City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay. We like to call, uh, say the council, uh, meeting to order on this day, 19th, May, 2026. First, we have the pledge of allegiance then invocation given by third ward councilwoman gun.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Let us take a moment to reflect and focus. We gather here tonight with a shared purpose to serve the people of our city. We are grateful for the opportunity to work together on behalf of our community. We ask for wisdom, patience and clarity as we discuss the matters on tonight's agenda. May our decisions be guided by fairness and may we always act in the best interests of our residents.

Madam Clerk, roll call, please.

Mayor Mahoney. Vice Mayor Dancy.

Present.

Council Member Robinson.

Present.

Council Member Gunn. Present. Council Member Wood. Present. Council Member Hunt. Present. Council Member Forkley.

Present.

Uh, next we have adoption of the agenda. Looking for a motion to move, move and support it. Any questions? If no questions, uh, madam clerk, roll call. Do we do a roll call?

You just take Paul. Okay. Okay.

I'm getting an error message. Oh, now it's up.

I think the general passes next. There's no presentation of proclamation, no public hearing. Next we go to citizen comment. Citizen comments. First one up will be John Wilson.

Good evening, John Wilson, 1045 South Durant Street, City of Jackson, Michigan. Couple items. First, I'm gonna speak on the homeless issue. Last week, I viewed an email from the city manager, Mr. Green, and this was in response to a downtown business owner's concern with the homeless issue that seems to be getting worse in the downtown area. Part of Mr. Green's response was that homeless are being bused into the city of Jackson from other areas. If that is true, I'm hoping Mr. Green can publicly address this claim of homeless being bused into Jackson. Thank you. The proposed budget, 2026-2027 general fund budget, about $38.6 million. $352,000 of that will be for local street and bridge construction. $280,000 of that $352,000 will be spent on the health district street lighting. That leaves only $72,000 for local street construction. Local streets, meaning our neighborhood streets, meaning each one of these city council members have lots and lots of neighborhood streets in their wards that are in deplorable condition. $72,000 is earmarked out of this $38.6 million budget for local streets. Downtown Development Authority, they have a Projected project fund. In the 2627 general fund budget. Of $5.9 million, I combed through their 2025 budget. And what I found, and this is just my opinion, is that the DDA can easily afford for our downtown patrons to park for free. When it's time to revisit the downtown parking issue, which really should be tonight, leave the Jackson Chamber of Commerce out of it. The DDA and each one of you up here can easily take care of. Revisiting that situation the the downtown parking and coming up with a much much better plan That's again free for patrons to park Thank you Thank you, sir Next we have Jerry Montgomery I'm Gerald Montgomery

341 Hill Street, Jackson, Michigan. I agree with this first gentleman. The budget. There ought to be at least $2 million put on city streets. I don't know where you guys are blowing all this money at, but I sure do think there's some crooks in the door because no matter what the mayor comes up with, you vote for it. And I've tried calling you three times in the last month, along with the chief of police, and I never get a response. So that tells me he ain't doing his job. I ain't allowed to say his name, but you know what I mean? Somebody needs to get him into gear so he starts holding some meetings so you people know what's going on in our neighborhood, the Northeast side. Thank you. Thank you.

Next we have Irma Ojeda? Ojeda.

I'm Irma Ojeda. I live at 523 North Pleasant. And I got home to this notice on my door. the other day and i have tried calling and calling and calling no response i have a van that is parked in my backyard what's been there about four weeks because i'm getting it repaired and i live next door to this i don't know who is my um this is what i live next door to over two years Over two years I've been living next door to that. Not only that, with that mess and those two cars that have been parked in that grass, because that is what the notice that is parked in the grass, I have two huge pit bulls that live there. And they're on this little cable, which is not very secure. And if I park, because I have a shared driveway, if I park in my spot, Those two dogs are able to scratch my vehicles if I park there. They put all their dogs' poop right there. The city has come there before about the dogs. The city's come there before about the mess that they have in that yard right next door. And the city has come there before because of the poop, which was being piled in between the driveway. Now they are piling it next to their shed, which is back there. They have two boats, one behind the truck, as you can see in the pictures, and one behind the shed, plus the trailer. I don't like knocking on the neighbors, but if you're going to come knocking at my door because I have my van parked in the grass, Last I thought that was my grass. Because it's not over. I have a little spot where you're supposed to park a car. But like I said, I have two pit bulls that can come over there. I have to watch before I go outside to get in my car or park in the street because of these two pit bulls. And they like to let them out when I don't use my backyard. I hang out in the front yard. As you can see, I like I can run from them. so i didn't appreciate getting this notice which i got when my van has only been there like probably maybe maybe a month and i am repairing it when these vehicles next door have been there over two years and they're not parked in the driveway so i wish this guy would have responded um so i came here because you guys are in charge of the city. I'm out of time.

