City Council - Regular Meeting

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Everything. Good evening, Garden City. Like to call to order regular city council meeting for Monday, March 23rd, 2026 at 7 pm. Our first order of business is our opening ceremony which consists of the national anthem followed by the pledge of allegiance followed by a moment of silence for those service members who have given their lives for our country. If everyone please rise. Heat. Heat.

Hallelujah. Mr. Smith, if you'd take role, please.

Mayor Jacobs, here. Mayor Prom Dold here. Council member Hughes here. Council member Wit here. Council member King here. Council member Dol here. Council member Kapotus here. We have a quorum of seven. Thank you. Item four is our approval of the agenda. Mayor, council member Wit like to make a motion to approve the Monday, March 23rd regular council meeting agenda as presented. Support from Mayor Prom Dold. Comments from table from public. All in favor?

I opposed. Motion passes 70. Okay, we have no recognitions. I see no state or county officials. We do have a presentation today from third circuit court of Michigan. Uh it's anformational presentation. So I'd like to introduce uh Judge Lawrence LSL. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, Senator Davian.

It's an honor and a privilege to be here. Uh as you said, my name is Lawrence Ellis. I am a judge at the Wayne County Third Circuit Court downtown. Uh it's a privilege and an honor to be here, mayor, members of the council, city manager. I also saw some of the chiefs and higherups here in the room as well. So, thank you all for having me. Um, I also have Mike Scott here. He's our communications director from the court as well. So, why are we here? Let's get right to it. I'll be brief. We'll keep moving. Um, we are doing community outreach. We are connecting with our cities and one of the reasons is is because the structure of our court is we are the higher court or the court that is uh oversees in a sense all the city courts. So if you think about, you know, your own city here, Garden City, your neighboring Inkingster, Dearborn Heights, Westland, every city has their own district court and that's a lot of times where cases start depending on the type of case. Sometimes it transfers down to the circuit court uh on a criminal level. So we uh we are involved. We work uh in collaboration with a lot of courts. We work in collaboration with a lot of other entities and we'll talk about that uh briefly. Uh, a big part of what we are doing is just doing community outreach, introducing ourselves, trying to let people know what the court does. A lot of times we don't interact with the court as a citizen, uh, too often, so sometimes it's good to just kind of know what we're doing. We're we're all elected officials just like you are here. Uh, and this is part of our community service and serving the citizens that we all are elected to serve. So, uh, a big part of what we do is, um, criminal cases, we do civil cases, we do, uh, family law cases. So, one way or another, we encompass a lot of our daily life issues. Uh, and it's not always bad. There's a lot of good things we do. We do um adoptions. We do uh reunifications. We do um we swear in new lawyers. So, those are, you know, we we we do that process. When when a lawyer passes the bar, they have to go through a swearing and we handle that as well. Uh adoption day is always a

wonderful day for for everyone on all sides of the table. We also do law day. It's a big event where we have high school students and other students come from all over the the city and state and we educate them about the law and some have an interest to go into law and some are uh you know accomplishing their community service requirements and everything else. But u that's always a fun day for us to be involved uh with the community directly as well. Um I think we're here on the juror slide. I'm sorry I forgot to uh give the prompt. There you go. All right. Uh a large part of what we do, especially in the criminal division, is we have jury trials. That is where we have members of the community come in, they are summoned, and they uh have the opportunity to serve as a juror. And um it's a big part of the process. It's a whole system. It's a whole process. It's it's one of the most important fundamental parts of our justice system. And we always emphasize that. Uh sometimes people consider it a frustration or an obligation, but really it's an opportunity. And usually, especially in our court, we have a new criminal justice center that was uh just built, and we're we're really excited about that. It's not often a courthouse or or a part of a justice system gets a whole new building. So, we have a brand new building. It's beautiful windows, a lot of light. Uh the jurors that uh are selected and serve on a jury panel, their experience has been extremely positive. The feedback is wonderful. Um it it really is it's a it's a good feeling. Once you once you get there, you you you are part of something. It's something larger than yourself, and a lot of the jurors really appreciate it. So, with our new criminal justice center, we are able to serve the citizens of Wayne County much better. Um, parking is free. That's a huge thing. Uh, a lot of times at courts, that's not always a luxury. I know in Garden City, uh, there we don't charge for parking here, but, uh, in some of our buildings because we're intertwined with the city county building and other things that is really not in our control. and it's just the reality of being a circuit court in the center of

downtown. So, we have four buildings. We have um our criminal justice center that's brand new. We have our family uh domestic division. That's where we have uh divorce cases, custody cases, parenting time issues, and all the other things related to family issues. And that's downtown at the, you know, where you see the big statue or spirited Detroit. That's uh that's our large section of the court. And that's where I'm actually stationed. I serve currently in the family uh domestic division of the Wayne County Court. I also served in the criminal division. Uh and I currently handle sometimes both cases depending on if there's a case that I handled before and something else comes up or something is filed on it. So um all right, next slide talks about third judicial circuit and its Michigan impact is a trial court. Uh again as I explained early on we sit above for example this court. So if someone were to come here uh feel that you know they want to appeal something or they disagree with the ruling of the court here they have the opportunity to appeal and it would come down to our courthouse for another judge to review the proceedings and what happened on a legal uh sense at this lower level court if you will. So there's a diagram there of the the level our court there's a court of appeals who sits above us. So each level of the court usually has a a court that's above that citizens are able to appeal to if they have a concern or feel that they want to address something a little more detailed or more thoroughly with regard to appealing a legal issue in their trial. So uh there's the district courts, then there's our circuit court, then above us is the court of appeals, and then at the all the way top there is the Michigan Supreme Court. Uh just like there's the United States Supreme Court and the state, it it mirrors that system. And we have a Supreme Court that sits in Lancing as well. All right, next slide talks about uh just some overall birthday, 250th birthday as a union. Uh and this is just kind of a little history lesson. You know, the it's interesting because the state court

system uh wasn't expressly in the constitution and it's always you think it would absolutely be in there, right? But uh the state con or the federal constitution initially article 3 created the federal uh judicial system and the federal judiciary and what was supposed to happen where the states were supposed to be given authority to handle federal issues and make decisions. Uh long story short, fast forward, each state has its own constitution as you know and the state uh in mi the state of Michigan just like any other state has given authority to create what is our state system uh here obviously in in uh in Michigan. So that's kind of a a very short brief history lesson. Talks about the judiciary act of 1789 which created the initial structure of the federal court and now we've expanded that to include the state courts and that is where we get our authority to to serve as a judge and and give an order that has authority behind it. All right, next slide talks about mission and vision. Uh again, our mission is to serve the community by by providing accessible and equal justice for all. And that's truly um what we believe in as judges. Uh a lot of my colleagues and benchmates um we really a big part of what we do every day is just really serve and protect due process, right? And that's a fancy way of saying that if any citizen in our community has an issue, whatever side they're on, if if they're, you know, even if it's a criminal case, we want to make sure that the process and they're treated fairly and the whole system is serving as it should. All right. So, uh, that that truly is something in our heart and that's something that we we try to do. Our vision is to be an exemplary and innovative court. Um, we do court in person and by Zoom. So, we kind of are a little advanced, if you will, in the technology level. Uh, and we do that because again it's about access. So someone doesn't have to leave their job. Someone doesn't have to come downtown pay for parking. They don't have to find a babysitter. They don't have to miss

you know a day of work. So sometimes that Zoom is truly a blessing for those that want to handle their case or they want to talk about their, you know, their custody issue or whatever case it is. They have the opportunity to appear by Zoom. And a lot of the judges are flexible and it's kind of a hybrid thing where we have some people in person usually every day, but we also have people on the screen. Uh and depending on the level of the hearing, you usually can appear by Zoom. So, all right. About our court specifically, we have uh 60 judges in the Wayne County Circuit Court. So, that's pretty um pretty impressive if you think about it. But we have four divisions. So, you know, there's about 12 to 15 judges. Some have a little more, some have a little less. In each division, uh there's 25 referees. Those are kind of mini judges, if you will, and they kind of do the first screening of family law cases when people come in and they're having parenting time disputes or um they're trying to figure out what would custody be and what would be best for the child. A lot of times they'll start with the referee and the referee will kind of sit with the parties and get some background and information and put together a report. So when the judge gets it, we kind of have some background in history and we're able to focus on the child and do what's best for that child to make sure that, you know, both parents are involved and we have a pretty decent, you know, fair parenting time schedule and everything else. And it's really child focused. When you're in family court, you're in the domestic division, you'll always hear in the best interest of the child. That's kind of a very common theme. And that's really what the focus is. and and and our job as judges is to bring the parents and the family together to kind of remind them of that focus and try to do what we can to assist everybody to have uh just the best parenting plan possible so so the child has the the best opportunity that uh that child can four locations I talked to you about that we also have a family juvenile division for for children that are under 18 uh and it could be for issues in the home issues at school it could be a number of things

