City Council - Regular Meeting

July 13th, 2026 to order at 635 p.m. Clerk, can you please call the roll?

Councilwoman Aaron? Here. Councilman Fleming? Here. Councilor Geralds? Here. Mayor Pro Tem Muir?

Here.

Councilor Rohrbach? Here. Councilor Wright? Here. Mayor Haynes?

I am here. Can we please get a motion? Councilor Rohrbach did call in before the meeting and said she was unable to be here due to a work function.

Your Honor. Yes. I'd like to make a motion to excuse Councilor Robb after she didn't get prior notice of her missing today's meeting.

Okay, thank you. Is there support?

Your Honor.

Yes.

Second.

All right, motion and support. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed say no. Motion carries. All right, tonight I will be leading the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance, so if everybody would please rise if you're able to. As we begin this meeting... Let us take a moment to reflect on the responsibility entrusted to us by the people that we serve. May we approach our work with integrity, humility and respect for one another, recognizing that thoughtful discussion and differing perspectives can strengthen our decisions. Let us listen with open minds, speak with honesty and civility and remain committed to finding solutions that serve the best interests of our entire community. May our choices be guided by fairness, wisdom and a genuine desire to improve the lives of those who have placed their trust in us. With that shared purpose, let us begin our work together this evening. Okay, can I get a, is there any additions or deletions to the agenda this evening? Okay. City Manager, we do need to have somebody enter the department heads contract. I think we can add it under reports under 10A. Yes.

Motion to add the agreement with the department heads to the agenda under what item?

10A. Okay, we have a motion. Is there support? Yes. All right, we have a motion to support. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed say no. Motion carries. Up next is meeting open to the public. So for the meeting open to the public, we'll open it to the public. I just ask that all comments be from the podium directed towards me. And you have a time limit of three minutes. So with that, anybody wish to speak?

Martha Covert, Edward Avenue. Again, I just want people to understand that I'm just a regular citizen too. The R4, I went to a meeting on it. I've called Melissa. I've emailed Melissa. She's probably sick of me by now. To understand exactly how this is going to work. If it goes down and it doesn't pass, then when, like I live on Edward Street, when they do Edward from 12 Mile to Catherine, that whole street would be repaired, and I'm kicking out a number, I don't know what it is, but say it's $800,000. And every house on that block, if 51% of people say, yeah, we want it repaired, every house would get a special assessment of 20 grand. Gives you 15 years to pay it, but there's also interest on these. So instead of paying, what is it, $100 a year, You're going to be paying like $1,250 a year for 15 years. I'm sorry to me and say, oh, well, I'll be moved out by then. Okay, so then you're just going to pass it on to the guy who buys the house after you? That's not fair. These are streets. We know they need work. I know things are expensive. $100 a year is a lot better than $1,250 a year. Thank you. Okay, thank you.

Anybody else wish to be heard? Okay. Madam Clerk, you have a comment to be read in.

I had an email comment sent to us that I distributed to council in support of communicating different opportunities for the public to participate in. Specifically, she spoke of the Clinton River Watershed Council event.

Okay. Thank you. With that, I'm going to close public hearing. Or, I'm sorry, close public comment. Moving on to the next item in the agenda, which is the consent agenda. We have several items on the consent agenda this evening. The first of which is from the police chief, the City of Madison Heights-Clemis Participation Agreement. We have the court administrator from the 43rd District Court, which has the Madison Heights-Clemis Participation Agreement. Director of Public Services, scheduled replacement of vehicle number 477. Also from the Director of Public Services, a contract extension with HydroCorp. FROM THE CITY MANAGER, FIRE CHIEF KEEP EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT, SECOND AMENDMENT. NEXT ONE IS MICHIGAN EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT SYSTEM, ALSO KNOWN AS MERS, DELEGATE AND ALTERNATE DELEGATE TO THE ANNUAL MEETING. NUMBER EIGHT ON THE AGENDA IS APPOINTMENT OF CHRISTOPHER MOLENKUP TO THE PLANNING COMMISSION. AND THE LAST ITEM IS THE CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES OF JUNE 22, 2026. WHAT IS THE WISH OF CITY COUNCIL? Your Honor. Yes.

Motion to accept the consent agenda as presented.

Okay. We have a motion to accept as presented. Is there support?

Your Honor.

Yes. Councilwoman Aaron.

Support.

All right. We have a motion to support. Any discussion?

Your Honor. Yes. I do have one question for our Chief of Police. Okay. About the Clements contract. If we can get an answer whether that's what the Old Clemmas or the New Clemmas?

I can probably answer that for you. It's the New Clemmas because the Old Clemmas was under Oakland County. The New Clemmas is the Clemmas Authority.

If I'm not speaking out of turn, go ahead, Chief.