Thank you. Next we have Lucinda Eby.

so i i don't know if you guys are aware that the city charter is actually the constitution of the city of jackson city council members are not allowed to change it only the people can change the charter we it has to go to a vote but in 2023 you guys passed a resolution i believe um saying that you would change the number or the uh elections to the even number years rather than the odd number of years odd numbered years and Lo and behold, we're having an election in an even number year, even though our constitution, our city charter says you cannot do that. It also says you cannot extend the terms of any elected officials. There might be a little bit of wiggle room that you found. But on that, but you definitely cannot change the year that the elections are in. And you know, I'm going to watch this when I get home, but it does appear that you're doing something illegal again tonight, so I'll have my eye closely on it because you can't change the treasurer to an appointed position. Only we get to do that. That's our power, not yours.

It's really good, and they break it.

Thank you for that. Next up is Bill . OK. I haven't called yours.

It's OK. Hi guys, it won't take long. Corner of Jackson and Michigan here like every evening kind of night. I don't know if you guys are out here, but it gets crazy loud like people are revving their engines and drag racing up and down the street and so it's just super unsafe. We probably have. probably four or five nights a week i don't know if you guys come out in the evening but there's like those they have nice cars corvettes trucks whatever and they're like parked there and sometimes like my wife and i are cutting through and we almost hit some i call them kids but young 20s i guess cutting through and and i mean somebody's gonna get ran over and then they like race probably 70 miles an hour going north on that strip and so It's just dangerous. You know, my wife and I are out there walking our dogs and stuff and somebody is going to get hurt. So just adds up.

Thank you for that. Next we have Jennifer Smith.

My name is Jennifer. I live on Picture Jackson, Michigan, a city whose people have guarded their own treasury for generations. Imagine the founders watching us tonight. They designed this republic so no one would ever control the people's money without the people's direct consent. Yet a quiet proposal sits before this council tonight. It sounds harmless, just for efficiency. But it would take the office of city treasurer, guardian of every tax dollar the people pay, and move it from an elected position to one appointed by the city manager and council. No longer would the treasurer answer directly to you, the voters, at election time. Instead, that office would answer first to the administrative structure that appointed it. See the difference. An elected treasurer walks in the daylight of public accountability. An appointed treasurer steps behind the curtain, shielded from the people's direct voice. This is another step in the pattern Thomas Jefferson warned about. The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground. James Madison called the accumulation of too much power in too few hands the very definition of tyranny. George Mason reminded us that liberty survives only when we return to first principles. The government belongs to the people. Tonight, Jackson stands at a quiet crossroads. Will public offices continue belonging to the public or slowly become comfortable administrative positions insulated from the voters who fund them? This is bigger than one treasurer. It is about whether we still believe the republic belongs to the people themselves. Mayor and council members, I strongly oppose this amendment. An elected treasurer answers directly to the people. An appointed treasurer answers to the city manager and those who appointed them. That distinction matters. We should not trade the public's direct oversight of taxation and treasury for administrative convenience. If a treasurer performs poorly, the people already possess the lawful remedy, the ballot box. I urge you to reject this amendment or this resolution and preserve the citizens' direct voice in selecting the individual entrusted with oversight of the public treasury. When liberty remembers, the republic emerges.

Thank you for that. Next we have Michelle Nelson.

I'm Michelle Nelson from 506 South Cooper Street. Sorry in advance because I'm nervous. It's my first time doing this. I just want to address the thing about the crime and in terms of a lot of assault and other things that I know the police are getting overworked on trying to resolve. And my goal is to try to start up a wrestling camp in a nonprofit to help address this. And the reason why I'm here is to help get support from you guys. And last year alone from the city of Jackson website, there was over 4,700 reports of crime and over 700 of simple assault and domestic alone was over 300. Our goal is to try to get that number down. And some of it's also going to be working with, uh, programs like, um, safer youth. The Ware Shelter, we're also planning on working with Home of New Vision, because I'd like to work on trying to get some of the town cleaned up in terms of litter and needles aground, because I know that's been an ongoing issue. So, yeah. That's all I have to say, sorry. That's okay.

