of their first ones again working with Eagle and developing this site. Six brand new houses, single family.

What else do we need from you? And we're going to look to you in the future for we want to continue infill housing. We want to continue affordable housing. We want to continue to reshape our neighborhoods, build our neighborhoods back, provide opportunities for families. That will mean acquiring properties that have been tax foreclosed on a right of first refusal. That helps us infill. Now, with that, because Corey's a talker and I'm a talker, so I'm gonna give some of my time to Corey because I think we're about five minutes, Corey. So, and then we'll open it up to questions for you as soon as Cory's done. Okay. Thanks, Council.

Uh, thank you, Mr. Leaport. Though, I I don't know if I would agree that we're both talkers. I don't know if you need to admit that out loud. I think we're very um um quick and brief. Why say it in two words when you can use 200? That's my motto. So, uh, Mr. Port, uh, looked at, uh, they looked at the future, which I really, really appreciate. I'm going to look at the past a little bit. So, let's use the way way back machine, and let's go backwards just a little bit, and let's talk about the things we've accomplished over the last year, and some cases two years. You're going to hear me talk about the 100 homes program. You're going to hear me talk about rehabilitation programs because you really can't attack a housing crisis just with new construction. you've got to attack it with rehabilitation. I think we've done a really outstanding job of that and that's thanks to you all. Uh we're going to talk about Alen Edwin and VMG. We're going to talk about LITC projects that have have finished. We're going to talk about a really amazing program called the MISH grant program out of MISTA. And we're going to talk about some other single family stuff. So, let's go the right way, shall we? All right. Let's talk about 100 homes. As you know, that's a home a program with $25,000 in down payment assistance. It's based on 120% of the AMI or under. We call that workforce housing. There's a big number right up there and that's the number of applications we've received in two years. 1885. Tell me we don't have a housing crisis. I think we do. Um we've approved 81 buyers. We've got 50 who have chosen to move forward in our program and are have homes either under construction or sold. We've closed on 32 and we have 18 that are under construction and will close in the next few months. If you do the quick and dirty math, you see that we are halfway there. That's an amazing place to be, but it also means we've got just under a year to finish the second half. That's not necessarily easy work, but it's work that we're going to accomplish and we're going to do it using these things right here. First, we're going to use partnerships. Mr. Leaport and I have

built some strong partnerships with a lot of organizations, but notably of late, the Michigan Department of Corrections. It's really fascinating when I tell people that I went to meet at the prison and everybody kind of looks at me like, "What are you going there for?" Because there's a lot of great stuff happening there. Uh, and more importantly, we've got corrections officers that need housing and we've got a prison system that can't hire enough guards because they cannot find housing for them that is close. That's a really strong partnership for us. We did a presentation there two weeks ago. We have four applicants already in the pool just from that one event. We've got strong partnerships we're building with Henry Ford Jackson Hospital. of those have been ongoing for the last couple of years. A huge workforce uh really committed to the work that we're doing in the health district and I think that's a testament to the health district projects um that are happening right now with new construction, other community based partnerships. The other things that we're going to do are a little more unique and this these are the things that are going to help us get over the finish line. One, we're going to beef up our advertising internally and externally. That means billboards. That means flyers. That means other things that we haven't necessarily done in the past because if anybody comes to me and says they don't know about the Hunter Homes program, I've failed. That means the affordable housing board is going to continue to push that message. Our nonprofit partners are going to push that message and I need every one of you to help me push that message, too. There are slots available. We are reviewing applications every day they come in. We want to get people in these houses. The other big piece that you're going to see coming up on an upcoming council meeting, you're going to see a request from me and community development to layer additional down payment financing. The gap is growing. It's not getting smaller. So that $25,000 in DPA was meant to address the original gap. But as costs increase, salaries don't keep up with inflation, and the homes have to get a little more expensive, that gap only gets bigger. which means that I'm going to come to you and ask you to authorize moving some state allocated grant funds that we were using for housing anyway to beef up our down payment based on a sliding income scale in this program. In other words, we're

going to provide even more down payment assistance to the families that need it most. That's really going to help us get over the finish line with this program. And then the other thing I'm excited about is that Norfolk Homes recently announced that they're going to build five additional speck homes. That's a crazy amount considering just a few years ago we couldn't even get a builder to build one in the city of Jackson. They had six speck homes this summer. They sold them in two weeks. They're going to build five more and I'm trying to get them to build five more on top of that. That's a testament to the work that our entire city is doing to make it attractive to build here in Jackson. I'm going to talk briefly about rehabilitation. I'm going to move away from 100 homes for a second. As I mentioned, you cannot address a housing crisis without addressing aging homes. And the uh homes in Jackson are old. average uh age of a home in the United States is 41 years old. Average age of a home in the city of Jackson is 82. That's double the national average. So uh we use our rehabilitation programs to help families who earn 80% AMI and under. So you can see that we're going a little bit lower in that income level to help those families most in need. City has typically utilized CDBG funds for our homeowner rehabilitation assistance program, but we've been fortunate to also now use ARPA funds for uh an expanded program that serves owner occupied and non-owner occupied properties. We've also just completed our quarter of a million dollar my hope grant from MISTA. If you look there in the last year, we funded 36 projects. Now, typically in a year, we fund about a dozen. That's a big number. And in the last year, we've spent almost $700,000 rehabbing homes. These aren't gut rehabs like remodeling work. This is roofs, gutters, furnaces, water heaters, air conditioning, plumbing systems, sewer work, porches, steps, railings, and ramps. The things that make a difference between someone um being in their home or being forced to leave their home. Those are insanely significant projects, and I thank you for the support on