and We have a a specialized uh juvenile court. Again, we have the criminal division. And then the front of the court is in another building that um is in the Ponopscot building. So, we have we have quite a bit going on in our court. Next slide talks about um just the Wayne County Circuit Court in general. And this really just highlights the the divisions and other entities that are not uh I guess expressly part of our court, but we work with them every day in and out. And we do a lot with them. for example, the Wayne County Sheriff's Department. They provide security for the court, for the judges, for the jurors, of course, which is always the most important. Uh we also work with the Wayne County Clerk and her um you know, her division and her clerks who serve us um and are the keeper of the records and then also the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office who handles all the criminal side of the prosecutions when when things uh don't go so well for people. All right, next slide talks about the divisions. I've kind of intertwined this already, but this gives you a a quick outline of what each division does. Civil um simple way to talk about this and I I usually tell people this has to do when two businesses are in disagreement or there's a contractual issue or someone's in an auto accident and now we're really dealing with the money part or the financial part. That's really what civil law is. Uh then we have the criminal law and again a lot of criminal cases start in the city that the crime occurred in. And if it's a more serious crime, it could always go downtown to the circuit court to the felony division if they are charged with a felony. So depending on the type of crime, uh it could stay in-house, meaning at the Garden City District Court, or if it's a more serious crime, a lot of times it's bound over and sent downtown uh to be dealt with in the in the felony process through one of the uh felony judges. Family domestic, I talked to you about that. Divorce, child support, custody, parenting time, uh PPOs, personal protection orders. So, there's a whole lot of things that happen in the family uh division of the uh Wayne County

Circuit Court and um we we we deal with a lot every day and and uh it's it's one of the busiest divisions in that courthouse and you'll see in the next slide in a moment the uh the number of cases and then family juvenile deals with delinquency when someone is under 18 and also adoption and guardian matters and truency when when someone is not going to school as they should. Juvenile division handles all that. All right, almost there. One or two more slides talks about we are the busiest circuit court in Michigan. I I think we're the busiest court in the world. It might be a personal feeling, but um you could see the difference in cases. Civil cases are, you know, about 18,000. I won't get into the numbers too much, but what's interesting is is that criminal cases are 7,000, but family cases are 33,000. Um, and that's just, you know, the reality of sometimes people just can't get along or there's some other issues and um there there's a lot of filings and um and and again remember you don't all our filings are not married people that have children. You could just have a custody case. You could have two people that have a child and they can't figure it out or having issues or whatever it is. They, you know, they'll file their case for to for the court to handle and help them with custody uh agreements. And finally, our last slide is a magnificent photo of our bench. These are my colleagues and friends. Um, I am somewhere way in the back in the middle. Uh, if you're bored and you want to look for myself, but these are our uh team and these are our judges. And these are all the judges from all the divisions, family, criminal, civil, and juvenile. And um we are honored to serve and we are um honored to be able to communicate and meet many of you here today. And uh that that's it. That concludes what I have. I just really wanted to do an introduction. I know it's a lot in a quick pace, but you know, it's a it's a good start and a good introduction and good way to meet our neighbors. So with that, I would

love any questions or anyone. Council have any questions for Judge Lisl? I will thank you for coming in and presenting all this information. Uh, you know, mayor, what's interesting is I stood at this podium for many years as an attorney and I would come before your judge, uh, Hammer, and I would stand. Which one? In this thing, Richard, father and son. Oh, okay. All right. All right. Well, then the father. Yeah. So, um, but yeah, I've been in this room many, many years and many times, so it's an honor to be back. Thank you. Any questions, council? I just have a comment. Yeah. Uh, I was glad to see that the family court is a higher number than the criminal court. That was actually lower than I thought it would be.

Good point. See a positive spin. There you go. There you go. That's why you're on council. See? All right. That's a good way to look at it. I'll use that in my next speech. I appreciate that. Mayor, Council Member King, just a quick question. So, regarding the judges, do you guys have like a geographical area or when something gets appealed from Garden City, does it go to a certain judge or it could go to any judge? Cases are assigned randomly. So, you don't know what's coming or what's not coming. So any case that let's say it starts here on a criminal case and it's more serious and it goes downtown, the computer will just do a random assignment. Okay. Uh to to uh but we are we are assigned to divisions. So if if if you're in a criminal uh if you're in the criminal division, you'll just get that case and you you might not it just there you don't know until the computer assigns it.

Okay. Thanks. Does that answer the question? It does. It does. Yeah. So further comments or questions? And we cover all Wayne County. So we get criminal cases from every city in this county. So that's why we are very busy. A very busy courthouse. So big big load there. Yes, for sure. Mayor, Mayor Promole, how you doing? All right. Thank you. I'm just curious when you go through the procedure up to the Supreme Michigan Supreme Court. Is that it or can you take it further to the

You know, there there is a way to jump over into the federal system. I've never seen it done in my career, but there is a a formal way to do that. If you if you truly appeal and go all the way to the Supreme Court, right, um, in the in the state and you still feel that something was absolutely wrong and your rights were not honored or or process wasn't there, uh, you do have an opportunity to jump over and have it looked at even one more time. But usually, it's usually that's the end of the road. Realistically, the the Michigan Supreme Court, just like the the United States Supreme Court, it's kind of the court of last resort. At that point, you've exhausted. Remember, you've started at a lower trial court, then you went to a court of appeals, now you're at another level. So, it's usually been reviewed at least twice by the time it gets there. So,

okay. Thank you. Of course. Further comments, questions? Anybody from the public want to ask a question? I'm sorry to have my back to you, but that's the way the room is set up. Yes. Go ahead, Mr. Come on up, Mr. Mhler. All right. about my $15 million. They tried to appeal it and they wouldn't even take the case. So, you mean you appeal the case and it was the city did. Okay. And they refuse to even take it.

Okay. And and and that is uh that happens often. Sometimes things are reviewed and it's up to those appellet judges, whatever level it is, to make a decision if they are um if there's there's enough issue for them to hear the case. That was definitely a left issue when when our lawyer give us a million dollars towards a settlement. I think that would be a hell of a Okay. All right. You might be right. I don't know enough about the details, but I can talk to you about the procedure. I just know that they have to make a decision on are there legal issues there that weren't addressed at the lower court for them to appeal. You'd have to be up if you couldn't. Okay. I'll trust you on that. You are much more familiar with the case than than I am. Okay. Uhhuh.

Yeah. Thank you, council. Any more questions or comments? Nope. Judge, again, I appreciate you coming in. Council app. Thank you again. Have a nice evening.

Thank you. Thank you, council. Thank you. Thank you. Have a nice evening. Okay. Uh item eight is community events. Uh, I believe Garden City Police Chief Bobard, uh, Chief Arnoski is gonna give us some info.

Good evening, Mayor Councel. Um, I just want to come up and put out there that we are still running the Garden City Police Academy. We are still have a few openings and are looking for a few more people that might be interested. Some information on it is it's a 10-week course. It will begin April 2nd, which is the Thursday, and run every Thursday from then for 10 Thursdays. Um the classes we've added an extra half hour because we found that our instructors talk quite a bit and two hours wasn't enough. So they run from 6:00 to 8:30. Uh anybody who lives in the city, has a business in the city, knows somebody in the city, goes to church in the city is eligible to apply. I have another one here that we've added a few more classes. So we also are going to be doing some arson investigation information. Lieutenant Smith's going to put that on. We're going to present attack medical class and also the one abbreviation that you got me on last time, CRAS, which is the citizens response to armed asalants, is also going to be presented at that one. So, if you've taken the class before, you may want to try and sign up for another academy just because we have changed some of the curriculum going forward. And if you were one of the originals, it has changed over the years since you've been there. So, I extend the invitation to anybody that's interested. And like I said, we still have a few openings left. So, thank you for your time.