Thank you. Next we have Mr. John C. King.

John King, 203 3rd Street here in the city. I have multiple things to talk about. The last meeting following the next day, maybe it was even the week after the mayor talked about a couple of topics. The first was shootings. Mentioned, oh, crimes down, da-da-da-da. You know, he's been saying that his entire term. That's actually not really true. I just think of the February 29th, a couple years ago, Shalonda Hunt had a ward meeting. The assistant deputy chief of police read off like seven or eight different stats of serious crime, violent crime. They were all up. So I know there was that. This year so far, I know we got off to a bad start with murders, including a 13-year-old killing a 16-year-old. We had sort of the mass shooting just in the last week or two. Because of shootings, we can kind of know that They're up or down. We don't need to see what the city Publishes it some of the stats I've seen I you know I would know I would look at them and know they were going a certain way up and down and Then you know I see them again, you know years later. I'm thinking wait a minute. These aren't the stats that I've seen before so yeah, I'm just wondering if the States get fudged intentionally to try to play a certain political story, political narrative. But I know this year, just based on the shootings and everything, things aren't going great. So there's still those issues. The homeless issue is using the annex shelter, but not for homelessness. So, you know, the mayor insisted on getting the pallet shelters, blowing all kinds of money, and he talked about that. But just a lot of wasted money. For the charter change with Team Dobies, Sanibi was here. The city clerk's office tried to keep her off the ballot because they answered to Team Dobie's. Making a treasurer answer to Team Dobie's is not good for anyone. When Marty Griffin was interviewed for the job which he eventually got, he mentioned firewall. He was speaking of people, all of you here, not having access to people's Social security numbers financial information and everything like that. I know you're gonna vote it vote to put it on the ballot But he shouldn't and the voters hopefully will vote it down.

Thank you Thank you Nanette Can I just send in that do I have to say your last name too I

Hello, City Council, Mayor.

My name is Nanette Munton. I'm a resident of 1401 West Franklin, and I am also the current city treasurer. I wish the Office of Treasurer to remain an elected position. The treasurer's seat should remain independent and directly accountable to the people of Jackson. Thank you.

Thank you. Next is Diane Tolman.

diane tolman 512 spark street jackson michigan i'm here to speak against the change in the charter amendment the treasurer does need to be responsible to we the people we also should look at if we're going to change anything eventually in that charter maybe we should put the city clerk back in as an elected official maybe we should have the general manager part of it you people need to live in the city and experience what we're experiencing You don't have any other than the six people that are on the board. They don't have any idea what we the people go through, how we have to rearrange our travel to avoid the craters and the roads, which you need to take care of. We need roads for this city. We don't need other stuff, especially that stupid building in the Masonic Temple. The old masonic temple get rid of it sell that if you want to sell something sell that tear down the hayes hotel That's a money pit. Just like the ria had already taken you guys to the cleaners.

Thank you Thank you Anthony white

All right, Anthony White, 1401 West Franklin.

You may have heard that address just a moment ago.