those. The last piece up there is the curb appeal program which is utilizing general funds. You authorized that um uh in uh late 2025. We are working through those dollars. We've I think we've approved about a half a dozen projects so far. Winter hit. So we've hit a bit of a stall, but that's been a really popular program and not anything that the city has offered in that form in the past. So I'm really excited to continue doing that work. Let's talk about additional new construction. Mr. Leaport mentioned a couple key builders who are working in Jackson. And these two builders have had a lot of success over the last year. Alan Edwin Homes, as you know, has an option on 136 pieces of land. You approved that a couple years back. They have completed 14 homes so far on West Avenue, Gansen, Mason, and in the Health District. And as Mr. Leaport mentioned, they've got half a dozen under construction, getting ready to start now. But what I think is we're notable is that we've gotten them to accelerate quite significantly. They're not going to promise us six to eight houses starting per quarter in the next fiscal year. That's a whole lot of new homes from Alen Edwin. And that's a picture of one of their homes up there. And then our our great partner Ray Garcia who owns VMG Construction. If you've driven through the health district lately, you know that between Allen Edwin and VMG and our 100 homes program, we had about 30 vacant lots in the health district a year ago. Um, as of the last two council meetings ago, when you approved the last uh transfer of lots to VMG, the city will now own zero vacant parcels in the health district. That took 12 months. That's pretty crazy and and and amazing. So, thank you so much for that. So, VMG is is building single families and duplexes and um they're going to build a whole lot more nine plus five, so 14 more common. And then last but not least, this last year brought online two new LITC projects. LITC stands for low-inccome housing tax credit that operates out of MISTA, the state housing development authority. comes in a 4 percent or a 9% form. The 9 percent is highly competitive because it's much more lucrative for a

developer. The 4 percent um is not competitive. Though certainly developers utilize those dollars, it's just not quite as much money in a capital stack. The Greenwood and the Blackstone both came online this fall. Greenwood has 51 units, Blackstone 52. Both are workforce housing, so 120% AMI or under. uh both utilize litech funds and the greenwood as as you may remember um also was on a a dirty site so it used bl brown brownfield funds as well and then the last program out of MISTA that I think is worth noting is that mish mish program if you may remember those are the four homes that the city is constructing for families with disabilities we did a competitive application process and those four homes two of them are on West Mason and West Wilkins so about a block west of Hinckley's Donuts then the other two are on Cooper Street. Uh they are almost finished. The two on Mason and Wilkins will be finished in two weeks. The two on Cooper Street will be finished in about five weeks. All four buyers have been identified, selected, notified, and have toured the homes. I can't tell you the number of phone calls I've had with tears on both ends of the line as we got to break that news to people. In particular, we announced to two families um just three days before Christmas, and I think that was probably one of the most gratifying things I did all last year. Uh those homes will be given away for free here in the next two to five weeks. It's incredibly exciting. Uh if you want to see the inside of them, let me know. They're they're beautiful. Uh and that is just a really great program and again a testament to the work uh that you all around the dis approve for us to do. Um before I close, just a thank you and I know Mr. Leaport said it, but I want to say it again. council, thank you for trusting us, believing in what seemed like maybe some wild and crazy ideas a couple years ago when we pitched down payment assistance and we pitched land acquisition and sales and discounted lot prices and we said the builders would come and they did. Um, thank you to our affordable housing board. It's a great group to be a part of. I'll

just leave it at that. And finally, I think uh it sometimes gets lost in the weeds that there's so many people behind the scenes that are making this work happen. I'm a huge fan of movies and one of my favorites is The Accountant. It's odd to quote from The Accountant. If you know the movie, it's a little dark uh and a little gruesome and I apologize for that. But the quote that sticks out is from uh uh Inspector King who said, and I quote, "It was a total team effort." This I know that's such an odd one to circle back to. I know, but I I really love that I could get there.

It's a total team effort. If you if you look at I know, but that's the one I got. That's just I was snowballing the driveway between um finishing work and coming to this meeting and that's what hit me when I was using the snowblower. So don't ask a great moment.

I know. I'm sorry. But I say that because it's not just community development. It's not just Mr. Leaport. It's not just Brian Taylor. It's not just our new planner, John Oconor. It's engineering who always takes my calls even when he gives me bad news 90% of the time. It's assessing when we need lots comboed or split. And Debbie comes in on a day off and does it same day because she's just amazing. It's our city attorney who reviews everything I send him and tells me all the places I missed a period or missed anything and he's so quick about it. Um, it's public works who puts in sewer and water lines before I even ask. And then there's countless other people that help them. I'm not even saying. It's a total team effort and all this work couldn't happen without everybody around the table. So, I appreciate the chance tonight. If you have questions, I know Mr. Leaport and I would be happy to answer them. got I got two questions. Um let's just pause for appreciation first. Um that's to the whole team. Uh we appreciate the work that you guys are doing. Um I've got two questions just for clarification. So, when you say we have 81 fully approved, um, for those who have not already committed, are they just in the process of finalizing details?

That's a good question. Actually, no. So, I I put the stat in there on purpose. The 81 approved is actually people who have been approved and then we get down to 50 because there's 31 people that said, you know, this isn't quite for me. Perfect. Maybe they found another house. They decided that there was just a different opportunity. Life happened. we've had some kind of unfortunate life situations and so uh it's an interesting number to get to and I think it's provided some good context for our staff to recognize that um it's not easy to get people across the finish line in this program and it takes a lot of work and a lot of um time and customer service and those are things that we're really committed to.

Um thank you. Second question that I had is um how soon will you be asking about that increase? Um, I I don't have a problem with it. I I think as as that grap go as that gap grows, we should be looking to figure out how we can address it. And so I'm just curious if you have a timeline on uh on how soon we may need to start mentally preparing for that. You want me to do it? Walked into their trap. They're going to bring it next meeting now. Wants it. Wants it.

I might. Um, so this that kind of a change while seemingly small requires a multitude of approvals. We've got to get an approval from the uh state senator who allocated the funds, Sushink. We've got to get permission from uh the state agency, LEO. We've got to get permission from Mishta to layer yet another batch of funds. I want the stamp of approval from the affordable housing board, which they've already been in discussions, but I want them to see that proposal. And then I want you to see it, too. Uh I do that because I think it's important for transparency. It's important for everybody who's a stakeholder at the beginning to understand what those changes are and what impact they have. So, I expect that you will probably see it at either your first or second meeting in February because I I would uh would certainly appreciate the approval and if we have it, we'd like to roll that out in early March when a lot of home buyers are going to come back online as the spring hits so that we can really take take full advantage of that that change.

Okay, council. What other questions you guys have? Mr. Mr. Mayor, I think in a roundabout way, you may have already answered it, but just to piggyback off your first question. We have 51 people who have been approved for a new home through this program. You said we have less than a year to get across the finish line. I'm assuming that's 100 applicants that are approved and not 100 new homes, right? Like what do you mean by finish? We're 50 more to get to the finish line before to spend our ARPA dollars. That's Yeah.