Thank you, Chief. And from what I've heard, it's an awesome uh class to attend. Uh we have no petitions or communications. We do have a public hearing on the uh malicious malicious use of service um provided by telecommunications surviv uh service provider. Uh Mr. Gibbons, you'd like to explain it a little bit.

Yes. Thank you, mayor and councel. Um, this is a public hearing to discuss the amendment of ordinance 131.07 originally obscene or harassing telephone calls. Note the word telephone calls. Um, the reason the impetus behind this uh amendment is to modernize our telephone harassing or harassing telephone calls ordinance to make it more modern for the more unique ways of communications we have these days. Um more than likely most of our telephone calls are coming from telemarketers these days and uh a lot of our communication is being done through text, email, Snapchat, Instagram and all other manner of uh electronic um telecommunication. So um in order to modernize it, we've um completely redone our um ordinance 13107 um now titled malicious use of service provided by telecommunication service provider. um in order to encompass all the different ways you might call and harass someone or be harassed um so that it's much more enforceable on our local ordinance level which um you know just to to build upon um you know uh the the circuit court judges statements um our local ordinance are enforceable here and they could stay in the 21st district as misdemeanors. That's what this is and allows our judge here to utilize our ordinances to um protect our citizens when they're um being harassed via telecommunications device.

Okay. Thank you. At this time, I will uh open up the public hearing for anybody wishing to speak on on this uh uh ordinance. Uh I'm just curious if this is going to include like social media as well or is it mostly things that are pertaining to like phones, tablets, calls and texts and that kind of stuff. Go ahead.

Certainly uh any telecommunications device. So if that social media um communication was occurring through a cell phone, tablet, anything that used telecom communication services which is defined very broadly um you know and uh you know I our police department has reported finding that that is becoming a more common way that in person. Yes. Basically. Okay. Any any further public comment also residents?

Good evening. As the police chief though, I just wanted to come up and let council know that the police department does support the amendment and the update to this and we're actually happy to see it. So, it will give us more enforcement power. We encounter this problem a lot of times as people are being harassed now by social media, texts, and other sources other than phone calls and we don't have a method to get them justice, so to speak. So, this will let us take more action for them. So, thank you very much for your time today. Further comments from the public? I'll ask one more time. Any more comments from the public on this? Okay, at this time I will close the public hearing on that. Uh and next up is our consent agenda. Mayor,

council member Whit like to make a motion to approve the consent agenda items A 1 through 4 as presented. Support from council member Hughes. Discussion from table from the public. All in favor? I I oppose. Motion passes 70. Okay. Onto our action items. First one is uh the ordinance amendment that we just had a public hearing on.

Mayor, Council Member King, I move to approve the proposed ordinance amendment to chapter 131 of the Garden City Code of Ordinances amending section 131.07, obscene or harassing telephone calls to 131.07, 07 malicious use of service provided by telea telecommunications service provider as presented. Support for mayor prom do discussion from table. Mayor may go ahead. Go ahead. Council member King.

Um overall I I think this is a great update because the previous one was very brief. However, I do have a couple uh concerns on some of the wording in the new proposed ordinance. Um the first one was basically in the first section section A I'll just read it as as it reads. A person who maliciously uses an any service provided by a telecommunication service provided with intent to terrorize, frighten, intimidate, threaten, harass, molest or annoy another person or to disturb the peace and quiet of another person by doing any of the following is guilty of a misdemeanor. Uh the one word I I have concern was the word annoy. It seems very subjective and could be used for you know abuse I guess is my my thought. Everything else terrorize, frighten, intimidate. Obviously we shouldn't be doing that through text but annoy

pretty broad. Yeah, it's pretty broad.

Um it is broad. Um but also um you know uh to establish the violation of any ordinance you have to have two things. um one is the actis ray means you did something and two the men's ray which means you had some type of criminal intent included with that action. So um sort of embedded with any word we're using in the course of this ordinance there has to be some type of criminal intent. Um I think what your fear and and logically would be I'm just trying to get a hold of someone and um I don't know that I'm annoying them or they're being annoyed. Well, you would have to have some type of articulation or some type of knowledge demonstrated. Um, of course this ultimately up to the judge or a jury, but as as presented is that they are um they have some type of intent to commit some type of criminal act that was duly notified by this uh ordinance. And I think the concept of um you know terrorize, frighten, intimidate, threaten, harass, molest or annoy um you know uh broadens it enough to be sufficient to prevent someone doing it who we may have a difficulty putting into those other word those other categories. Certainly, it's it's council's um you know, choice to determine what these words mean, but our city attorney drafted this based on um researching other u telecommunications uh ordinances such as this in our area and felt necessary to include it. I understand why, but I understand why also it might be regarded as too broad. But I think broad uh is what we're shooting for with this ordinance to a certain degree because of the variety of ways in which you can encourage communication uh devices. So

just to provide the background on the on on why that word's there. Other comments from the table? Mayor Council just one more. Um, so section six, which six? There's two.

Um, under a A6, it talks about making an unsolicited commercial telephone call that is received between the hours of 900 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. However, there's a federal law that says from 900 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. I think this one kind of conflicts a little bit with with the federal rule and with preeemption. And I don't know how if we'd be able to hold something to this if it's there's a federal one with different time frame and I think it's also adds a little complication in there. I think if anything we should at least match what the federal level

no problem um aligning with that um you know I well I don't believe there's anything for us that would prevent us from broadening it as long as we're not saying you can before 8 a.m. um because it the federal law it sounds like controls uh for from 9:00 a.m. to 8 a.m. But, um, there's nothing wrong with if, uh, council's preference is that the, uh, the hours match, that that that's a logical way to operate. We have two sixes in there. Yeah, there's two. There's a Yeah, I see. Oh, there two sixes actually. Yeah, there's a seven then an eight. It's the first six. Yep.

Yeah, that's misnumbering. And that's all I have. just wanted to get other council feedback and uh possibly changing A6 the first six to match the federal rule and I would I would still like to see a striking the word annoy. I don't think I think it still holds enough weight and it's much better than we had prior but that's just my feeling can discuss it. Oh, mine was just to make a housekeeping note to uh adjust the numbering on that. So it will be 678 instead of 667. Second six to seven and seven to eight.

Okay. Further comments, discussion from the table. Council member Dol. Um, I I I agree with uh Council Member King that we should probably change the B6 to 9 to 8 a.m. Mhm.

But as as far as the other issue um with your explanation, I mean, when there's criminal intent, I I don't have a problem with that with that being in there because I I can picture I've actually been a victim of that, being criminally annoyed. And um I I I just think it should stay. Further comments from the table? Further comments? comments from the uh public. Oh, I have a comment. I thought you were talking about Dom. Okay, Council Member Kerotus. So, just clarifying six is actually telemarketers, right? That's what it's for. Um, no. I um Yeah. Well, yes.

Commercial telephone call. Commercial telephone call. Yes. Yes. So, any any telemarketers are not supposed to call during that time for us in that time. Correct. And if our time is different, how would they know if it's they're going federal? If If how how would they know? I'm sorry. You mean they're in a different time zone or do you mean or something? I'm saying do most telemarketers go by a federal time zone and ours is different? Well, it's not necessarily time zone. It's just the time of day. I mean the time time of day is what I'm talking about,

right? And and I really it's up to uh council if we want to say yeah 8:05 is too early for a telemarketer to be calling me or 9:00 a.m. Um federal law does prohibit for 8 a.m. So um you know and as far as if prevent preeemption issues um exist that's always possible. You know I mean that would be something someone could bring up if they were found responsible of it but it's a more of a nuance determination legal determination. Um so I still feel like if it was in there um it wouldn't invalidate the entire ordinance. Um there is probably there is a silverability clause that we have with our ordinances. So um you know I I understand the matching the 9 to8 though um it does make it simpler

and uh you know it's easier probably to hold federal uh or telemarketers who are national calling you um to the federal standard and say well we gave you notice it's the same as the federal standard. So, okay. And then about uh number eight and it says that they have to be in a some kind of dating relationship or affectional involvement. Is that for everything? I mean that there's people that annoy other people all the time that aren't in a dating relationship. There's people that harass people. Does that just not apply or that's just general knowledge?