Okay, mayor and council members, I'm here relative to regards to 10A new business. I'm here to oppose that proposed charter amendment to convert the city treasurer from an elected office to a council-appointed position. I recognize that many Michigan cities, including cities comparable to or larger than Jackson, have appointed treasurers. Jackson should resist that approach. The fact that other cities have moved financial offices deeper into city administration does not make it the right choice for this city. Under Jackson's charter, the treasurer is not merely an employee or a department head. The treasurer is one of the city's elected officials, along with the mayor and the city council. The treasurer is responsible for collecting and recording all payments of sewage and water bills, income and property taxes, and special assessments. The treasurer is responsible for the deposit and safekeeping of the city's funds, money, and securities. These duties are central to the public trust, taxation, public money, record keeping, and financial accountability. Changing the treasurer to an appointed position would not merely tidy up the administrative structure. It would alter the character of the office itself. Today the treasurer stands outside the administration chain of command with an independent mandate from the voters. Under this proposal, that independence would be eliminated. The treasurer would no longer answer directly to the electorate but to the appointing authority, becoming part of the same administrative structure responsible for managing city operations. This, in my view, is not administrative housekeeping. It's a transfer of accountability from the voters to city hall. If the office is folded into the administration, The public would lose more than the right to vote for the treasurer. It would lose an independently elected officer charged with taxes, collections, deposits, and safekeeping city funds, and the demand for transparency that comes with elected office. This matters, especially given Jackson's council manager form of government. The mayor and council set policy on a part-time basis, while the city manager and administration exercise substantial day-to-day authority. In that structure, the electorate treasurer serves as a democratic check on the handling of public money, Removing the office's independence would not improve oversight or transparency. It would concentrate more financial authority inside an unelected city administration. This proposal also runs counter to the direction that Jackson voters recently chose. In 2020, voters approved a charter amendment so that the council and treasurer vacancies would be filled at the next general election, rather than allowing an appointed person to serve long term. The stated purpose was to give residents a representative of their own choosing as early as possible in the election cycle. This proposed amendment asks voters to move in the opposite direction, from more electoral accountability to less. Some of the council may say let the voters decide, but council is not a neutral bystander. Alright, council decides whether to sponsor this or not, so keep that in mind.

David Hammontree.

Good evening, Council. David R. Hammontree, 800 Block Durand. I appreciate the passion I'm hearing tonight about transparency and having the Treasurer's elective position. I don't want to be self-serving and advocating for that. That is a bit much for me. But I do want to have some reminders that I hope the passion I hear tonight comes forth that this does get on the ballot because this is about the ballot initiative. Mr. King is correct. The voters will be voting on this. And I put my faith in the voters to make the right decision in this case. And if anything, if this does go through, no, let me check that. If it doesn't go through, if it remains an elected position, then the city has and the voters of the city have let everyone know. We value this treasurer position as an elected position. That's why we vote on this. A couple other things, these are small things, but this comes out of the 2020 charter review, right? So the idea of it comes out of the charter review. And then it goes to you. Then it goes to the voters. That seems very compatible with everything I'm hearing tonight about the importance of this as an elected position, and I have faith that the voters will make the right call on that. I appreciate your time and the work you do. Thank you.

Thank you. Beth K.

Good evening, Vice Mayor Freddie Dancy, city staff, and city council. My name is Beth Kuyper. I'm the executive director for downtown Jackson. And I just wanted to say thank you so much for supporting the charcuterie boardwalk last Thursday. We had a beautiful evening with pop-ups, great attendees, beautiful volunteers. It just turned out to be a fabulous night. So I really appreciate everyone's support on that. I also want to talk about our next upcoming event, the cruising and concerts. Uh, we've had those for a few years now, so we're expecting another five to 6,000 per event. It's going to kick off this Friday and that will be made through September the fourth Friday of the month. And I invite everybody to come down. We've got bigger bands this year and even more cars, more activity. And lastly, I'd like to just remind everyone about our Tuesday tens. That's always the first Tuesday of the month. We've got 18 different restaurants that are participating in the $10 lunch special. Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you. Okay, Council. If you can refresh your computers, laptops, whatever they are. Uh, next is the consent calendar looking for a motion to approve the consent. So moved. Smooth and supportive. Any questions, any updates, any changes? If not, Madam Clerk. I'm going to ask this, Madam Clerk.

next other business we have a east side economic development update yeah just another brief update i told you before scheduling a meeting looking to be on june 10th or 11th just trying to coordinate with some other schedules i know there's some people who volunteered from this group want to make sure we have those people in line and then also a location selecting an east side location as we're Trying to get a foothold there has been difficult, but I have my eye on east side, east side location. Having an east side meeting, still trying to have a location nailed down, but I have an idea and I should have a confirmation on that tomorrow to share with the two people from council who wanted to be on the groups and come to the organizational type meetings. Like I said, June 10th or 11th is when we're looking to schedule that.