Right. And you know, to give you an example on how big pushes help, we were um on ARP, they have a they have a segment that they they put in this entire region and they put it on air, I think yesterday. We had six today, six people inquiring about the homes. So things like that can move it along. And also the fact that our builder is willing to build on spec and is lining up to do spec homes until we get to 100 and we have less than a year to get another 49 applications approved. Correct. Got it. Okay. Thanks. Which is very doable by the way. It's doable. It's very fair. We don't even care about spending the money by the time it's

Yeah. We have to if someone after that falls into 100 homes because the paperwork takes well then yeah it all counts. Okay. Any other questions?

I don't have any questions, but just the two two of the four miss homes, you just would not believe the phone calls that came in. I mean, I encouraged both of the young ladies um not to give up, to go ahead and apply. And so, they were so full of tears that it happened at one of the best moments, a day or two before Christmas or two or three days before Christmas. Uh those two ladies were overjoyed. So, thank you so much. um that and word of mouth, you know, about what we have done will go a long ways about what the city of Jackson has done for some families. All right. Thank you.

I'll finish with this. I've been working for this city for 37 years and this is probably the most proud moment I have ever had being up front in up front of you today in addressing issues like generational wealth gap. You don't know you're not only solving a a crisis of home ownership. People walk into these homes with $50,000 in equity the day they turn that key. These houses market for 199 200 205 same house if you're out in Brooklyn over 300,000 but because of your work turn that key 50,000 in today's dollars if you can move the needle to 35,000 down payment assistance that's 60,000 that is amazing great work. Thank you. Okay, council. That takes care of our other business and brings us down to new business. Um, at this time for item A, I'm looking for a motion and support for the adoption of notice of intent resolution 2026 capital improvements bond.

It's been moved and supported. Any questions, comments, concerns? Can we just get a little background on that? Sure. We have Heather in the audience come up and talk. Not me. You introduce yourself to this crew, Pat. Thanks.

Good evening. My name is Pat McGau. I'm a bond attorney. I have worked with the city on its bond and finance projects for a number of years. And so with this uh item before you tonight is uh item A is a resolution to authorize a notice of intent to issue bonds in an amount not to exceed $20 million for various water and sewer projects. So, as you know, the city has a lot of capital needs in both the water system and the sewer system. Uh, this particular bond issue would pay for approximately uh $9 million worth of water main improvements and replacements and approximately 9 million uh of improvements to the wastewater treatment plant. So, the way this is being done is that the city would issue a capital improvement bond which would be payable from water and sewer rates, but it actually pledges the city's taxing power. So, this action item tonight is the first step in a two-step process to authorize the bonds. The first step is to publish this notice that tells the citizens that the city intends to issue capital improvement bonds in the amount not to exceed $20 million for the water and sewer improvements. The bonds can be issued without a vote of the people. Uh, but it does provide for a referendum right. So if 10% of the registered voters of the city prepare and submit a petition and get 10% of the signatures of the voters and file it with the clerk within 45 days, the bonds could not be issued unless there's an election. Assuming there's no petition, this would allow the uh city to go out get the bids for the project and then we would come back to you at a later date with a resolution to authorize the bond. So right now the estimate is around 18 to$19 million. uh this speaks to not to exceed 20 million as we have some refining to do on some of those costs. So I would say this is the first step in a two-step process to authorize the notice and then we would come back at a later date to actually authorize the bonds to be sold to pay for the water and sewer projects. So with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Council, what questions do you guys have? Is there specific projects or Yeah. Yes, there are. So there's uh the water main projects on the water side and then at the wastewater plant the majority if not all of the project is for the digtor. So what uh I don't need to explain that process but you know it's critical to the operation. And since I have the mic, paying for this was already contemplated in the rate study for water and sewer rates that you guys approved. So this has all been baked in there. This is a part of the plan. Okay. Council, any other questions? All right.

Thank you. See, thank you very much. Um, Mr. Is that you said NAL, right? Correct. Okay. Thank you. Uh, okay. Council, if you will please proceed and the clerk will tally and display the vote. Item passes seven 20 unanimously. Brings us down to item B. Looking for a motion in support to approve the resolution authorizing the issuance of 2026 refunding bonds. So move.

It's been moved and supported. Questions. You want to get back up?

Thank you. Uh so this is essentially a refinancing of some bonds that the city issued back in 2018. Most of which was for water supply system improvements uh water plant wells pumps. It also included uh wastewater system projects and then some improvements uh at uh here at city hall for the elevators, certain fire apparatus and parking lot and roads. So the city issued these bonds in 2018. Uh typically bonds uh are not callable for the first 8 to 10 years and we're now in an environment where the city can achieve interest savings by refinancing at lower rates. This is similar to refinancing your mortgage. The difference is with bonds, unlike your home mortgage where you can refinance at any time rates go down, with bonds you can't always pay them off after they're issued. Usually there's about an 8 to 10 year period. So these bonds are able to be paid off for the first time in June of this year. Rates in the market are lower right now. So, this te's up the city to be able to issue what we call refunding bonds, which is essentially a refinancing. You issue new bonds today at lower rates, pay off the old bonds, so the debt service goes down. This can only be done if you actually save money after payment of all the issuance costs. We don't know what the actual savings will be because the bonds won't be sold until March or April. Uh, but it's significant enough to get this teed up and be ready to go. uh so that when we get near that time frame uh we'd be able to take advantage of the market and get lower rates.

And this was related to the presentation last meeting by Andy from Benzinski. So we do have a general sense Pat's not going to hang his hat on anything setting out a number that was Andy's job. So you recall was in your packets around $500,000. So, any other questions, council? I'm just as good at saving $500,000 as I'm good at spending it. Had to say it. Had to say it. That's okay. That's my mic drop. Mhm. I did.

Yeah.

Okay. Um the clerk will tally and display the vote. Thank you very much again. Item passes unanimously. Brings us down to item C. Looking for a motion and support to approve a resolution to enter into a contract with the Michigan Department of Transportation for milling and resurfacing on Gansen Street from Elm Avenue to the east city limit and authorize city engineer to execute the appropriate documents.

So moved.

It's been moved and supported. Any discussion, comments, questions, concerns? Seeing or hearing none, clerk will tally and display the vote. Item passes unanimous. That brings us down to item D. Looking for a motion and support to uh approve the award of the Health District Street Lighting Contract to J. Renick Electric Incorporated of Mount Pleasant, Michigan at a cost of $422,887.80 and authorized the mayor and the city clerk to execute the appropriate documents.