Just let me try to understand the uh That's what I'm saying. The other ones cover that and this is separate. Um, you know, the terminology used here is generally related to domestic violence. Um, so but I'm saying it doesn't have to be just that. All the other ones cover like a a business or a neighbor or whatever, right? Yeah. The conduct is still prohibited whether you're you're eight or not. This is just all of those. Um but specifically, you know, uh I imagine our city attorney has drafting this in the manner to consider dating relationship to be something that gets a little extra protection just because of the nature of especially telephone harassment, uh texting harassment, the threatening things that can come through that in relation to

Facebook stuff and all that. So, okay. Thank you. Further comments table? Council member Hughes. Um, with regards to um, Council Member King's mention of Annoy, it is pretty broad.

Um, I mean, I we ask our attorneys for these things, you know, with with uh, they're, you know, understanding that they have we're basing it on their knowledge, but it does seem pretty uh, vague in the sense that my annoying is different than your annoying. And then how do you prove somebody's intent? You know, if they are just in my words, I would think, you know, if they were they were just annoying. I mean, does it muddy the water for us or does it create um does it create, you know, um revolving door of somebody claiming that their neighbors annoying, you know, something

go ahead. So, I don't want to speak for the city attorney on this. Um, but in reading it, the way you kind of want to approach it is that section A is kind of a broad term definition of these are the negative, you know, effects felt by the victim. But it does say, you know, all these things by doing any of the following, which is guilty. So the sections one through eight is where it kind of lays out more in detail where it's just like well what does what constitutes annoyance and that would be the items in one through eight are where it's more defined where I think that section A is just kind of the you know this is the negative effect that the victim felt but how did they you know what was the action that caused them to feel this way and that's what one through eight kind of spells out. Thanks for that clarification.

Yeah. Yeah. The ultimately it's 1 through eight that defines whether the ordinance was violated. Not not an interpretation of the term annoy. It has to be whether these one through um eight have been violated. Um I think they're just the broader terminology is to just to recognize that this type of conduct um if that's what your purpose was um you know has that impact as the clerk stated. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Yeah, I I I uh I appreciate the clarification, too. That does sound a little better because I can read um number three is deliberately refusing or failing to disengage a connection between a teleocations device and another teleations device. So there therefore that could be annoying. I mean if you're asking somebody to discontinue this conversation and they refuse. So that's if I'm reading that right. Yeah.

Yeah. Yep. Okay. And you know in some other in particulars that you know some of our senior population can be uh manipulated by phone as we've noticed uh you know taking reports at the police department um with fraud and things like that. But maybe the act doesn't get carried out and maybe the intent of fraud can't be proven but we certainly can establish that maybe through a recording or or or some evidence of multiple calls and multiple questions um where some of this behavior and utilizing the word annoy is that broader way we can encompass some of those. Okay, further comments. Uh, I have one more, Council Kotus. This includes everything like Venmo and all the ways to send money and all that too, right?

Uh, it depends on the manner in which I know. Well, because they could get harassed through Venmo saying, "Send us the money." You know, you said not. Yeah. With the repeated request and things like that. Yeah. I'm trying to think of the context in which Venmo, but yes. Yeah. I I have one, mayor. I have one more. Oh, sorry. I was going to say, do we does council want to change this to the federal time of 8 a.m. And do we want to make it 8:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time? Uh, I'm not sure what the federal. The federal one is based on the time zone that the call is being placed to. Our time zone.

So, do we want to make that 8 a.m. to match the federal? Well, it's the motion maker and the second that have to make the determination. Council member King and Mayor Prom Dolt, they agree to that. Yeah, be fine. Modify my motion to include the change to A6 changing the time from 900 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. I'm also good with that. Got that change, Mr. Okay. Further comments from table from the public. Okay. All in favor? I opposed.

Motion passes 70. Okay. Item two is our 2026 concrete reconstruction program. I'll call Mr. Hman up, DPW director. want to make sure.

Good evening, mayor and council. Uh before you this evening, we have three contract proposals for our 2026 road bond projects. All three are contract extensions with proven, experienced contractors, which all three have done numerous work for us in the past. All three are very professional. They work great with the residents and they're very good at what they do. The first one is the concrete reconstruction program. The roads to be done are Maplewood from Henry Ruff to Harrison, part from Middle Belt to Garden, John Hawk from Middle Belt to Harrison, Garden Ford Road to John Hawk, Hartell, John Hawk to Partardau. All these roads were rated very poor on our uh Rick Paser study. Hard Rock Concrete has offered a concrete ex uh contract extension with just a small increase due to the rising cost of concrete. Hard Rock has done many projects for us in the past and have always done a great job.

Okay. Uh I will say this on page two from the letter from Hennessy we have six roads uh we repeated John Hawk middle belt to Harrison. So on page four is three or four whichever way you want to go uh it's in the correct order. We have five roads. Uh yep the second sheet has six which middle Belta Harrison is on there twice. So, okay. Looking for a motion from the mayor.

Council member Wit. like to make a motion to approve the contract extension for the 2026 concrete reconstruction program with Hard Rock Concrete of Westland, Michigan in an amount not to exceed $6,465,38 with a 10% contingency and to approve design and construction services with Hennessy Engineers of Southgate, Michigan in an amount not to exceed $636,988.98 and to approve construction management services and inspection fees to the Bachilli Group of Leavonia, Michigan in an amount not to exceed $149,946 for a combined project total 7,252,242.98 support

or from council member Kapotus discussion from table mayor council member do I just I have a couple of questions so the sealant that's going to be added um that's appears to be a little costly uh at a dollar per square foot is it possible Well, does that sealant have to be applied to the entire road or can we pinpoint the areas that are getting getting the most stress put put on them or maybe salt from the main roads, that kind of thing? John Hennessy from Hennessy Engineers is here tonight. He might be able to speak more on that.

Good evening, Mayor Council. Nice to see everyone. Um the sealant is uh an expensive addition through there and it's to prevent some of the flaking that you see through there because uh it's and uh we have the owner of Hard Rock here to present a little bit of a further in-depth conversation, but they've changed the type of cement, the Portland cement that's in concrete. Concrete is a mixture of a a variety of components. There's aggregate there, there's sand, there's water, there's Portland cement. And now we had a Portland cement that was referred to as a type one cement that had a max of 5% limestone in it. They've increased that to 10 to 15%. And that's created a little bit more of a pace that it's a little bit more susceptible to uh salt drip from cars through there. And that's why you see it so often in the gutter pan. And uh we're going to work with Brad to uh and Mr. and Hard Rock to look to see if there are roads that we may do and some roads that we might do a little less uh sealant on through there. Some of the roads that are very important to us, Maplewood obviously is a very important roadway through there that uh receives a tremendous amount of traffic. It's going to receive a lot of salt runoff from adjoining uh county roadway systems through there. So that's a road in particular we're pretty uh pretty worried about that we're going to go full through uh complete ceiling upon. So these are not to exceed costs. The cost may come in less when we're done with the project and we'll bring a summary to the council afterwards.

Okay, makes sense. We have another one. Go ahead. Go ahead. This is um going further into the the packet. the um project proposal from Buchelli on the rates and amounts. The total amount per project um is per engineering drawings and contractor inspector days. Prices do not include testing, staking, layout or cost associated with survey and that's on each one of these um each one of the proposals. So is there a I mean do we have an estimate? What what are we looking at there? or is it sometimes this is something that's in Hennessy's bid as far as the survey and as far as

Yeah, we do the in-house we we have a national certified laboratory in our facility. So, we do all the testing through there. We do all the layout through there and that's written up in our construction cost. So, it's that's kind of a moot point being it is nothing. Okay. Okay. That's all I had. Thank you. Further comments from the table, Council Member Hughes. Thank you. Hello, Mr. Hennessy. Good evening. Um on your um your memo here, you mentioned that the material price increase is a $1.50. Um however, on the quote from it's yeah there was$125. So I just want to make sure that um when you know calculations were done

the price reflects a$125 and went through the math through there and then obviously GV cement is a $150. There's a little difference between GV cement and hard rock. Hard Rock is laying down quite a bit more concrete than GV is as a sectioning contract. And that's what is the separation between the$125 versus the $150. But if they're all it equates to about 14 cents to 17 cents a square foot, which doesn't include any material increase obviously on their labor. It's just a a pass through for them from the supplier. Mayor Council Member Kerapotus. So, this is all coming from the road bond, right? Correct.