East side. Thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Next is the new business, A. resolution charter amendment making the office of city treasurer city council appointed position adopt a resolution approving a proposed charter amendment making the office of city treasurer a city council appointed position as opposed to elected and direct the city attorney to submit the resolution and proposed ballot language to the office of attorney general and the governor of state of michigan for approval for the november 3rd 2026 during election

So moved support it's been moved support in a discussion Mr. Vice Mayor I I just like to to give my two cents on the matter and echoed some of what I heard here tonight from both sides actually I Personally as a resident of Jackson I very much look forward to voting against this in November as a resident of Jackson and I think it would be a little perverse of me to think that I know what the 5,000 residents in the sixth Ward how they would vote on this one way or the other again I want to make it clear this is something I oppose I would like to keep the Charter the same but I think what trumps that is I want the city residents in the city of Jackson to have their own say on the matter And so I'll be voting in favor of placing it on the ballot. And then I'll be voting against it in November.

Thank you. Any discussion?

I was just Pointing it out, I know we've heard a lot, and there's been a few emails as well from residents not in agreement with this. But it will be on the ballot for you to choose up or down. So it's not something that we're going to do, but it will be on the ballot. And that's the importance of voting.

a lot of people don't feel it's important to vote but that would be the time for you to say yes or no thank you mr vice mayor yes thank you um so i was as has been pointed out on the charter review committee when we looked at the whole charter there were uh i think at one point like 14 or 15 people on that we took after a couple years of discussion that overlapped with covid We took a vote and kind of narrowed it down to the top three things that we wanted council to consider putting on the ballot. One of those was, as was also pointed out, moving to even your elections, which council has done. The other second thing was allowing voters to fill partial terms instead of letting somebody get appointed and then serve out the full thing, which went on the ballot and was passed. This was the third piece. So I think that as council, we should respect the wish of the body that we appointed almost a decade ago and put this on the ballot for voters to decide. I do think it's important to say that as part of that process, we talked about and rejected the idea of having the city treasurer position be eliminated and the role subsumed into the city administration. That is explicitly not what is proposed here. What would be proposed and what would go into effect if the voters vote yes on it would be to create the treasure as a position that is independent of the city manager, which is incredibly important for folks to understand. Just like our clerk who runs our elections are city assessor who manages our tax rolls. and our city attorney who provides us legal advice. Those are all positions that, like the treasurer who manages our finances, are very important, should not be under the city manager, no matter who the city manager is or who we appoint to those positions. They need to have independent accountability to the city council and not just be city employees. That independence is very important and is contemplated and protected in the proposed amendment. I'll be voting yes on this because I think voters should have a chance to decide. I do think it's important for us to remember also that this is, I think, the first contested treasurer election in like 50 years or something. So I think it is one of those things that maybe in principle voters feel like there's some accountability there. But I think in practice, we have not really seen that. That is not in any way any kind of comment on the current treasurer, the people running for treasurer, Mr. Griffin, or any treasurers prior to that. I think this is a structural thing. cities have moved away from the 1890 system of electing department heads and I think that is something that we contemplated as the bipartisan city review Charter Review Commission committee rather and I would look forward to us voting yes on this as a body to let the voters decide Thank You mr. vice mayor thank you mr. vice mayor I'd like to make a few comments go ahead I strongly believe that

The role of a treasurer is a very critical, critical responsibility. They are the overseers, um, the administrators of the city finances. And I would like to see, um, or have conversation regarding like the credentials based on their qualifications. And if it was, if we transitioned to a appointed position, What are the qualifications of this individual? Do they have to have 5 to 10 minimal years of financial background, municipal financial background? And none of that is outlined in this. And so my stance today, because I believe that the community should have some say in and understand that it is going to the ballot. But I also feel that On the ballot, you make it voted based on popularity, based on name recognition, based on your presence in the community, based on, um, really just having a huge, you know, influence in many different other areas. And so I think it is important that when we talk about this position that it needs to come with credentials, certification, someone that we as a council, as a mayor, as the city manager can with confidence feel that this person can effectively do the job. They must be qualified. They must have certifications. How do we acknowledge that by way of a vote? Can we identify that with the people's vote? So I just wanted to throw that out just to provoke some thinking for public consumption.

Thank you. You got nothing you want to say? No, I'm good. OK. Madam Clerk? It's up there. Let's vote.