No further comment. That's exactly it. In fact, it's kind of funny because it's still called Clemmas, but they changed, you know, they They went away from Oakland County. It's no longer being supervised or run by Oakland County. It's now their own authority. So they're separate and distinct from Oakland County. So that required us to sign new agreements, which would be the same for the court. Thank you, Mayor. Any other discussion? All right, hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed say no. Motion carries. Next up, under Reports, City Planner, rezoning with conditions request, PRZN 26-01, 31075 John R. Road, B1 to B2.

The applicant, Smoke and Bear Tobacco, on behalf of the property owner, South Lyon Company, LLC. Request the rezoning of one parcel of land located at 31075 John R. from B1 Neighborhood Business District to B2 Community Business District. The subject parcel is approximately 1.52 acres in size and is approved with a 17,000 square foot multi-unit retail commercial building. The property is located on the west side of John R. Road. just north of 13 Mile and is located just east of the Madison Heights City Hall Library Active Adult Center Complex. The applicant requests a rezoning with conditions under the provisions of Section 15.07.3C of the Madison Heights Zoning Ordinance and has voluntarily offered a list of conditions that would apply to the rezoning. At the June 15th, 2026 Planning Commission meeting, They recommended that city council deny this rezoning request based upon the following findings. The Planning Commission held a public hearing on the 15th on the requested rezoning with conditions applications and proposed an amendment to the city's rezoning map. The applicant voluntarily proposed a number of conditions to request B2 rezoning which are attached in the agenda item. The proposed rezoning with conditions does not satisfy the review criteria for the rezoning with conditions request as contained in Section 15.07.3 of the Madison Heights Zoning Ordinance. In particular, the Planning Commission found that the conditions voluntarily offered by the applicant failed to satisfactory address the following zoning ordinance standards. The proposed rezoning conditions do not further the goals and objectives of the City Master Plan, particularly with regards to objectives related to the community character and future land use. The proposed rezoning conditions do not result in an enhancement of the project area as compared to the existing zoning, as the rezoning's core intent is to allow for a use not presently permitted on the subject parcel. If it is not in the public interest to grant the rezoning with conditions as a benefit of such a proposal, the allowance of a tobacco smoke shop does not outweigh foreseeable deterrence, including the proximity of said use for public facilities and parks. The offered conditions are not likely to be enforceable as they are ambiguous with regards to the application to the remainder of the parcel, especially pertaining to permitted uses and dimensional standards. the proposed conditions have the same general effect as the use variance in that the core intent of the conditions is to allow for the tobacco smoke shop in one individual retail unit within a multi-unit retail building with no further considerations for the remainder of the building or the remainder of the parcel. The Planning Commission further cited the following issues with the voluntary proposed conditions as reasons for denial. The conditions of the proposed only apply to one retail space and are tied to one retail business owner. It is unclear as to which zoning conditions apply to the remainder of the parcel. Proposed conditions should run with the land unless explicitly stated otherwise within the proposed agreement and should not be applicable to only one individual. The proposed conditions appear overly restrictive in that they require tobacco sales to take place from the individual unit and prohibit use currently prohibited by right within the B1 district. And the conditions do not present clear and enforceable standards that can be applied to the remainder of the parcel or applied to future redevelopment or building expansion. Should Council concur with the Planning Commission's recommendation, Council would move that City Council deny the rezoning request of 31075 John R. from B1 Neighborhood Business to B2 Community Business District with conditions voluntarily proposed by the applicant. And there are specific findings, much like what I just read. If City Council chooses to not concur with the Planning Commission recommendation, then the next step would be to proceed with the future ordinance readings, and the appropriate motion would be to move that City Council direct staff to prepare a formal ordinance for rezoning for the consideration at the next available City Council meeting related to the rezoning of 31075 Jarnar Road, from B1 Neighborhood Business to B2 Community Business District with conditions voluntarily proposed by the applicant and referenced in the rezoning with the conditions agreement. And those all should be based upon the findings.

Okay, thank you, Manager Marsh. What is the wish of City Council?

Your Honor.

Yes, Councilman Fleming. I make a motion that the City Council deny the rezoning of 31075 John R. Road parcel number 44-25-02-478-021 from B1 to the neighborhood business to B2 community business district case PRZN number 26-01 with conditions voluntarily proposed by the applicant based on the following findings. the city manager read most of all of them, but I'll read the first few paragraphs here. Number one, the Planning Commission held a public hearing on June the 15th, 2026 on the request of rezoning with the conditions application and a proposed amendment to the city zoning map. After the public hearing, the Planning Commission moved to recommend denial of the requested rezoning with conditions. Two, the applicant voluntarily proposed proposed a number of conditions to the request of B2 zoning, which were presented to the City Council in the document entitled Rezoning and Conditions Agreement. Three, the proposed rezoning with conditions does not satisfy the review criteria for the rezoning with conditions request as contained in the section 15.07.3.C, paragraph three of the Madison Heights Zoning Ordinance. In particular, The zoning commission finds that the conditions voluntarily offered by the applicant failed to satisfactorily address the following zoning ordinance standards. And there was a list of them that our city manager just read. Actually, like 10 paragraphs of them that I'd like to contain in my motion here. And that's the motion. How are we there?