All of it's being paid for by the road bond. And then did you say that the Hard Rock is going to come up and talk because I know you said a little bit about the limestone, but Yeah. Tony. Our residents have a lot of questions about, you know, how the roads don't last as long, that kind of thing.

Hi. Uh, my name is Tony Kmaldi. I'm the president of Hard Rock Concrete. I started Hard Rock Concrete in the early 90s with my father. Fortunately, my father passed away 11 years ago and now I have my two sons working with me. So, it's three generations. We're right on for road in 275. So, we love working here in Garden City. It's so close. My concrete supplier is Mince Msina. He owns Msina Concrete. I've worked with him for 15 years. That's why my price increases less than everybody else is because I really went to bat said, "Hey, I love working in Garden City. Got to keep these prices down so we can get this job again." So that little$125 a square or a square yard, it's just covers the increase of the cement because concrete's made out of cement, sand, limestone, additives, water, and the cement is what keeps going up because there's only like two huge manufacturers in the whole country that supply the cement. So they really kind kind of got it strangle holded. Well, I guess the question is you talked about the limestone.

Yes. And so when residents ask questions, they always ask, "Well, this it's different now. It's made different. Doesn't last as long." Yeah. That that was federally mandated by the government to keep emissions down. It they have no choice. Any concrete company, Msina, Hercules, whoever, they have no choice. That's the only type of cement they can get with limestone. But we can't make that choice to say, "Hey, we're choosing this lower grade cement over because there is no other choice. Everybody has the same choice, right? Unless you want to go to Turkey. That's the only other place that makes the cement." Now,

I kind of think that the government's like, "Oh, wow. We got, you know, a little issue with some pitting and popping." That's why they lowered the percentage that's going to help. Like two years ago there it was pitting everywhere. last year just a couple little spots here and there on the curb and gutter. I think this year is going to be even better. I think quietly they're going to resolve the problem. And that has nothing to do like people always mention about how thick it is, you know. No, it has I that's just cosmetic four samples and it's it tests fantastic. Um I just want to be clear for our residents. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. Any other questions? Thank you,

Tony. If I just could I just you know we had a wonderful conversation a week ago where I felt like you provided a decent amount of information. Um some of the concern like we have Rush Street which is very close to Warren and there's just a ton of salt runoff. One our DPS does salt our new roads, right? Brad keeps an eye on and I know you communicate a lot with Brad to make sure that's the case. But there are some roads um that are located very close to major

county. They salt they salt wor belt like big time. They actually ran out of salt because they use so much salt. Seems like nowadays they're doing a lot less pushing. As soon as they get a little bit of snow, they salt it. So what happens is these cars that are running on worn road turn into rough street or whatever street and they go park and then when it sits there, the little bit of salt that's on the vehicle because it's warm drips down in the curb and gutter. And that's why you see just a little bit of pitting in the curb and gutter, not so much in the center of the road. So, um I don't know. I don't know.

These are the tough these are the tough uh decisions we make and that's one of the reasons we discuss some of the sealant. Um the sealer does work fantastic. You um the sealer it's a high penetrating sealer. It's not a water-based. It's not an inexpensive sealer. It penetrates the the surface of the concrete which is like skin. has pores and it stops from any freezing or any popping and it works. But that would be beneficial to do that on like maybe the beginning parts of like Rush or other streets that are right off Middle Belt, War and Marman, that country. I mean, not all of Maplewood. I'm just saying like the first 20 feet or Well, that would be how much? Millions of more dollars.

But yeah, there is a cost that goes with it that we that does it. These aren't easy decisions. I think that uh if you seal everything out of that $6,500,000 I think the price will come out to5 or $600,000. Now if you want to take it off the 6.5 million I don't care. I mean I'm I'm still going to apply the sealer. So that's and there is a less expensive sealer that's still a high penetrating sealer. Maybe put the less expensive stuff on the streets that are aren't right off like Maplewood. I would definitely But I mean, a street that's just connected to another side street maybe not doesn't need that heavy duty sealer. Okay. Correct. Thank you. Yeah. You're welcome.

Okay. Thank you. I do have one question real quick. Yes. Regarding the sealer, is it a a yearly thing or just we're talking about the new concrete to get it to the point it's curing? First year is the most crucial because that concrete's still curing concrete. Let's say what is this program at? 3500 PSI or 4,000? Yeah, 4,000 PSI.

4,000. So, the concrete mix design that's in this program is 4,000 PSI. Concrete gets harder and harder the older it gets and then it starts degenerating and getting weaker and weaker. It usually lasts about 30 years. So that first year, you got to remember, say we pour those roads in July or August, you're they're getting salt on them in two, three months, you know, they're cured enough to dry vehicles on there, but they're still a little bit tender on the top. So I would put the sealer down. Actually spray on.

It's a spray-on sealer. It has to be applied in, I believe, 70° or higher. So that's another thing, right? I mean, if we're It's got to be applied at 70° and that concrete needs to be at least 28 days old before you could apply it because if you apply it too early, it still hasn't cured. Does it have to be applied again? Was the question. I'm sorry. The question was, does it have to be reapplied?

Um, you know, when you apply it like the first year is when it's the most tender. Then after that first year, evaluate it. If it looks great, you're good. Leave it be. I did my driveway at my house stamped concrete. So, I spent a ton of money on this beautiful stamped concrete. I apply that sealer every single year and it looks like I did it yesterday and it's 14 years old, but it's expensive. We apply a sealer to our the concrete.

Oh, it works fantastic. Especially in Michigan. We had a brutal winter. It got super like it was weird. It rained really hard and then it went below freezing. That's not good. Not good for anything. And I've been over here in West Lana, a Ford Road 275 for 30 years. This year was the first year some of our man doors, we couldn't open them on the back of our building. Our concrete actually rose. The frost went super deep this year. like probably close to 36 in which that's deep because foundations are 42 in you know so it we have some and we had some crazy weather out east too you're talking five six feet of snow so

you know one one more thing we won't put the sealer on a second year in in Tony's application when you're talking about driveways lots of that times that's to actually bring out the color in the driveway and things like that which makes it top. Um, you know, which is a kind of a smaller application, but roadways, what we've determined is once we've seal it once and we really get that full year of concret of curing through there that, you know, we're in good shape. We've prevented the

that chipping occurs like on the top 16th of an inch or 32nd of an inch. So, that sealer will penetrate the top of that no problem. You shouldn't I would say on the roadways one time and in the when I put the prices down for the sealer I did send spec sheets with it and it shows everything in there. They're used on bridges and expressways and porous concrete, you know. So, council member, thank you. We're going to have the roads closed obviously while they're being redone. Then they have to cure for 28 days. So

before you could put the seal before you can put the sealant on drive on it within usually 5 to 7 days. You haven't Right. So we will open them back up and then we're going to have to close them again to put the sealant on. For how long? You can drive on it in 3 hours. Okay. So they'll we'll do one half the road. We'll tell everybody, hey, you know, everybody get out of your driveways and park over here. We'll spread by the time we start on one end of the street and get to the other end of the street, you you can pretty much drive on. Okay. Thanks. That that's what I was wondering what the time was. That would be pretty harsh if you had to close everything back up and then wait another seven days. Mayor, Council Member Kotus, I have one more question that Yes.

Everybody in Garden City is asking lives off Maplewood. When you start Maplewood, are you doing all one side from start to finish and then the other side? Are you doing a section like from Harrison? Something we'll sit down and talk about in the pre-construction meeting when we know what's going on with the Hos because there's a hospital there, right? Mhm. Yeah.