It's been moved and supported. Any comments, questions, concerns? Do we know what kind of lights these are? Do we know what kind of lights these are? Those are the same ones that are downtown. The the acorn lights right here. I'm pretty sure that's what we did before. We're doing again.

Any other comments, questions, concerns? Seeing or hearing none, clerk will tally and display the vote. Item passes unanimously. That brings us down to item E. Looking for a motion of support to approve the award of the Elizabeth Street water transmission main abandonment contract to Concord Escavadian and Grading of Concord, Michigan at a cost of $826,51911 and authorized the mayor and city clerk to execute the appropriate documents.

It's been moved and supported. comments, questions, concerns. Yeah, sorry. Um, the water and I don't know if I'm in the wrong one, but the water to the tower or the that's part of it. So, right.

Yeah. So, real quick explanation. Last year, you guys approved a transmission uh construction project, transmission transmission main construction project that was to replace this. And so, you can't abandon the water manes until we get the new one built. So, we've built the new one. Troy, jump in if I say anything wrong. So, we built built a new one last year, and now it's time to connect. This is a transmission main. So, this takes a lot of water to places. Now, uh, service water manes that go down streets to serve homes will come off of that. And then, um, now that the first part is built, we can abandon the one that's in place right now and switch everything over. All right. Did I do okay job for non-engineer?

No, you did a great job, boss. No, you did a good job. What am I missing, Arlene? So, I can I I don't know. I can I add something to it? understand. I don't understand that. Can I add something to the explanation for you?

So, um, last year we worked with MDOT when they did the Cooper Street Bridge and then we built a new water man to replace a section of the transmission main u, basically between the train station and up towards the hospital. We're ready to take the old one out of service. And I probably could have given it a better name than just abandonment because the other part of it is to take that old 100-y old transmission made out of service. We are going to have to build certain sections of water mane to continue to serve the buildings that used to be. So it's not just abandonment. There's some construction here. I probably could have named it better. Um so we'll be um replacing some water building new water mans to serve those buildings in a few of those blocks so we can get this big um transmission main out of service. Um we really need this transmission main out of service. It's old. The valves don't work and um you know it's always been a big concern of ours too because this is the one that um goes right between the two railroad buildings and we'd certainly hate to have a problem under the railroad or between the railroad buildings. That's one reason why um when we're looking at you know work that needs to be done on the transmission main system, this was the high priority. So um now that we've got it teed up, let's get this vulnerability out of the system and uh get modernized and more reliable. That's what this is for.

Did I hear you say that they don't work currently? They what? It's not working currently. No, it is in service. The valves. The valves. Oh, the valves. Correct. Yes. Okay.

So, we need to on um you know, that would normally be a problem on a small water man, but on a big water man of this size, um we need to be able to turn the water off when if there's a if there's an issue, a problem, you know. So, our guys can do it, but um it would take it takes more time and more effort and a larger service disruption to a bigger area. So, we just need to be more reliable and um that's why we built the new water man. Now, we just got to get that old guy out of the way. Council, any other questions, comments, concerns?

Is this one that's like a hundred years old? It's one of them that's 100 years old, but it's also a big one that's 100 years old.

Okay, seem like all minds are clear. Clerk will tally and display the vote. Item passes unanimous. Brings us down to item F. Looking for a motion in support for approval of amendment four to the CWSRF professional engineering services contract with Fishbach Incorporated of Grand Rapids, Michigan in the amount of $20,960 and authorization for the city manager and city engineer to sign the appropriate document.

Support. It's been moved and supported. Any discussion? What was full of questions, but what was the issue with this section? Can anybody answer that? The section that had to be fixed between what? Jackson and William Street. This is not that. This is down at the water treatment plant. Oh, I'm on the wrong item. Do you want more explanation or are you good? No, there's one that I want to ask about. Don't we have that in here? I thought it was just 20,000.

We do have Yeah, we do have that issue. That one's up there on uh item H. You're talking about on High Street at Woodsome. No, this was on a trail between Jackson and William Street, I thought. Let me look real quick. It's H. It's H. Is it H? It's H. Okay. It's 26 then. Sorry. Okay. No other questions on item F.

Okay. Uh, seeing hearing none, the clerk will tally and display the vote. And that brings us down to item G. Looking for a motion in support for approval of the third extension of the 2020. Oh, I'm sorry. My bad. I was trying to just move on. Madam clerk,

let's try that one more time. Item pass is unanimous. Uh now that brings us to item G. Looking for a motion and support for the approval of the third extension of the 2022 as needed materials testing services contract with professional services industry of Lancing, Michigan. in the estimated amount of 125,000 and authorization for the mayor and the city clerk to execute the appropriate documents in accordance with the purchasing agent.

I mean good enough moved and supported. Any comments, questions or concerns? Yeah, I didn't take time to reach out to anybody, but this one I have a question. Um, we had to pay in the for them to remain our carrier till July 1st. Is that correct, Councilman Robinson? I think I can answer for you.

Okay. So, this is um you know, we we always have material testing uh contractors in town to help us during construction. Um what this is is PSI was our uh has been our tester for the last couple years and they've been working with us on the u the lead service replacement program

and uh we're going nuts on that right now. We're placing about six or seven a day. They're even working through most of this weather. What we would like to do is extend PSI a little longer so they can stay with us to finish out that program. We've got a great team going. We got a contractor. We got material testing. We got a consultant and um we want to keep that process moving. So, we're asking you to extend PSI's contract so they can stay with us through the duration of that contract. Does that make sense? It does. But didn't we get a new contractor? We do. We did. And do they start be are they they they will work on our other projects. This is just to let PSI finish out the project they've already been on. Oh,

we could switch to the new one, but it feels like we got a winning team and uh we just like to finish this strong because uh you know, we do have that lead service money that needs to be spent and it's working. So, we want to just keep doing what's working. Okay. Yeah. So, the new contractor has assignments or projects to work on. Our new contractor will be out there on all our other projects, dance and MLK and those and such. Okay,

I'm good. Don't worry. I I want you to ask another 43 minutes worth of questions if you got it in you. Yeah, me too. I ain't going to hold you up. So, we have two contracts. Take your time. I promise you. I mean that. I'm not I really do mean that. Um Mr. Mayor, I have a quick question. Yes, ma'am. Just for clarification, we have two contractors, but these two contractors are on separate projects. Yes. When does PSI end? So PSI PSI's involvement for this is just on the lead lines and it will end when the lead lines are done. Right, Troy? Correct. At least this are the money we're spending under this leadline contract,

right? on this and and that work has to be done by uh mid June and then they'll be done. Okay. It's not additional money. Having them both work at the same time doesn't cost more. They're both going to be do similar chores on different projects. Um it's just uh for continuity and to keep the team together that's working.