Mr. Vice Mayor, just a quick housekeeping matter for everyone's benefit and benefit of the public. I know we have one member absent this evening, Mr. Mayor, but three-fifths majority is required, so affirmative votes of five of the six members in attendance would be required to pass this, just so you're all aware. It would take five votes to pass the resolution, and four votes would not be sufficient to pass the resolution, just so everyone's aware. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Okay, let's vote.

Do I have to redo it?

Mr. Vice Mayor, to clarify, a yes vote would allow this to go on the ballot for voters to decide. Yes, yes. Thank you. Yes, yes.

The pass is 5 to 1. Thank you. Next is item B, a resolution annual budget for fiscal year 2026-2027, adoption of the annual budget resolution for fiscal year 2026-2027, and authorize the mayor and city clerk to sign the 2026 tax rate request form. So moved. Moved and supported. Any discussion? No discussion. Madam Clerk, can you please? Resolution passes. Next is C, resolutions, consumers energy standard lighting contract changes. Approve the two resolutions for changes to the standard lighting contract with consumers energy for the replacement of street lights at 300 East Addison and 738 East Madison and authorize the city engineer and city clerk to execute the appropriate documents.

So move, Mr. Mayor.

Move, supported. Any discussion? If no discussion, Madam Clerk. Resolution. Modification of the FY29 Transportation Improvement Plan, TIP. Adopt a resolution of support for the modification of the FY29 Transportation Improvement Plan, TIP, and accept the requirement that the city pay the local match for the selected projects. Move and support in discussion. No discussion. Madam Clerk. It passes unanimously. E resolution U.S. DOT and MDOT agreement approve a resolution to enter into an agreement with the United States Department of Transportation and the Michigan Department of Transportation for street reconstruction on the east side commerce corridor from Cooper Street to the east city limits and authorize the mayor and city clerk to execute the appropriate documents.

So moved.

Been moved and supported. Any discussion? No discussion? Madam Clerk. Girl, you going too fast, girl. Resolution prizes. F, resolution city rights of first refusal. Approve a resolution to exercise the city right of first refusal for three parcels and decline 50 parcels under PA 123 of 1999.

Support.

Moved and supported. Any discussion? No discussion. No, I should not say it. Pass this unanimously. G, ordinance first reading of the non-union wage table effective 7-1-2026. Approve the first reading and advance to the second reading final adoption and ordinance regulating non-union pay for the City of Jackson employees to increase wages 3% effective July 1, 2026. So moved.

Support.

Moved and supported. Any discussion? No discussion? Madam Clerk. It passes 6-0. letter h wastewater service agreement blackman rives spring arbor napoleon summit township and southern michigan state prison approve a wastewater treatment service agreement with the city of jackson and the township of blackman arrives spring arbor napoleon and summit as well as the southern michigan state prison according to the terms as negotiated and appoint council person Arlene Robinson and DPW director Michael Osborne to the sewer advisory board. So moved. Support. Moved and supported. Any discussion?

Mr. Vice Mayor. How is this different from what we've been doing? How is this new? How does this move forward our partnerships more broadly? I wonder if maybe Mike or Jonathan could enlighten us.

Yeah, I'm going to have Mike come up. Even Todd can come up. Whoever has touched this can come speak to it. It's something I'm pretty proud of, and I want these guys to have a chance to talk about it.

Good evening, Mayor and council members. This is one time I'm actually proud to come up here. I'm not real nervous because it's a chance for me to thank. This is a long time coming. There was a lot of work and actually there's two of my employees here tonight that put in an awful lot of hard work for this and we're very proud of it. Took a long time. And so I want to thank Chandra Willinger who's here and she's done a ton of work on this and I want to thank Todd Knepper. And Todd Knepper came in and You know, he really helped me put this deal to bed and we are very proud of it. To answer your question, it's not based so much on what they bring us, it's a commodity charge now. So the way this is set up is you take what we spend on the waste water treatment plant. Anyone who uses that asset is gonna pay their percentage of the pie. Does that make sense? So it's based on commodity. And everything is that way. It's fair. We use the word fair, but it is fair. And so it's all based on commodity and how much of these assets you use. Even the main sewer line that runs through the middle of the city, the townships that use that will pay their portion. And so we think it's equitable, and we're very proud of it.