You agree that you want to reflect the conditions that set forth in the staff report?

Correct.

All right. I would also just potentially, just so we have a factual basis, have you consider adding also that based upon the, it doesn't meet the distance requirements under the zoning ordinance, that it would be in conflict with the, even with the, rezoning would be in conflict with the zoning ordinance and against the public policy as established under the ordinance.

Okay. Alright, so I will also amend to those terms that it does not meet the distance between, I think it's a 200 feet distance from the building to the Civic Center and our complexes here under the ordinance and also it does not meet the I forgot what you said I'm sorry and therefore it's in conflict with the zoning ordinance and you believe it would be contrary to public policy to contradict the ordinance by approving the zoning I'll second those into an amendment then okay That is a long one.

If I can remember all of that. I'm certainly not going to repeat it. Is there support?

Support.

We have a motion. We have support. Discussion? Any discussion from council? Moving to our city planner. Matt, do you have anything that you wish to bring forth before we vote on this item?

I don't. The applicants are here if you do have any questions for them or if you want to give them a chance to give their explanation of the request. This is the first conditional rezoning we've ever had. Just know that the conditions were offered voluntarily by the applicant. That is a requirement of both state law and our ordinance that they bring it forward. But I'm happy to answer any questions about the case.

Okay. Any questions for the planner? Okay. Would the attorney like to come up and speak? Okay. Yes.

Mayor Haynes. Good evening. Council members. Good evening. My name is Mark Burke and I, uh, I'm here on behalf of the, uh, tenant, uh, lessee. Also the, uh, I guess kind of like on a tangential, tangential basis, the property owner, um, for this, uh, this application. So a few things to point out, a couple highlights. I trust the council's reviewed the application and the supplement that was attached to it. We did provide voluntarily these various conditions to rezone that parcel on a very, very limited basis. I think I'm gonna start there. So from my understanding, the property was previously zoned B2, And I think it's got rezoned, I believe, I think a year and a half ago, because I believe there was another tenant in there not too long ago that was a smoke shop. So we're talking about the same location, I think a different unit in that strip center, but the same location where a smoke shop used to be just a couple years ago. Now we're looking to put in, my clients are looking to put a new smoke shop in there. So same location. So that's one. Number two, I think the fact that the zoning request or the conditional request is limited I think benefits the city because we're not asking for a full-out rezoning to B2. We're not asking for a full-out rezoning. I guess we'd have to figure this out as far as the specific unit within the parcel. I mean, from my client's perspective, we're fine with just the unit. We don't need the whole parcel. The landlord and the property owner is agreeable to that as well. So if batteries plus went out of business or left in two years, somebody could come in and open up a second smoke shop or a second business under B2. It's just the parcel that we're talking about, the unit we're talking about. So I think with that limitation, I think that certainly helps. Another thing to add, and I want to make sure that this council is aware of this, and I brought this up at the Planning Commission meeting, this to me is probably one of the most salient points, and that is when my client approached the city and said, hey, I want to do this build-out, they went to the building department, they did everything by the book. The building department said, hey, what kind of build-out do you want to do? And they said, hey, we want to do a smoke shop. And they presented these plans. And the plans, right on the plans, have... smoking bear tobacco and bait right on the plants. Big and large and highlighted. And the building department said, fantastic, super. We'd love to be able to lighten the build out. So they authorized the permits. My client spent a lot of money doing the build out. The space looks fantastic. Actually, I just drove by there tonight before I showed up here. And the building department approved everything. And attached to the supplement, attached to the application that I submitted, are the building permits, as well as all the approvals. And my client then said, fantastic, we're ready to go. We have signage on the door. The build-out's done. We ordered inventory. We've got cases and display cases, display units. And we're ready to go. We just need a certificate of occupancy. And so when he went to apply for the certificate of occupancy, that's when he was told no. So that's... In my opinion, like I said, I think that's one of the most salient points of our entire issue here tonight. So that's one part. In addition, I want to touch on one thing that I think is, it was actually brought up a few minutes ago during the motion, the distance ordinance. It's my understanding that the distance between a unit or a business like this to a community center or a library or a city hall or whatever it may be has to be 200 feet. Unless it's grass to grass, I mean, I think somebody reported that it's 60 feet from the building to the library, I believe, of the community center. I mean, I'm not an expert in distance, but I don't think it's 60 feet.

I think it was referring to Civic Center Park, because Civic Center Park abuts the back of that lot. Pretty close.