Okay. All minds clear. Okay. The clerk will tally and display the vote.

Item pass is unanimous. That brings us down to item I. Looking for a motion and support to approve the memorandum of understanding with movement Jackson LLC. Oh, I'm skipping stuff. My bad. Uh, let's go back to item H. Looking for a motion support to approve change order one to the miscellaneous construction contract with Concord excavating and grading in the increased amount of $26,2421. uh to balance the contract quantities and match quantities placed in the field and authorize the city manager and city engineer to execute the appropriate document. So move.

It's been moved and supported. So, this one, Council Member Robinson, it I'm I'm reading the the agenda item, and it I'll let Troy jump in if I start saying there's something wrong again, but it sounds like um in the vicinity of this area with the MLK Equality Trail, when they went to go back and like put everything back together, they realized if we it's like one of those things you make a call like this street is looking good. If we fix this right here, it's not going to make any sense. So pull back a little bit till you get some good road and then replace. So you know you don't have like something uh you don't have a situation where you have something new right next to something so bad. There's a question like why didn't they just do that too? So that's what this is. Troy's looking down. So I must be right.

That's all I needed to know. Why we had to go back down there.

Okay. Any other questions, comments, concerns? Seeing or hearing none, the clerk will tally and display the vote. Item passes unanimously. That brings us down to item I. Looking for a motion in support to approve the memorandum of understanding with movement Jackson LLC for funding and construction of boulder installations, skate park, pump track, and public gathering areas at Ellisar Park.

It's been moved and supported. Comments, questions, concerns? Mr. Mayor. Yes, sir.

I'd just like to commend uh Brett and Greg and Clay for working so hard on this. I feel like the last year and a half at least. Um they've been doing a lot in the background. And I'd also like to commend the city. I think often when somebody comes to up us with a project, you know, we say that we're in support, but to put pen to paper and come up with a memorandum and put some skin in the game and um actually put some wind at their back, I think is promising. And I like the phased approach as well. If you look at the plan, you know, you never know what's going to happen in the future, but if we get one thing done and then hopefully get all three, but you know, the way they're doing it, I think is smart. Um, and they're putting a lot of thought into this and I'm excited for it. It's good for the sixth floor. It's good for the city. And I'll be voting in the affirmative.

Absolutely. Any other comments, questions? I just have a quick question. So, there's no financial investment. We're just signing on to the project. Okay. Okay,

just to follow up what Analita just mentioned. Um, so who is responsible for the location? Um, there's some things that are spelled out in here. Just one moment. Let me have Kelly come on up. Come on down. I might be. Yes. Okay, there we go. Hello, Corey. I'm not Corey May, so excuse me. Good evening, everyone. You only have one of them. It's okay. I know. I'm like, that's tall enough. Um, and I'm sorry. Would you mind repeating the question?

Yes. So it says in addition to the location, the city will provide the following. Yes. Parking, lighting, public restrooms, etc. Yes, the city will provide uh we'll have to be updating parking because we have our miniature golf uh uh location right there. Um so that arranging for people to be able to enter the miniature golf uh some movement and um so there's those type of things that would have infrastructure. Um bathrooms we provide at the miniature golf course. Uh so there might be some upgrades to that to provide for more flow of of traffic.

Currently, as is contemplated, what we have there is what we're contributing contributing to the project. And we may in the future want to re renovate those things, but like we already got the bathrooms, we already got the stuff there. So that's that's what we're doing for this project to support in the initial stages. Anything else? Question. Thank you. So So again, now where's would this be located at? I'm sorry, I'm tripping. So it's uh Yeah. between Alpine Lakes and the Putt Putt. Okay. So if you have been around in Jackson a while, I think a pool used to be there.

Okay. Yeah. Well, I got some skater friends who are uh going to be super excited about this who uh actually came to us not long ago to talk about um the possibility of um either creating a new skate park or making some changes uh to the existing skate park. So, I think this is really exciting uh just the whole project as well as like bringing an eating area to over there. Um, and so I'm I'm excited about this project all the way around. Super excited about it. Any other comments, questions, concerns from council?

Was there enough room between the two to do that? Cuz I was I was going to ask the same question as Freddy because I didn't know where the putt putt went. It's that big blank area. Yeah, this is the putt putt over here. all of this area. It's just not shown on their map. Okay. Yeah, that's what it's like. Where's the butt? I got it though.

Okay. Madam clerk, if you will proceed and tally and display the vote. Item passes unanimously. And that brings us down to item J. I am looking for a motion in support uh to approve the sale of city-owned property located at 751 Thomasson Street, Jackson, Michigan to Agricon LLC for the sum of $300. Approve the purchase and development agreement. um authorize the city manager and city attorney to make minor modifications as needed and authorize the city manager and city attorney to execute the appropriate documents necessary to complete the transaction. So second

it's been moved and moved and seconded some more. Um any comments, questions or concerns? Seeing hear none. Clerk will tally and display the vote. item passes unanimously and that brings us down to council member comments. Council member Wood.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, thank you city staff, public commenters, residents who are here. Um, man, I had A24, so I'm I'm not going to make it. Um, no, I didn't uh prepare any remarks tonight, I think. Um, I'm a fairly uh jaded person. um which I think most people who know me know.