Thank you, Mr. Mike. Okay, any other questions, concerns, interests? Madam Clerk. Passes 6-0. Item I. Contract wastewater digester improvement project construction. Approve the wastewater digester improvement project construction contract as presented in the amount of $7,203,735 and amend the previous approved construction management agreement with Fishback To include their general condition cost of $997,500 and a 4% construction management cost of $328,050 for a total project cost of $9,590,952. So moved. Support. Moved and supported. Any questions? Madam Clerk? Passes sick love. J, change order number three, Monroe Plumbing and Heating Company contract. Approve the approval of final change order number three to Monroe Plumbing and Heating Company contract for the DWSRF FY 2023 improvement. Moved. And supported. Any questions, concerns? Madam Clerk. It passes 6-0. Item K. Change order number one, water treatment plant sanitary sewer lining contract. Approve the change order one to the water treatment plant sanitary sewer lining contract with Inland Water Pollution Control Inc. in the increased amount of $55,737.40 to balance the contract. QUANTITIES TO MAKE QUANTITIES PLACED IN THE FIELD AND AUTHORIZE THE CITY MANAGER AND CITY ENGINEER TO EXECUTE THE APPROPRIATE DOCUMENTS.

SO MOVED.

MOVED.

SUPPORT.

AND SUPPORTED. THANK YOU. ANY FURTHER QUESTIONS, CONCERNS? NOT HEARING ANY. MADAM CLERK. It passes 6-0. Item L. Amendment 3, fiscal year 2023 DWSFR construction administration service professional service contract. Approve of Amendment 3 to the fiscal year 2023 DWSFR construction administration service professional contract with Fishbeck Inc. of Grand Rapids, Michigan in the amount of $540,000 And authorization for the City Manager, Director of Public Works, and City Engineer to sign the appropriate documents.

So moved.

Moved and supported. Any further questions, concerns? If not, Madam Clerk. It passes 6-0. Item M, sale of city-owned property. Approve the sale of city-owned property located at 515 North Martin Luther King Drive and 603 North Martin Luther King Drive, Junior Drive, Jackson, Michigan, 49201 to WNW Property Management LLC for the total sum of $600. Approve the purchase. development agreement authorized the city manager and city attorney to make minor modification as needed and authorized the city manager and city attorney to execute the appropriate documents necessary to complete the transition. Some support move and supported in the further questions. Any questions? No question. Madam clerk. It passes. Item N, lot purchase agreement, DJW Development LLC. Approve the live purchase agreement between the City of Jackson and DJW Development LLC. Authorize the City Manager and City Attorney to make minor modifications as needed and authorize the City Manager, City Attorney to execute the appropriate documents necessary to complete the transition.

So moved.

Support.

Moved and supported. Any questions, concerns? Member Clerk.

Don't have a question Okay, so these can we just have some contacts on all of this is a large amount of flats Brag about it a new developer a new home builder coming into the scene Good evening council.

I'll keep it to an hour hour and a half max

DJW came to us and they had heard about the city of Jackson the ease of Developing in the city through the home builders Association a convention panel doubt who's the home builders executive director was telling DJW about the opportunity share Jackson and they wanted to approach us and look at buying some lots. And so they would like to put two up first and then maximum of 10 currently according to the agreement. Any other questions?

Thank you. Madam Clerk, the vote did not come through for me. I wonder if you might resend. Please and thank you.

Passes 6-0. Next, we have some East 11 City Councilmembers comments. Some yakety yak, if you have any. Oh, I guess I got a point. OK. First Ward Councilwoman.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Vice Mayor. All I have this evening is I would like to thank the residents for coming out and staff for the hard work and dedication. And last, I am hosting a ward meeting on June 2nd. It's Tuesday at 6 p.m. at MLK Center. If there are any residents that have something in particular, please let me know. Text is the best way to reach me. But send me a message if there's something of interest that you would like to hear about, and we'll see if we can work that in. All right. June 2nd, 6 p.m. at MLK Center. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman Gunn.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Yeah, the DDA event, the charcuterie boardwalk was fun, and they had a great turnout, appeared to have a great turnout. We had a lot of our council and staff there participating, and so kudos to that event. I also just wanted to say kudos to Grow Jackson and on their river, what are they calling it, river and rail event. grand opening two weeks ago, and it's been pretty successful, and they've got plans for that building, so that's a great new development in our community. And I just wanna also say congratulations to Steve Tucker for being reappointed to the Michigan Theater.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor. I would like to also thank members of the public, our commenters, candidates, everyone who is here. Also thank city staff. Congratulations to city staff on having a finished budget. And that is it for me. Back to you, sir.