So, what they're they're school. Yeah. We'll probably start Maplewood when the schools are out. This way there's no bus traffic to deal with. But there is we could do it two ways. We could start on one end and go all the way down to the other end. But when we get down to the other end, we're going to have to wait seven days in order to start back on this side. So you could put traffic on there. But we could pick the middle. We could do one side all the way up to the middle. So I think it's like six or 7,000 ft. We could do like 3,000 ft to where there's a turnaround. We can get cure time. Then we can do this side. And then we can all the way down. And then we can grab that last little piece. But we'll figure it out which way it'll work the best where it's not going to, you know, inhibit the traffic going uh and whichever ways, you know, we'll sit down and figure out with Tennessee police and fire as well.

So that they need a little bit of sequence. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. In hospital. I mean, we did we did some pretty hairy roads where it was tight traffic and somehow we always get through it, you know. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. Further comments from the table. Mayor, council member, what I guess we're so used to now road projects for the last handful of years. What is your idea of a timeline with like Maplewood? Because we've had contractors come in, rip up a road, wait four months. No, no, no. And then place a road.

Well, you could look at the projects I've done with Garden City. I finish all of them, no problem. I mean, we we have 80 employees. What's special about our company is we set up the barricades oursel. We have our own saw cutting crews. We saw cut oursel. I have all my own gravel trains. It's like I have my own trucking company. I do all the removals myself, haul it away myself. I pull all the dirt out myself. I do all the edge drain myself. I stone it myself. I form it. I pour it. I saw cut it. The only thing I don't do is the restoration behind the curb because I got, you know, bigger fish to fry. I'm doing road.

So, I can get maple wood done easily. Like, I can do all those street foods, you know, no problem. Okay. Yeah. I mean, it's a big pro project. at $6 million. But last year, what did we do here? We did 4 million last year. So, we did 4 million here last year and I did 21 million in Leavonia. I did Harington Hills. So, I could easily blow through these projects. I actually left a huge window open for Garden City. There was other jobs that I could have filled my schedule with, but I'm like, I want to work here. It's close to my shop and, you know, it's close to the concrete supplier. There's just I also live on Maplewood, too. So, I know it's going to be a tough fun time with with it all being done. So,

yeah. But the nice thing about Maplewood, we can measure the width from curb to curb and if we think we can get traffic going both ways, we could put two-way traffic on one side while we do the one side. So, really full width paving. Yeah. Well, it's kind of full width. That's another thing. I uh I have eight paving machines that I can make any size I want. Full width like 40 feet wide with curb and gutter or just 10ft lane or 12t lane. We'll do maple wood is what 21 ft. It's back curb back curb is about 21 ft.

Okay. So 21 ft. We'll set up a a paving machine and it's not crowned like this. It's like this. All the water's on the gutter on that side. Right. So we'll set up a paving machine like this. We'll do a curb and gutter mold on each side. We'll actually drive the concrete trucks in the grade and pour in front of the machine. The machine has augers. So like let's say we're pouring concrete right here and I want concrete over there. You pour it into the augur and the augur brings it to over there. Then when you get the concrete that you want there, the operator kind of puts it in the middle and then the vibrators and tamper bars start moving and the machine like paves a road at a walking pace. literally both curbs up. It's you just got to touch it up and then broom it. So, the nice thing about that is we can keep traffic going both ways on the other side. And um is there turnarounds on Maplewood? Yeah. Okay. So, we can enter like the concrete trucks from the turnaround, bring them in the gray, pour them out, back them out, you know. So,

and we have, you know, flag guys on each side, you know, holding up traffic to get trucks in and out. But yeah, I've done several like that where there's an island in the middle where there's it's it's really like two roads because you got curb and gutter on one side going all the way down. You got curb and gutter coming all the way back. You know what I mean? So, well, all three schools get out by the middle of June. So, we'll see you on the 20th, right? Okay. All right. Thank you. Uh, further comments from table, from the public. Okay. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes 70. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Item three is uh 26 uh 2026 concrete sectioning. No zero. Yes, mayor. Uh concrete sectioning program. Sectioning is uh pretty much replacing certain panels of the road which have failed. Sectioning can turn a so road into a very good road. Uh this year's program will focus on the southeast part of the city. GV Cement has offered a contract extension with just a small increase uh in concrete. Uh they have been our sectioning contractor for a number of years and they've always did a great job for us. Motion to order.

Mayor, council member Dole. A motion to approve the contract extension for the 2026 concrete. sectioning program with GV cement contracting from Brownstown, Michigan in an amount not to exceed 700,000 with a 10% contingency and to construction services with Hennessy Engineers of Southgate, Michigan in an amount not to exceed $24,500 and to approve construction management services and inspection fees with the Buchelli Group of Leavonia, Michigan in an amount not to exceed $57,486 for a combined project total of $781. $31,986. It's a part from council member King. Discussion from the table. Mayor,

council member Kapotus. This is from the road bond too, right? Yes. But we also do have additional money coming in from the state this year from the increased marijuana tax. So um you know depending on where we land with ceiling and depending on where we land um on that total Maplewood John Hawk Partardeau project um we may be using utilizing some of that but we have a fair amount of money in our road local and not coming from the general fund. I'm just clarifying. Um no this is these are all local roads or major road funds or our bond. Okay. So going to try and get the most out of this summer. Thanks Brit. Further questions comments from table from public. All in favor?

I opposed. Motion passes 70. Item four is uh the 2026 joint and crack sealing program. Mr.

Mor, uh this is also a road bond project. Uh joint crack sealing is a very good preventative maintenance tool. It's a economical way to extend uh the life of a road by sealing all the cracks so water can't penetrate and then freeze in the winter and go through all the freeze thaw cycles. Uh this year's program is in the northeast corner of the city. El's Asphalt has been our contractor for this program since 2023 and they've always did a nice job with us. Okay, motion is in order. Mayor, Council Member Hughes,

I'd like to make a motion to approve the contract extension with Al Ashfalt of Taylor, Michigan for the 2026 join and crack sealing program for an amount not to exceed 300,000 with a 10% contingency and to approve construction services with Hennessy Engineering of Southgate, Michigan, and the amount not to exceed 10,500 and to approve the construction management services and inspection fees from Buchelli Group of Leavonia in amount not to exceed $35,979 for a combined project total of $346,479. Depart or from council member Wit. Discussion from the table. Mayor, council member Hughes.

I just want to say I I I live on the street I live on. They do the seal and crack all the time and I've been there for over 20 what's that 25 years now. And um and I think it really has extended the the life of that road. Oh yes. Yep. Yep. It's a good I think it's good. Further comments from table from public. All in favor? I opposed passes 70. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Man. Mr. Hennessy. Thank you. Thank you guys. Okay. Item five is uh handrails on the fire station bid. Chief Keane.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Before you tonight, you have a handrail bid that we we put out. This is essential part for the entry points into the fire station. U number one for safety and accessibility anywhere you have ramps for this for the station. Um can help prevent slips, trips, falls, and it's required by code anywhere there's a ramp higher than 6 in. So, you'll have four of those in the station. This was sent out to bid. We did receive four bids. Two of the bids were very competitive price-wise. The other ones were a little bit higher. Um, based upon the review by our project management company or staff, we recommend that we use uh Victorian Steel LLC to uh fabricate and install the handrails.

Motion is in order. Mayor, Council Member Wit like to make a motion to award the contract in accordance with bids submitted on March 11th, 2026 for Fire Station renovation handrails to Victorian Steel LLC of Bruce Township in the amount of $19,700 with an additional 2500 approved as contingency funds. Apart from council member King discussion from table I mayor I'm I'm just curious because the two um lowest bids were so close to each other. Yes. Was there any other defining factor other than the cost?

Uh they after review they were both qualified. they're both capable and have the uh the available availability and the um they're able to provide the services as provided but yes they were our project manage companies worked with both these I guess so they said based upon the cost they selected that one as also I they are very close and then the other two were kind of a little bit higher and they were close it was sort of strange so okay thank you further comments from table from public.