Um I even I like it it takes kind of a lot um to to upset me and the the news from this weekend is deeply deeply upsetting. I think um the the expectation that I have of our law enforcement at all levels is that they will conduct themselves in uniform and transparently and with an extremely high degree of professionalism. Law enforcement is a very dangerous job. It requires a lot of training and I think that these are people who put themselves in danger uh to protect the community and I think that it's an extremely stressful situation and I think that as citizens we have to trust them to do that job and I think that it is a reasonable expectation that They're going to have to use deadly force from time to time. And I think that in trusting people with that godly power, I think the standard for that has to be absolute perfection in every instance. And I am hopeful that there will be a thorough and impartial investigation and that the truth will out and that in the event that there was less than perfect behavior which as an amateur person there really seems to be. I hope that there will be accountability for that so that trust can be restored. And I hope that we can expect the same

level of professionalism from people exercising the power of the federal government that we expect from our local police department. And so I have been very upset because I am starting to take it personally that I feel like the only person who really cares about the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. And I am heartened that there are people of all walks of life and political stripes who seem to be similarly upset. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Council member Hunt.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Connor, for those words. Thank you everyone that came out tonight. We appreciate you um the comments. Another assessment came before us tonight and I am happy to know that the city has something in place to offset some of that financial burden. I appreciate the presentations that were provided tonight and the clarification. Thank you so much about the housing update. That was greatly appreciated. And then caring hearts, clearing paths, volunteers have been phenomenal. The work continues. We are neighbors helping neighbors. And my hope is that this will cascade throughout the city of Jackson into the county and that this will be just the onset of one pilot program that is thriving. We want to see our community continue to grow. So, thank you to everyone that continues to make yourselves available, your willingness, the excitement, enthusiasm. We see you. We appreciate you. Those of you that are in need, please reach out. Elderly, disabled, we are in the heart of our winter season. And if we can help, we want to be of service. That's our obligation and the reason why we are sitting in these seats to serve. Thank you,

Council Member Forg.

Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Um, just a couple things. I'd like to touch on the 100 homes and housing in the city. I really appreciate that update. Um, I think something too that I want to point out that oftenimes I think gets lost in the shuffle when Corey and Shane come up here and speak so tursly about the program. Um, and probably get lost in the shuffle because everybody up here, uh, we have good intentions and we hope for the best. Um, you know, I don't I don't think I speak for just myself when I say that when we sell these homes at with the down payment assistance, we are not simply giving somebody a home with that equity built in out of the goodness of our heart. That's a big part of it. But I think a bigger part of it is big picture looking ahead. The city is funded and we provide services to our residents in the city by collecting property taxes and we collect zero property taxes on vacant lots that we own. So if we can build a new home and start $25,000 in the red and in I'm going to say what less than six years, we are making money on that property again in revenue that we can then turn around and give services back to everyone. Um, I think it's again I think it's often lost and I think it's incredibly important. It's incredibly forward thinking. It's how communities grow and begin to thrive and prosper and um it's nice to see us trending in that direction and not racing towards the bottom. Um, I'll echo some of what was said about our DPW. I really appreciate all the work they've done the last couple of days with all the snow we've gotten. I live and my family lives on a sleepy side street and without fail we have a one we have a house with a with a onecar garage too and being the incredibly like shiverless like husband

I am and humble person I am I I park on the street so my wife can park in the garage and uh without fail every morning I wake up to go start my car and it is covered in snow because it's been plowed that little sleepy side street and um I really do appreciate all the work they do this time of year I know it's a that uh and uh it's appreciated and you know no small thing it's appreciated cuz I get to feel like I'm in you know those car commercials when it's like slow motion like through a snow drift when I get to go to work every morning on days like that. That's what it feels like to me. I don't think that's what it probably looks like from the outside looking in, but that's what it feels like to me which is nice. So thank you. Yeah.

No, dude. No, you just drive fast. But thank you DPW and and and city staff for all the work they've done behind the scenes too for the 100 homes. I think it's awesome. Um and there really is no downside to it. You know, whether it's helping somebody or helping everyone in the long run, it's an amazing program and um I'm really proud of it. So, thanks, Council Member Robinson. Um, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I appreciate your comments, um, Connor. Um, and what you had to say about, uh, what we've experienced and, uh, in this country. Um, I want to thank everyone for coming out tonight. It's really cold. Um really cold out there, but we appreciate you coming out. Um the community development department um exciting news for the homes uh that we will soon see on the south side of Jackson. Um, yes, we have several vacant lots, but you know, we can't fix everything overnight, but we do have some progress that um residents will be able to see. Um, I'm thankful for the two people who uh have received the missed homes. they they deserve both of them welld deserved um individuals in the community um it was touching you know the merry

Christmas they they really did have a merry Christmas when they got the news um but looking forward to um you know the continued work with the infield fills of the vacant lots. Uh I also want to thank all the staff for what you you do, the people here on the dasis, you know, for the commitments that we've made in the progress that we are beginning to see in the city of Jackson. We we have had some misfortune this year. are sad to say we've had some young young lives and I don't quite understand. I read quickly what I saw today and it's like it just doesn't make sense. Um you know but accidents because they have the wrong things going on in their minds or playing with weapons, you know, it it's just sad. is very sad to see young lives. We haven't begun to live, just barely old enough to get out of the house, you know. Anyway, it it's heartbreaking. Um, but I want to thank you all for coming out. We appreciate your comments. We do listen and I I'm looking forward to us to continue the success for Jackson and grow Jackson. Thank you,

Council Member Gun. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

So, um, I just want to echo again. Thank you, Corey and Shane, for coming and giving an update on the housing. I think it's good to help put that information out there, clarify any misconceptions about what's going on with the um 100 homes and all the other um incredible um projects that are going out there that have come off the heels of that project, the 100 homes project and the momentum that has um taken place here in Jackson around building um in two and a half, three short years. So very very incredible. Um so yeah, I just want to say thanks for doing the presentation. Um thank you for um my fellow council members for voting on these projects when we bring them forward from the affordable housing board. And um yeah, just stay warm out there. Hopefully the weather's changing next week, I heard. Um but yeah, those are my comments. Thank you,

Vice Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, first I just like to give my condolences to our state represent representative Schmolz for her loss. Um, you know, I can't um haven't had a loss like so I can't I can't even fathom anything like that, but uh my prayers are with her and her family on a loss and I just want to say that first off. So I just um yeah, sorry for that to give y'all my condolences. Oh yeah. Uh and everything is for everybody talk about DPW. I know with DPW just all the workers regardless who do plowing, snow plowing, uh with the big trucks. You know, I can imagine uh the stress they under. You know, there's cars to your left, cars to your right. You're running down the road and you have narrow streets you got to go down to uh back and back. And you're doing this every day continuously. You know, I know this your job, but I'm sure it wears on you emotionally. You doing the day, morning, evening, just constantly. We have a lot going on. So, I just um you know, thank these guys for what they doing out there. Um and uh appreciate everything that they do. You look at it. Some might complain about the streets hasn't got plowed, but they get to them. But um the the stress, the time they put in, the effort they put into it and no rest, no time to u you know calm down and and just relax. But uh I just thank everything that they doing. It's a way it's human wear, it's equipment wear, it's just a lot of things that are happening. Appreciate everything that they doing. Oh, Shane and Big Dog, thank you for that presentation. Uh, I know that was way more than 10 minutes, but that's okay. That's okay. That's okay. But you did a good job. You know, I appreciate everything, but for

me, I always say that I appreciate the miss homes or the accessible housing that was built. Hopefully somewhere in the future we can find more grants, more opportunities to build more homes because and when we building houses and apartments. I know we have ADA, but uh uh just being specific about people with disabilities and looking at them and their family. I think this is a great thing. So maybe in the future we can find more grants and find more opportunities to build more homes um mesh homes um uh for those who really really need it. uh they won't be left out or left behind. Thank you. Um Mr. Mayor, you can talk till like 9:15. I don't care. Please do a good job.