I think there's a drive that separates.

It's not 200 feet, though.

It's not 200 feet. With respect to the distance, I mean, We do recognize that that would be the next step if this is approved. We'd have to get that distance variance. And we would certainly go through the proper channels for the city to do that. So again, I think one of the big points on that is that just a few years ago there was a smoke shop in that same exact strip center. So I think that would certainly be relevant to our petition for the variance and the distance point. But naturally, we certainly crossed that bridge when we got to it. But the big points really are that the building department allowed for the full build-out. The full build-out was done, completed. All the permits were issued. All the approvals were issued. And now we're just asking that this limited conditional rezoning be approved. In addition, one other thing to note, and this came up last time at the Planning Commission meeting, and I want to make sure that this council is aware of this. So my client in the smoke shop would not be selling anything illegal and certainly would not be selling anything to anyone under 21. In fact, my client even indicated to the Planning Commission that nobody under 21 would be even allowed in the shop. All of his employees would be properly and adequately trained under... applicable law and applicable ordinances and regulations for the proper and legal sale of tobacco products. So all those things would be in place, and you'd be fully in compliance with all local, state, and federal laws that are all applicable. So with that, we're asking that the rezoning with conditions be approved by the city council, and that's what we're asking for. So if anybody has any questions, I'd be happy to address them or my client can.

Okay, thank you. Any questions by council?

Your Honor. Yes.

Okay, so I have a question. Are you saying that you had a build-out that was going on before the certificate of occupancy? Is that right? Correct. Can I ask our planner if that's normal, that they're able to go into the building and do a build-out before they even have the certificate of occupancy, or is that... Yes. What's the procedure there?

Yeah, thank you. The building permit and the zoning verification are two separate processes. Anyone can apply for a building permit if you own the building. Not even if you own the building. If the building owner has authorized you as the contractor to come and pull a building permit, you can do that. What happened here was that, unfortunately, it was approved by building because it met the building code. But on our building permit, there is a clause that states building permit approval does not constitute approval of any other municipal approval or state approval. So unfortunately, what happened is they had done the build out. And by the time they came in for the certificate of occupancy, which is the verification of the zoning, and that the use itself is permitted by right, it unfortunately didn't. The district doesn't allow for it. So I had to deny it. They said go to the Zoning Board of Appeals. To appeal that decision, the Zoning Board of Appeals upheld the decision to deny. So the rezoning is kind of the next step for them to try to seek approval for this use. But a building permit typically, actually in most cases, takes place prior to a certificate of occupancy because the certificate of occupancy is the stamp that says, okay, everything is good to go. Your fire extinguishers are in the right place. Your walls are up. Your water is running. So CFO is the last thing, and unfortunately in this case, the use wasn't allowed.

Okay. Thank you, sir.

Any other questions from counsel?

Okay.

Actually, I do. Yeah, go ahead. Just one curious question. Thank you for clarifying those processes because, you know, to Counselor Fleming's point, for a second there, I had to think about, you know, how that whole process kind of played out. But in general, I guess, is there a way for –

entrance to know that they have to get zoning approval like when they go through the process do they know that going in that it's not just a building and then they need zoning approval too I mean I would defer to Matt but typically when businesses are coming in they first go to CED and have a conversation or they'll contact Matt like I'm thinking about putting XYZ here but yeah and again each case is different but we do offer a zoning verification letter

which we receive four or five a week, which is a request to verify the zoning district of the property, verify the uses that are permitted, and that's provided on formal letterhead with my signature on it. We have, in the meantime, looked at our processes to make sure, because we do understand that no one wants to be in this situation. We have looked at our application, our processes, to make sure that we can catch something like this prior to any money being spent and any work being done. But in this case, unfortunately, the zoning districts and the uses weren't confirmed prior to pulling a building permit.

Thank you, sir. Thank you. Mr. Reiner? Yes.

And I don't know if this is the right word, but who... So that wasn't verified. Whose responsibility should it have been to make sure that was verified before we got this far?

I can't point fingers or anything, but business owners, property owners are the ones that reach out to verify use. If someone has a space for lease, they're welcome to call our number or email anytime to confirm that zoning district. We do also have a lot of times when a property is put up for sale, banks and financial institutions contract with a zoning firm or a zoning research firm that reach out to us to get those letters before a sale takes place.

You did state that there is a clause on the contract that says the building On the building permit, right above the signature there's a couple of sentences about

This does, the building permit approval does not constitute other types of approval.

Thank you.

Okay. Any other discussion from council?