Councilwoman Hunt.

Thank you. Excuse me. I want to thank everyone for being here tonight. Thank you all for those that came up to the podium and presented your concerns. I too have noticed increase in our homeless individuals within the community. as Ward 5 representative I've had the opportunity to speak to some of those those individuals and it is concerning it is concerning and I look forward to having listening sessions and working with the community to collaborate ideas on how we can best support those individuals that are may not have access to resources, things of that nature. And additionally, I look forward to the city manager and giving some some feedback on what that consisted of as far as the business owners that have contacted you. And this is again, it's not a new issue. It's been ongoing and it's something that we certainly do not take lightly. So I'm looking forward to community feedback and feedback from council. See how we can work together to mitigate this problem. Jackson is a beautiful community and I want to see us provide the resources to those less fortunate or they do not have everything that they should in this moment and how we can go about handling that.

Councilman walk right?

Mr. Vice Mayor, thank you. I'd just like to echo Council Member Wood's comments, thank city staff for building out the budget the last couple months. I know it's usually a pretty heavy lift. I was pretty happy as in years past to vote in favor of a balanced budget that also for the sixth straight year includes a reduction in property tax rates, this time to the tune of I think over one mil. which, if your home has a taxable value of $100,000, is $100 a year. It's pretty substantial and something I'm happy to support as we move forward. So thank you.

Thank you. I thank staff. Thank council members for allowing me. I know you didn't allow, but for me being here, It's easy sitting in this seat. Oh, well. Never again. So I just thank each and every one for coming out. And have a great, great, safe Memorial Day weekend. Have fun, but not too much fun. I want to see everybody back June 16. Do the attorney want to talk? No? OK.

Thanks, Mr Mayor. Real quick, I'll just keep my comments related to downtown and homelessness. What we're seeing right now in downtown is homelessness as a symptom and not a condition. It is also a condition, but it's mostly a symptom. It's a symptom of something bigger and something we as a city don't have the tools to currently have the tools to fix, and that's mental health, mental illness. So it is true also that from time to time, someone will be put on a bus and sent here. It's not like a Greyhound bus full of people. It might happen once or twice at a time. And so when those things happen, because we are working with those individuals in the downtown on a daily basis, our parks crew every morning, our police pretty regularly are checking in with these folks and we know who has been around and we know who is new to the mix. And so when someone's new to the mix, we try to get to know them and understand where they came from, what their situations are, and do what Jackson does really well, which is being a welcoming community to all. That being said, we don't need help. helping people here already if we don't need more. So a little frustrated with communities along I-94 that have city managers that choose to do these activities. I'll probably have some pointed words when I see them at different events throughout the year. So what we're contending with, like I said, is the condition of homelessness and the symptom that we're seeing. The symptom is at our park and things like that. There's there's a lot of stuff with them, and so we tried to help them keep what. Everything is important to them and they have a right to all of their belongings, so it's not as if we can. help them discard things, but we try to help them in any way. And that also includes coordinating with service providers to have them come down and interact with people. But there's rooms, and there is space available at shelters and other places. But what we're dealing with, like I said, is a symptom. The condition is something bigger, something that these people, they're falling through the cracks because of mental illness. And we don't have anything set up to deal with that. And because of that, it's not as simple of an answer as go make them live somewhere else. They're not going to do that. They're a person. They have free will. If they don't feel comfortable being in a place, they're not going to be in a place. And ironically, sometimes for some people, the most comfortable place they feel is amongst a community. And it's hard to see sometimes, but imagine what it's like living and being them. So what we try to do is offer what we can, coordinate with partners what we don't have, and keep working the problem. We're never going to stop working the problem and so. I don't have all the answers, but I know to your comments, Council Member Hunt, there's a lot of people that can be involved in a lot of ideas that can work and we we need everybody. This problem has not been solved. I don't think this problem has been solved anywhere in the world, so if we can figure it out here, maybe we can turn around and sell the solution to everyone else. So that's all I have.

Thank you, Ms. City Manager. Looking for a motion to adjourn. Who supported? All in favor? Aye. No. Go home.