I'mma talk real slow. That's good. Um man, Connor, thank you for your comments. Uh I want to tell you, you are not alone. Uh you are not the only one. Um, I what I keep saying is this a whole lot of treading going on and don't nobody give a damn.

Makes you wonder. Um, I do want to say um thank you also to DPW. I think it's been said multiple times, but um I just want to say thank you to you guys. is uh terribly cold out there. Um and yet every morning uh the the streets are are plowed as this snow continues to come down. Um shout out to my friends who moved to Michigan and thought the last two winters were real real winners. Uh welcome to what Michigan winners are actually like in real life. Um button up and stay warm. um you know uh on on the subject of being cold and I I deleted this comment but I think it's necessary to say uh first I want to say thank you to the individuals who decided to stay through the meeting because this is the part where we do get to make comments back um answer questions that may have not been answered or address items that individuals say. Um maybe some people didn't get to notice but we don't own TA Wilson anymore. um it's been sold and therefore the organization that now owns it is responsible for what they want to do with the building. Um somebody please stop me or correct me if I'm wrong about that. Um I don't think I am, so I will proceed. Um but it's mighty funny how concerned people are with them housing homeless people. When the city was in charge of the project, Jonathan, they did not want us to fund and home houseless people, but we did it anyway. Um, so I, you know, homelessness is something that I take highly personal. Um, because you really don't understand the experience unless you've lived it and I have lived it. Um, and so like my heart goes out to individuals who are

homeless right now. Um, who don't have anywhere to go because it is deathly cold outside. And that is, uh, not just saying that, it is deathly cold outside. Um, so I am hopeful that individuals have found somewhere warm to shelter. And I want to say a thank you to all of those organizations and places that are serving as overnight warming shelters and shelters like warming shelters during the day as well. Um, because it's been just as cold or colder during the day than it has been at night. Also, um, Shane Corey and the rest of the entire team working to rebuild our neighborhoods. um you deserve another round of applause. So um uh and that includes council because um like was said, if we didn't vote the way we did um on supporting those projects, then they would not be moving forward. Um and I just like love to hear uh those stats because like you can come in and state something as strongly as you want to to make it sound like truth that does not make it truth. Um, and the numbers on these projects that we have going on in this community do not lie. Um, 1,885 people who applied. So, the program um is working and people actually like the program. Um, and even the individuals who found that it's not suitable for them, I'm sure they learned something through the process. I tell people all the time, um, there's two things that I've done in my life that if I had to go back and redo them again, knowing what I know now, I'd likely not do them. That is pledging my fraternity. Love my fraternity. It was hell to get through though. Um, and buying my first house. My god, it is the most intrusive process

that I have ever experienced. And so even those individuals who went through that decided this isn't for me, this isn't the right house, whatever the situation may have been, I'm sure they still benefited from that experience. And we have 51 individuals in homes uh right now, which I think is a phenomenal thing. All the rest of those statistics that you guys gave, like I appreciate being able to hear that so we can dispel some of the rumors that have been put out there and said here as if it were actually true. Um, speaking of truth, I don't know if certain individuals knew this. There is a very, very successful business being ran by a black person. And it was actually mentioned by the person who seems to somehow think black people can't run a business. News flash, every McDonald's in the city of Jackson is owned and ran by a black man. Whoa. But in case you didn't know, I'm going to in and and in light of of the upcoming Black History Month, I just want to list 20 things that like we just could not live with in America or the world without the contributions of black people. Um, the three light traffic signal, home security system, modern refrigeration for trucks, automatic elevator doors that you are probably going to use as you leave here, carbon light bulb filament that's got lights on in the room. The electric microphone. I'm talking on one. the PC monitor and gigahertz chip in my computer. Uh the Super Soaker, who can't live without a Super Soaker? Uh let's just be real here. The modern iron board, which someone who spoke up here

might have benefited from using one. Uh the blood bank, uh the laser character s the laser cataract surgery, uh automatic gear shift that are in vehicles, gas mask and safety hood, disposable syringe, caller ID and call waiting for those who you do not want to speak to when they call your phone. I answer every call that comes through. I don't got that. But I did just update, madame clerk, my phone, and now I can screen calls from my iPhone. I may have to put that to use. Uh, I have been telling my kids for years that I invented ice cream. Um, I didn't, but a black man did. Um, the folding chair, clothes dryer, a pencil sharpener. Somebody should use one and take some notes on these things that I am mentioning so that they can inform themselves of themselves and their history. Um, and the doorstep, uh, the doors stop, excuse me. Uh a and there's so many more things um that if you just do a simple search of Google that you could learn the contributions the businesses even here in this community that black people have successfully owned and thrived. Precise test lab is one. RJ's is one. I just went to R.J's in Lancing. Uh if you go try that uh chicken uh he he made me a a chicken hogy. just just go try it. They they're they're black. I don't know if people knew that or not. Um but I just wanted to mention that real quick. Uh I'll be honest, my heart is real heavy today. It's it's um it's crazy how um regardless of how heavy my heart is, uh like my spirit seems to just be growing stronger and stronger by the day. Um