Matt, Mr. Chair, or Mr. Mayor? Yes, go ahead. I just want to say I've known Councilor Burke for a long time. He's a stand-up gentleman. He's done an exceptional job on this project. From what I've heard from the applicant's business practices, he's a stand-up business owner. But one of the issues we have is Consideration and I'm not saying that they did anything in regards to this but just to give you an example of why the issue of spending money Shouldn't be brought up is that you could potentially have a business owner who isn't as legitimate as these two individuals are who knows that they can't build what they want to build on the property and and then they do it anyways to use as an argument, well, I've invested this much money, and it's my equitable right for you to do what I want you to do to make me whole, even though if they had done their due diligence, they would have realized they couldn't have built it in the first place. So in regards to the approval, instead of looking at the equity of what the money went in, you should look at the value of putting that business into that place. Is it worth it? overriding the public policy reason that you had zoned that place the way you did in the first place.

Thank you, City Attorney. Anyone else?

Your Honor, I do have one more comment. You know, first of all, I want to say that I'm sorry that we had a mix-up here at the City on behalf of myself, but also that I think that we should have, I don't know if we have one in place like a checklist in the the packet that you get is there one or not that you can go through and make sure you do this process first and this one second kind of like a you know in the business packet part of the review that way we don't have this happening again that's an excellent comment and one we feel needs needed to be addressed as well

We revise their application, put the processes, the other types of applications that would be required, and then at the end, big clear letters, this is not zoning, contact our office to confirm zoning. We want to make sure this type of thing does not impact business owners.

I agree that that's good that we're doing that, but at the same time, this does fall upon the business owner to ensure that what they're building is going to be approved and that they're not violating other ordinances And clearly the application already says granting of a building permit does not grant you zoning, which should also throw up a red flag that says, wait a minute, I need to check about zoning. So with that, and then the only other couple of comments that I had were, and we talked about this at Planning Commission, and I think we mentioned it here before too, but yes, there was a former vape shop that was in that plaza in the same area. But Part of that was, and there was another smoke shop that was located in the just south of 11 Mile that was next to a daycare center. And not this council, but a previous council brought that motion to council and changed it from 50 feet to 200 feet. So that was where this began back then as far as changing it because we don't want smoke shops next to daycare centers. Number one. Number two, the students at Lamphere who leave for lunch. A lot of them go to the boba shop that's in that plaza. And part of this is that this smoke shop isn't just a tobacco shop. I think we can all agree to that because the owner put on the record that he sells whippets, which people use for inhaling. At his other store, which is at 12 and a Coinder, they also sell various paraphernalia, pipes, bongs, kratom, which is a hot topic right now because kratom is... on the list for DEA. They're trying to get it moved to a Schedule 1 drug because of its highly addictive power and very similar to like a, I think they're comparing it to like a heroin opiate. So a lot of the things that would be sold here right near Lamphere, right where all the kids hang out during their lunch hour, I don't know that that's something that we want at that location here in Madison Heights. So those are my comments. We have a motion. We have a second. And any other discussion? Mr. Mayor? I'm done with anything. So if there's no other discussion, let's vote. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. The yes vote would be to deny the business license. Let me make that clear. So let me do it again. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, say no. The motion carries. Great. Moving on to the next item, which is added, which is 10A, the department head contract. What is the wish of city council?

Your Honor? Yes. I'd like to make a motion to approve the department head's contract as presented. Okay. We have a motion. Is there support?

Your Honor? Yes. Support. All right. We have a motion to support. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed say no. The motion carries. On to the next item under bid awards and purchases, Director of Public Services, scheduled replacement of chipper number 406. City Manager?

In fiscal year 2027, budget includes the accumulated funding for the scheduled replacement of brush chipper 406, which is a 2006 Bandit, funded through the Solid Waste Division. This piece of equipment has 20 years of service, and this machine has been rated as poor condition. This warranties a priority replacement. After various demonstrations and prior experience with other machines, staff believes that the unit provided by Vermeer will provide the best value for the city and best serve the needs of the Department of Public Services. Staff therefore requests that council approve the purchase of one Vermeer BC1800XL brush chipper in the amount of $102,853 as quoted by Vermeer Midwest of Fowler Ville through the source well purchasing cooperative Okay, thank you manager mark.

What is the wish of City Council?

Yeah, yes come closer to approve the purchase of one Vermeer bc-1 1800 XL brush chipper in the amount of one hundred and two thousand eight hundred and fifty three dollars as quoted by Vermeer Midwest of Flower Ville through the source wheel purchasing Corp Okay, we have a motion is there support?

Yes All right, we have a motion support any discussion by City Council The only thing that I would like to mention is that I know for a fact that one of the chippers just broke down during this latest storm So some of our residents did not get their brush chipped on the first day But they did come back and make it successfully and got through it. So it's obviously a need so With that said all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed say no motion carries Alright, and we're on to closing comments. We will start this evening with Councilman Fleming.