Here we go. The fire station again. Is this for the handrails for the ramps that they recently passed to put an extra ramp in? Yes, they're for the uh the ramps are the access points to the station. Well, are the ramps already there? They are. Why why didn't you put them ramps with the renovation? And they were just put in. Yeah, I know. But do you know any handicap ramps that don't have handrails? I don't. That's why the bid So why wouldn't they? That's why we're discussing it. Would have been a lot cheaper probably. This No, no, they just put them in and now we're putting up the rails. They just put the ramps in. Now we're putting up the rails,

right? They should have put the rails the handrails in when you put the ramp in. We are. That's what this is. When you could work with the seat when the ramps are the ramps aren't used right now. The access points that they're at aren't open to the public right now. I know. But you have to drill into the concrete. Yes. To anchor the ramps. And if you'd have done it the right way, you wouldn't have had to drill into the concrete. You could have fixed it when you poured the concrete. Oh, we put a Dixie cup in there. I mean, God's sakes. I mean, and and now you're redoing everything in that fire station evidently because it's eight-month project. It's three years. Are they ever going to finish it? Will be finished. Should they do the roof? Well, we're discussing the handrails, right?

All right. But still, that's still ridiculous to have them guys living like that for three years. Of course. Further comments from table? Any other comments from the public? All in favor? I motion passes 70. Thank you. Thank you, Chief. Item seven, six is the uh batting cages for Radcliffe. Uh Mr. King Parks and Recreation Director.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Before you proposal for two 55- FFT cages uh for hardball, softball, and baseball at the Redcliff Center. Over the past few months, now that the gym has been up and running, we have an open gym program running there. Um lots of use every single day. We actually been getting a lot of softball and baseball uh youth that want to use our space for that and it's hard to accommodate them as it is today. There's not room that they can safely practice catching, pitching, and all that type of stuff. Um we found often they would come during our non- busy hours and they could use a whole third to themselves. We've gotten to the point that we're not non- busy no more. Um so there's not time for them. Um something we would like to offer moving forward is batting cages for those. They would either be rented per the hour um or for the team can rent them per hour or we run our own programming clinics out of them. Um probably not so much the open gym time frame, but we'll see what we can do moving forward. Um I got a proposal from the same um company, Carter Carter Crompton Incorporated. Uh they're the same ones that put in the two dividers we currently have and the four basketball nets. That's why I brought him back in again because he already knows our system. he already knows uh what we're working with in the ceiling and also the remotes that we have to control these can all be on the same system through him. Um I believe that's all I have.

Mayor uh Councilman Kapotus I'd like to recommend that the city council approved the attach quote with Carter Crompton Incorporated of Kio Michigan to install batting cages in the Radcliffe Gymnasium in the amount of 18,180. support or for mayor prom. Discussion from the table. Mayor, council member do. Um, couple things on their proposal. There's a note that says all electrical to be done by others. What kind of electrical is going to be needed and what's the cost we're looking at for that?

Uh, very little. So, the way they have it with the remotes is only one net can be used at a time with the system that's already in the gymnasium. So, you only need one circuit. There's already a circuit going around the gymnasium. We believe once he gets up there because of the relationship of the two basketball nets, there will actually won't be any electrical work. If there is, then we'll have to move forward with electrician. We already have electrician in the building right now um with all phases. So, we'll work with them to provide that very minimal if any. Okay. And on on the um the cover letter, the it says the proposal is being presented as a sole source request. But is is that truly a a sole source? I mean, yeah. Well,

it's 18,000 and we didn't put it out to bid. We're using him because we used him for other projects there. I understand that and he's familiar with them, but I'm just I And he was the low bid at that time when that went out for proposal. He was the lowest of those. We could uh take this out and go for a sealed proposal for these. Um that's your guys's wish if you want to. That is that is I'm asking for the sole sole proprietor in this request.

Um if I could just add I actually by by chart I I I can evaluate and determine if I believe something is a sole source. In this case um they installed the nets and it's the very same system they installed. We're just doing an add-on essentially to their net system. um the the dividers that exist in the building that separate the courts uh from the pickle ball courts. It's all part of the same system. Um they'll be tying into the thing they installed with the controls they installed. Um it uh is one of those circumstances where if we go outside of this, it'll be someone else coming in and working what was just installed by somebody else. And I have a fear that utilizing a different vendor may not lend a positive result and be able to provide the exact same type of um system as we currently put up there. So um while I think there could be debate over this that the purpose of soul source is to allow us the convenience of um tying into something we just had done in order to expedite it's done. It's but it's not necessarily the timing. It's really just mostly related to um it's essentially I mean really we're just a couple we're doing essentially a change order on our net system um because we've seen this opportunity and as I've stated before we're kind of taking an entrepreneurial approach to our gym um we're trying to do things as low a cost as we can that provide the most amount of revenue and by utilizing them to do this um it helps move us in that right direction. Do the net does this whole enclosure actually go up into the ceiling and that's where it's stored? Okay.

Same as the nets that are up there. The net folds up on itself on top. So it comes actually low enough so you can fold the net up on top and then you raise the entire net all the way up so it stores very low profile to the ceiling. And I will say I did reach out to two other vendors. One was not interested in the project in Ohio and there was another one from Michigan um that gave me a rough price that was way more than this one. Questions answered. Thank you. Thank you. Mayor, Council Member Kotus. Well, one, I think it's a great idea because I think hundreds of Garden City residents go elsewhere. They are driving to Canton and to Novi and everywhere else except for our city. So, I think there's the draw to get our own residents and residents from other cities to come here. Yeah.

Um, people are already talking about it and I think it's a good source of revenue to be used when the gym's not being used. So, uh, if anybody has a kid in softball or baseball, they know that every Friday night from 6:00 to 11 they're taking their kid to practice somewhere. So, we don't have that much going on in the gym on Friday nights. This is a perfect revenue source and the revenue source can be pretty loud and are pretty um pretty big and it can actually help fund some of our other programs. So, that's why I like this idea.

Yep. I really hope to offer those clinics when we can on Friday evenings. Um and then very similar to the way you rent a pavilion now. You go online, you book the hours you want the pavilion, you pay right there, you come in, you use the space. Same thing for this. I like to put both the bays on our sportsman recreation software. You go online, you reserve the pay for the hour that you want it. You pay ahead of time, you come in, use your space. So hopefully really turn key and something we're already doing everywhere else. Yeah, Fridays and Sundays are super busy for baseball and softball. So

Yep. And we did, you know, the parents that we had coming in to practice softball during our load times when we had those about a month or two ago. I've kind of talked with each one of them saying, you know, if this is something we did, would you be interested? And they were all very actually excited this was a project to be considered because they often share how far they have to travel to get to an open cage. Yeah, the Church Hill does it on Friday nights in the winter and there's probably over a hundred girls there every Friday night and they all get charged $10. Yep. For a couple hours worth of work.

And we have unique also with the space we have outside the cages. A lot of the places that do have cages today, that is all they have is a cage and a very small place to meet with your team outside of it. We have the full gymnasium. This will both cages will fit in oneird of the gymnasium with 12 feet in between the two. So, we still have twothirds of the gymnasium that could be rented out by a team if they wanted more practice or space. And just so the public is clear, the netting stops any balls from damaging the walls or the floor or anything like that. It doesn't do anything except for what's inside the net. Yep. I have another question. Mayor, council member do want to show my stupidity, but I never played baseball. So, only myself.

There's a um a machine involved with this, isn't there? that that spews the balls out so you hit them. Yeah, there can be there will be two other purchases I need to make outside of this uh low cost. Okay. So, this is just the cage itself and the apparatus to Okay. Yeah. The only other thing we'll need outside this is an LC screen, which is what you can pitch behind. Um and probably something to catch the balls. Those are very low cost. That's why I didn't include them in this. Um I want to generate a little revenue with the lanes first and then purchase a pitching machine. Um there actually are a few. I was actually talking with GCA like if they wanted to use their isn't there and kind we can kind of try it out and see um whether we want a pitching machine or not. Those are a little bit more costly. So I want to generate a little bit of the revenue first. We get through the summer and see where we are next winter.

But you can still someone can pitch manually behind an L screen. Yeah. Coach pitch. All right. Thank you. Further comments from the table from the public. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes 70. Thank you, Mr. King. Item seven is uh public safety radios. Miss uh Chief Arnoski.