it's been six months today since my niece was senselessly murdered. Um and the grief don't get better. uh you just learn to live in it uh and work through the stages or where you are at in that day. Um I don't think I have ever cried as many tears as I have cried in the last 6 months in the entire almost 44 years that I have been alive. Um and I have lost a tremendous amount of people um young and old. But this loss just hit me in a way I cannot describe. I highly recommend therapy if you are going through grief. Um because it works if you allow it to work. Um whatever way you find therapy. Lately, Jonathan, I've been doing some Facebook social media therapy. Personally, um clapping back just a little bit, but seriously going to see a therapist uh is a very healthy thing for you to do uh if you are grieving. Um, I have never seen my mother cry the amount of tears that she has cried in the last six months. Um, I don't think a day that we've talked, we have not talked about my niece and we both have exchanged stories and laughter and uh, in tears all in the same breath. Uh, and the same with my sister. So, for those who have prayed for my family, I just want to say thank you. Um, also one thing about losing somebody and like being in grief, uh, it also makes you extremely sensitive to other individuals when they lose someone. Like I've always and already have been a very sympathetic and empathetic person, especially when it comes to death uh, and someone losing their life or losing a loved one that's close to them. Um, but it it definitely

hits way different when you are in deep grief. yourself. Um, and so like my heart goes out to everybody whose hearts are hurting uh from losing someone and I know that there is no timeline uh for grief. Uh it it could be someone you recently lost or someone you lost years ago. Uh it doesn't matter because grief will hit you like a ton of bricks at any given moment. Um, and I just I just pray uh that I am um helping walk my five daughters and my niece and my nephew um and my baby niece uh through this process of grieving um as as strongly as I can and just helping be uh a pillar for them um that that the sun shines again eventually. and and even when the sun is shining, you may feel that grief still. Um, but good times still happen. Um, my heart goes out to the Woods family, uh, Ed Woods, uh, and Mrs. Woods or Miss Woods. Um, my heart goes out to you guys and, uh, the the family of your son. Um, I was talking to Mr. was the other day and he said, "You know, my heart is really broken because I have not found one person who has anything negative uh to say about Ryan." Um, and so my heart goes out to their family. My heart also goes out to uh Kathy Schmaltz. I I sent her a text already. Um, because one one thing about me um I I and I'm not I'm not a Bible scholar. Uh I will tell you that right now. I'm not a Bible scholar, uh, but I don't recall anywhere in the Bible, um, where it says you must be a Republican or a Democrat. One, to

be a good person, two, to get in heaven. I just have not read that. If somebody can point that out for me, please show me where it's at. Uh so to me being a good person is not predicated on what party you are in nor predicated on how you feel about that person's performance in the job that they do nor predicated on how that person has made you feel or treated you or what they've said about you. It's not predicated on any of those things. Uh, and so I can still show sympathy at the loss of her son because I cannot imagine, but I can definitely sympathize and empathize with the grief that she must be going through losing her son right now. Uh, and so my heart goes out to her. Um, and and I hope that she understands how sincere my message was to her. Uh, that I am like very sorrowful for the the hearing of her loss um, in this moment. Um, on a on a lighter note, um, I just want to say thank you to Jackson Public Schools, uh, specifically Mr. Y. Uh, Mr. Y is the music teacher, um, choir teacher, uh, for my daughter. My daughter is an honors choir. Uh, she tried out for the jazz choir, uh, statewide jazz choir. Um, I think it was under duress cuz Mr. Why was like, "Look, she ain't got this video done yet. She got a couple days to get it done. You know, it's like a thousand kids applying to this. Uh, she just needs to get the video done." And um under threat and duress, she got the video done, submitted, and she uh she made it into the statewide jazz uh choir. and um they they paid for our hotel to be there uh over the last few

days, over the weekend. Um and just to see her development um shows me how important it is to have somebody who sees your gift and is willing to pour into you and pull that gift out of you. Uh this is significant for me because I know everybody well a lot of people have heard her sing before. Uh but she was very discouraged going into ninth grade. She did not want to sing anymore. And it was because of a teacher because of the way this teacher um outcasted her uh picked on her, belittled her, and did not give her opportunity. um she was ready to just be done with singing. Um but we encouraged her to continue and I constantly encouraged her to walk in her gift. Um and it is it is definitely a gift from God for her uh to to be able to sing and that's that just makes me proud of her to but I I really appreciate the way Mr. why it pours into her. Like you can just you can just feel that he really really really believes in her gift. And so I just want to shout him out publicly right now. Um and say thank you to him for pouring into my baby. I appreciate that big time. Um and that's all my comments for tonight.

Mr. City Manager. Yeah.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just a couple tonight. One's a little bit long, so we'll start with this. Uh the deer call that I mentioned at our last meeting didn't happen, but the state, I am told, has coordinated with themselves to make sure the deer tags are available, and the deer call will happen this weekend. There's information on it on our website. Um you can find it there. I do want to take a second um thank you everybody who's acknowledged the efforts of city staff tonight. Um it's a great place to um be. I'm proud to work with everyone I get to work with and I'm also proud to know that um we have some standard bearers in the law enforcement community here in the city of Jackson. And I think that you could look to the way we operate with respect and dignity shown to all um as a way that every law enforcement agency should operate. Um, so thank you for all those all the the plaudits for DPW and that, but I wanted to single out and we talked about law enforcement tonight and stuff. So I wanted to let people know and let everybody else know, remind people that we have a pretty high standard here in the city of Jackson uh for our conduct um culture now um set forth and uh advanced by Chief Simpson. So thank you for that. I also want to acknowledge um our fire department today um and acknowledge their heroic actions um taken by the Jackson Department Jackson Fire Department Bift at the fire last week at 324 Clinton Street. Uh fire crews were dispatched to a reported structure fire with initial information indicating occupants were still inside that residence. Um we they were able to place units and route in under one minute from the initial dispatch and arrived on scene within approximately two minutes. The first arriving units uh experienced heavy smoke and fire conditions on both the first and second floors of the

structure. Two victims were immediately identified, one located outside the porch area and the second victim was unfortunately trapped on the roof, exposed to heavy smoke and advancing fire conditions. It should be noted uh quick decisive actions by the fire command and operating crews and our mutual aid partners um a well-coordinated rescue and fire attack was initiated. Crews effectively leveraged staffing assignments and apparatus placement to co conduct a coordinated interior fire attack to control the fire spread while rescue companies laded the structure and performed what I am told and I'm not an expert. I've only spent a day and a half as a firefighter, a textbook roof re rescue, something I don't have any experience with successfully removing the victim from imminent danger. I want to give kudos to the bshift of Jackson Fire Department on that day for um saving lives and continuing to make a difference for the people here in the city of Jackson. Thank you. And that is all.

Looking for a motion to adjurnn. We aren't paying you. What happened, man? All right. Keep 15 minutes.