Okay. First of all, I want to say that we had a long Fourth of July weekend. It started on Friday and we had no power until Monday. But I thank the DPS, the Fire Department, and the Police Department for making sure everybody was safe and Nothing extraordinary happened to anybody. And eventually we had power. So that's a good thing. I know that DTE is not the fastest, but I know a lot of people were out there working for DTE trying to resolve our issues. And, you know, it's a lot of work for 300,000 plus customers. Also coming up on August 18th, if you didn't know last year, Chef Gordon Ramsay was there filming Nightmare Kitchens. I don't know what the kitchen looked like or what the status of the Boodles was, but on August the 18th, you'll be able to watch and see the transformation of Boodles on TV, and I'm looking forward to watching that. And then I want to say congratulations to all the Madison Heights Little League baseball teams that played this summer and the championship teams. and all the kids who went out there, had a great summer, made memories and friendships, and had a great time playing baseball. That's it. Okay, thank you, sir. Councilor Gerrard.

To that point, did any of the council member teams win? Quins? Quins. Yours?

Yep. We're going into the, I don't want to steal any thunder, but we're going into the championship game. It's going to be Wednesday night, and it will be... My team, the Dodgers versus the Cubs.

So pretty cool.

Hey, you're stealing my closing comments. Bills are all gone. Sorry, Mayor.

Is that this Wednesday night?

Yes.

Well, that segues into my comment. So it's going to be awfully hot. So I feel bad for those kids. But the Arts Board is canceling their Wednesday night event because of how hot it's going to be. We'll be postponing it. Martha, if you were going to come up and tell jokes, I'm sorry, I'll have to wait until another time because open mic night and karaoke will be postponed to another night.

Early voting starts on Saturday, July 25th at the Royal Oaks Senior Community Center located at 3500 Marias Avenue.

That is north of 13 Mile Road. and east of Crooks. The hours are 8.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. daily, except for Thursday, July 30th, when the hours are noon to 8 p.m. Voting locations will be open on Election Day August 4th from 7 a.m. To 8 p.m Please remember that this is a partisan primary and that you have to you can only choose one party to vote for so you've had to pick their Democratic side of the Republican side and then continue on and vote the part is the nonpartisan section This is the first election since we consolidate our precincts So please be sure to check your voter ID card or the city website to verify your voting location And thank you to all the citizen volunteers that help administer election day. And please be kind to your neighbors that are working. Thank you.

All right. Thank you.

Manager Marsh.

I've got nothing today.

All right. City attorney.

I just know you often hear a lot of. Complaints from people, but they don't always come up to you with compliments. And I was out to eat in Southfield, and our server happened to be a Madison Heights resident who came up and gave some unsolicited praise to the city, saying that you did an exceptional job with the storm cleanup. So I thought I would share that.

Excellent. Thank you. Councilor Wright.

Yeah, along those same lines, I would like to say thank you to our friends at IBEW Local 17. Those are the line workers that fix the lines. So thank you to those guys for getting out there. They're part of DTE, and they're the ones that get called in from around the country to clean up the lines. I know a lot of folks, I guess a third of us were without power. I was not in that group, so thank goodness. But it did remind me of a couple of things. First, if you've lived in Madison Heights longer than a year, you know we lose power at least once a year. So for my folks who have CPAP machines and other types of equipment that they need plugged in, please be prepared with a backup source of energy and power. You know, as someone who sleeps with a CPAP machine, I understand how critical it is when that power goes out. You need to have a plan in place. So I hope that the power never goes out, but that's unrealistic. So please have a backup plan. Have somewhere to stay. Have somewhere to go over this week when it gets super hot. It's a great time to go window shopping. in stores that have air conditioner or make a purchase at one of our fine local establishments. On that note, we have a couple of great places in our city which, unfortunately, due to the economy, are going to have to leave our city and either consolidate their business or shut down in Cadillac Straits and also in, I believe it's Michigan Artesian. Is that their name? Artisans. Both fantastic establishment that bring life and culture to our city. The thing about our money is it has a multiplying effect. And when we spend it in the city, it benefits us directly by helping with our property value, with our community, with so many things. So that's why it's important to shop local. And it's also important to understand that, you know, I think sometimes people, they say, I just don't have the money. But we don't always get to choose between not spending money and spending it, what we get to choose from is spending more or spending less. And so with that, I want to segue to keep that in mind for those folks who are like, well, I don't want to pay for the roads because I don't need them or it costs too much or I don't have it. It's not always going to be a choice of spending no money or some money. It's going to be, do we spend more together or do we spend more apart? And honestly, a lot of these programs that our city does, a lot of folks who are watching Share this with your friends. Our city does a fantastic job with our city finances. There is not a lot of slush. There's not a lot of fluff. There's not a lot of extra money laying around like people like to think. I think sometimes we can get caught up in the bigger numbers and say, well, the city has a budget of $64 million. So that just means we have all this money, but we also have maybe $65 million in bills and staff. When we say we want to support our police and firemen, That's where that money goes. A lot of folks might not know our priorities, but our priorities are supporting our police and our fire and our staff. And we can only do that with the support of the residents. And it's what brings life to our city and brings value to our city. So I'm not going to tell people which way to vote. I hope you can read between the lines and see how I feel about it. But this idea that you can't afford it, voting no doesn't mean you'll be able to afford it more. It might potentially mean you can afford it less. Please support that. And when the power is out, one thing that I know that we don't do intentionally is sometimes we get a little testy. And so just remember to be kind to each other and know that we're all going through some stuff, particularly when you don't have power. So look out for your neighbors. Remember, above all things, give them some grace. Remember they might be going through some things, but they might not have power. So let's just remember those things when we vote. Remember those things when we're out in the public. And that's why we give credit more to our police because we see them as our heroes as they are, and our firemen because they wear the uniform. But DPS is right out there with them. And like I said, IBW, all those folks, they're out there together. And I don't want to discredit anyone. Chief, you know I feel about you guys. I know I'm with you. But let's remember to give everybody a little bit of grace. And finally, mark your calendars. And everybody, get your car together. Put it together in pieces. Tow it there. hopefully you can drive it there. Revenant in the Heights is September 19th. Please forgive us. We're trying to get the website up this week. Will you be able to register? It's a fun event. We usually partner with the fire station. Last year we had RC cars out. We had some good food. We're hoping to do it again, have a great event, some surprises. We're working on a car limbo with our partner, Murray Path, who's a part of the car industry. I don't know how that works, but we'll find out together. But mark your calendar, September 19th, 9 to 3, There's a Mayor's Choice Police Chief Choice Award. So we don't do first, second, and third prizes. We try and make it inclusive from that perspective. So there's a City Council Award. So September 19th, I hope to see you there. And like I said, remember to be kind.

Okay, thank you. Mayor Pro Tempore.

Thank you, Your Honor. On that note, the historical, the heritage rooms will also be open that day from 11 to 1. So while you're here checking out the cars, come out and check out some of the cool stuff we have downstairs in the basement from the history of Madison Heights. So partner up with them. Thank you. Big shout out as several folks have mentioned to our DPS staff and the electrical workers and I know that's not a fun job. I used to work at DTE and our job is it was 105 degrees outside. It's not an easy job, and we did a fantastic job dealing with that. It's going to be hot as heck this week as well, so please try to stay cool if you can. Seek out places that can help with that. The new chipper is certainly going to get a workout with all up and running soon. In comment to Councilor Geralds, the championship game was scheduled for tomorrow night. We have postponed it from tomorrow night to Wednesday night. Hopefully the temperatures will be a little bit cooler on Wednesday. We will continue to watch that. So we are trying to take care of the heat. The high school association Limits or dictates that feels like temperature of a hundred and five Is the cutoff so? We kind of loosely try to follow that so we'll keep an eye on Wednesday so that that is the good news is I want to let everybody know that we have rescheduled so of your plan on coming out tomorrow come out on Wednesday instead and I MENTIONED SEVERAL MONTHS AGO THAT QUINN AND LARRY SHERMAN'S TEAM WERE SPLIT THE LAST TWO YEARS AND THAT MAYOR HAINES WAS ENTERING THE MIX THIS YEAR AND SURE ENOUGH MAYOR HAINES' TEAM HAS KNOCKED OFF LARRY SHERMAN'S TEAM. SO IT WILL BE QUINN AND CORY GOING AT EACH OTHER NOT PHYSICALLY. Wait a minute, let me rephrase that. They're teams. As we mentioned, the Cubs and the Dodgers, and it should be a pretty good game. Those are two pretty good teams going at each other there. So that'll be fun. There'll also be two other games going that night. The 8-year-olds and the 12-year-olds will also be playing that night. So we've got plenty of hot dogs left over. We've got plenty of ice cream left over. We've got plenty of pop and Gatorade left over. So come on out. Those will all be on sale. And join us and Martha... I've been singing the national anthem the last month or so because our CD player is broke. So you'll be happy to have you join us on Wednesday and you can get your karaoke in. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, sir. Councilwoman Aaron.

Thank you. It's a lot going on. And I just want everybody, as everyone is saying, it's too hot, it's too hot. Just remember, in a few short weeks, we're going to be saying, it's too cold, it's too cold. Let's enjoy this hot. But a couple of things. I don't like hot. I don't like sweaty.

A couple of things.

With the power outage, it is ironic because As many times as we've had power outages, since I've lived in the city of Madison Heights for 17 years, I only can recall actually having two power outages. I've never experienced it. My son and I were like, what is going on? We do not have power. I've only had two in the 17 years. I've been blessed and lucky, right? And so I... did not know how to handle it, but I did very well. But I do want residents to know that though we are council members and the mayor, we do not control DTE. We cannot get your power on. I had had a few neighbors say, can't you call them and tell them who you are? My power is out just like yours and they don't care. But we cannot fix the problem. But And, you know, I laughed with my mom as she said, everyone in my family lost power except my mom. She said this was the way of getting us all together in one house, to bring families back together to talk. My mom has lived in this house for probably eight years, and I promise you, over the holiday weekend was the first time I've ever taken a shower in her bathroom. Because I don't spend the night at her house. But that's one. Secondly, you all are saying how hot it's going to be on July 15th. Yes, we have canceled open mic karaoke. Yes, we have a softball game, baseball game, little league game. However, the library board, where you could be in the nice air-conditioned building, we are having Disability Pride Month. And we will have a parent speaking about neurodivergent autism from a parent's perspective. I wish that you all could come out at 6.30 on Wednesday at the library to hear this. This is part one of our series. Part two will take place on July 29th where we're going to actually, no, part one is an educator. Part two is the parent's perspective. So I think this is going to be a really nice event for everyone. Finally, over, I think it was last week, my son got an opportunity to play in Farmington Concert Band and they played outdoors at Belle Isle underneath the, um, and their band, Shell. But can I tell y'all something? They don't have nothing on us. I was looking at the crowd, and I said, oh my god. Madison, we're doing something good. So if you all have not come out to one of our summer concert series, please, please, please make the next three. July 22nd, we have Night Sky Alumni, which is a 90s alternative band. August 5th, the Weekend Comeback, which is, they were here last year. They were backed by Popular Demand, which is a pop rock. And then on August 19th, Sonic Freeway, which is a top 40s band. And I was unable to make the last Wednesday, but Lori sat in and she told us that there were over 70 people in the audience. So if we can get more, we have food trucks on site. And we're having more food trucks than I put in place. I think they're hearing about it, and the food trucks are probably, like, parking. But we have food trucks on site, so you don't have to run home to fix a meal. 6.30, we're done by 8, and it is a wonderful concert. So please come out and join us. Thank you. We are rescheduling karaoke. We have a couple of dates tentative right now, and we'll let you all know. All right.

Thank you. I just have a couple of comments. First and foremost, again, thank you to Police, Fire, DPS for all the extra hard work they put in over the long Fourth of July weekend. And with that said, I have been able to partner with Barcode Auto, which is on 14 Mile Road. And we're going to be bringing a full lunch to Police, Fire, and DPS tomorrow at about 11 a.m. So we're going to be meeting up at Barcode Auto. Again, they're paying for the whole thing and donating it to our police, fire, and DPS. So thank you to them for partnering with us in doing that for our first responders. And like Councilor Wright had said, we often talk about police and fire because those are the ones that we see in the uniform. But without DPW, we're in bad shape because they're the ones that do everything to do with the water, the sewer, and all of our other utilities. Again, we're going to give a big thank you to them tomorrow. As far as the Little League Baseball Championship, I'm just excited that we got to the end. These kids were so exciting to see the kids having so much fun at the last games that I was able to attend last week. It was really something special to see a couple of the kids that were on my team that got hit pretty hard with a couple of wild pitches, so to speak. They got their base, but they took it like professionals. I mean, they shook it off, and one was a really pretty hard hit. But they did fantastic. So it was really fun watching them and watching how excited they were to play in the game. So, again, thank you, Mayor Pro Tem Muir, for doing all you do with that. Let's see. Lastly, I wanted to say one thing about what Councilwoman Aaron said. And contrary to popular belief, like she said, The mayor does not have a magic button that they push that has your power turned back on. It was unbelievable how many messages and emails that I got asking why I hadn't turned people's power back on. I'm like, I wish I had the ability to do that. But I mean, and it got nasty. Some people were not very happy. And it's like, I wish we could do something. But unfortunately, we had a very powerful storm cell that came through. and infrastructure is dated, right? We know that, and DTE's been working on upgrading that, and hopefully they'll work harder and get some of these trees down that cause some of the problems. But unfortunately, all we can do is the same thing that everybody else does. When we don't have power, we call DTE and get on the list. And I did that for several residences where I kept checking back. But one thing that we're able to do, and I really want to give my thanks to Manager Marsh, I contacted her during the power outage and we were able to open up the fire station so that people that had CPAP machines or had oxygen machines or had cell phones that that's all they had, they could come in here for a few hours and charge their devices. We had water. DTE had donated two pallets of water, I believe, to our active adult center, so we were able to make some of that water available to residents that didn't have the ability to get it. So again, now that we have this heat wave coming again, this week, the next couple of days, our library is open during the daytime, so don't forget that you can come to the library and at least cool off, maybe charge a couple of your items that you need to have charged, and hopefully we get through this together. And other than that, that's all I have, so I will adjourn the meeting this evening at 7.31 p.m. Thank you, everybody.