Good evening. Uh so tonight I'm here before you to ask about radios. The police officers next door were hoping I'd be here to ask about Glocks and red dots, which is the latest cool thing that they're interested in. and I was hoping to be up here and ask for a detective car and a new police car. Unfortunately, we also need police radios and those take precedence over everybody else's needs. Um, the reason we're here is because the Department of Justice underneath the FBI, who controls the criminal justice information system, which is part of the computer systems we use, has mandated that all of our radios have to be encrypted by October 2026 or we for incur penalties. um they haven't offered us any financial relief or anything. So, we've been spending the last few years trying to find grants or other ways to finance this thing. We've come to the conclusion that we're so close to the time frame by the time we purchase the radios, get them programmed and everything else, we're going to be right around that October 2026 date. So, we're coming forward with this resolution hoping to get it approved in order to be able to comply with the 2026 deadline. So, um, as I said, the reason we're trying to secure this critical communications equipment and with the minimal amount of impact on the city's limited budget resources. So, we're looking at a seven-year lease to own agreement with Motorola. U, it incurs a interest rate. So, we would be looking at seven seven payments of $90,356.86 over the course of seven years. There is no early payment penalties or anything. So if we found money, we could pay it off earlier and suffer no penalties, but this is the best solution for us to be able to postpone it as long as we can before we make a payment. Uh so the lease agreement with Motorola Solutions for Public Safety Radios is a strategic plan advancing our goal to create a resilient, safe, connected, and prepared city. It's so important that we're able to communicate with each other, let alone all of our neighboring cities. And if everybody else is encrypted and we're

not, we're not going to be able to know what's going on. They're not going to be able to hear us. So we have to stay in the game. Um so the departments were able to secure manufacturing discounts of nearly $38,317.31 and avoid any more equip equipment price increases which results in additional approximate cost savings that we won't see. But the cost of the radios won't go up anymore because we'll be locked in on it. Some of the discounts we were able to obtain is we partnered with the fire department. We were able to get another 5% off the price of the radios because we increased the amount that we were going to buy as a group. Some of the other things that were offered to us is I like this one is they're buying our old radios back. So, we're going to be able to do like a turn-in program and receive some money from them. Uh that's a big one because these radios won't have any use for any of us after October 2026. And we're just I have two milk crates full of our old old preps, which were good to have because they could still be used with the new preps that we currently have, but after the 26th of October, it won't make a difference. So, it's nice to be able to get some money back from them. Uh, so the majority of the current police department radios were purchased somewhere around December 2013, 2014, and have exceeded their useful life. Additionally, radio replacement parts are no longer manufactured, making radio repairs nearly impossible. Uh, the new radios also address the Department of Justice mandates, which I already covered. One thing I'll say is the the preps that we have now, we had one that was broken. Um, Lieutenant Cover was able to get it fixed, but that's because he knows people who fix radios on the side and were able to do it and it didn't cost us anything. But the estimate we got was about $700 to fix a prep radio. So, it'll be nice to get rid of that and be able to have a warranty

on them and get them fixed for nothing. So, the existing public safety radios have exceeded their useful life. See, I got this in here a lot. And replacement parts are no longer manufactured. The new Motorola solution radios have mandated encryption, enhanced operability between the police and fire departments, and will ensure reliable communication between the city call center and personnel responded to in progress emergencies and requests for services. The seven-year lease agreement with Motorola solution represents the best solution to address the deficiencies in the existing radio systems at the least possible annual allocation of resources. So, the police and fire department, we've weighed the upfront purchase of the radios and compared the budget impacts to have the smaller payments of less than $100,000 versus the onetime purchase of over $500,000. And the lower annual payments are more easily supported by our available ongoing revenue streams and has an significant impact on the lease decision that we chose. So, I would ask tonight that you approve the purchase of these police radios. And before we go any further, I do want to recognize Lieutenant Culver for his time and effort he's put on this. He's probably spent the last year calling departments, looking for grants, going back and forth with Motorola, trying to get us the best deal. I was getting emails in the middle of the night most of the time that says, "Hey, I tried this. It didn't work. I tried this. It looks like we might work." So, I just wanted to recognize the time and effort he put in to get us to where we're at today. So,

thanks, Nate. Um, motion is in order. Mayor, Council Member Wit

like to make a motion to approve the lease agreement with Motorola Solutions for radios and necessary radio equipment to support the public safety radio systems identified as police and fire department radios over the entire term of the lease agreement consisting of seven annual payments estimated at $90,356.86 86 and not to exceed $632,498.20 interest included and a onetime activation cost to Michigan Public Safety Communications System or MPSCS in the amount of $18,000 for a total cost for police and fire department radios in the amount of $650,498.20 and to approve a budget amendment to the forfeiture fund to appropriate funds for the purchase outlined above. support for mayor prom. I will say uh I've been going to conferences for the last couple years and this has been like a huge discussion amongst mayors all all over the place and uh none of us were real thrilled because the feds federally mandated this with uh no way for anybody to pay for it or any any grant money available. And so everybody's scrambling to try and find money and uh it's been a real point of contention all over the state. Um anywhere we go, uh everybody has the same complaint. So uh thank you to Lieutenant Culver for his work and chief for you bringing it forward. Further comments from table.

Mayor, council member Hughes. Thank you. Good evening, Chief. Um, I would think that the advantage of besides them spreading out the cost as opposed if we were to pay for them outright, um, I read through here and it it includes um, repairs and replacements and, um, software updates. Is that correct? Yep. Has a warranty on all of them. So, and if we didn't if we didn't we weren't doing it as through a lease, if one broke down, we would have to pay out of pocket to repair them. I'm not sure. Past warranty date. Yeah. pass the warranty date for sure.

And then um also um oh um what if we have to add on radios? Is there a provision in the contract that we can add on at a certain rate? I'll let Lieutenant Cover ask. Thanks. Yes, there is provision we could add on if necessary. Okay. All right. Thank you. Y mayor. Further council member Wit. So might as well stay up here.

I'm going to knock on wood, but let's say money does fall into our lap. In the proposed resolution, it was interest included. If we're if we happen to pay it off early, are we not incurring the interest of the later on years or are we still getting hit with it regardless because we chose the payments? From what I understand, it's we can pay it off early with no penalties. So, there shouldn't be any interest attached since there's no penalties for the early payment. Okay. the principal off and the y council member do just have to look at you now, right?

Um, so if this is approved tonight, when are you looking at purchasing them before the budget year ends? Yeah, we would start to move on this right away and attempt to draw up everything with Motorola to get moving forward. Okay. And I just ask because it it does say that the first payment's due a year after the contract. So it would be before this budget year ends though. So we do need to look at it in this coming upcoming budget. Correct. Correct. Then the next budget year as we're proposing right now, it would be paid. Right. It's be paid in the 2627 fiscal year. So the other radios lasted what about 13 14 years?

Yeah. From the time we got them purchased them. Yes. What's the average radio life if if you know the federal government doesn't mess with us? That's a hard one for me to answer. The the milk crates I told you that have the prep radios in them from before we got the ones we currently have still work. They're just old and the new ones are smaller and have more technology, but they still work. So, 20 years without that manufacturer doesn't want to support them anymore.

Okay. And last but not least, and maybe this is more for the city manager, but um in here they're talking about appropriation uh appropriating the funds from the for the forfeite funds to per I can't speak for some reason to purchase the radio. So what are we looking at in the forfeite fund right now?

We have sufficient money in the forfeite fund um to make these payments um probably throughout the entirety of the contract. Um if we did it all right now, it would eat up the nearly the entire forfeite fund, but it is a uh because of our activity and our connection to um equitable sharing through our involvement with DEA task force. We do have a pretty consistent flow of money over the next number of years coming in that um one of the reasons I'm I was okay with um utilizing the lease and the and the interest is as those roll in, we'll attempt to pay this down faster, but also it won't put us in a position where we've remember cash flow was always a concern of ours. We learned that with the water uh fund. We learned that with our general fund is that we'll still maintain healthy um cash flow and amounts in our federal forfeite. Be able to pay those out of it and hopefully as more rolls in that we're actually owed from prior activity that it'll essentially cover but also keep us at a position where if we had a unexpected um you know uh damage to our fleet um or some other cost that comes up that it becomes mandated, we still have sufficient capital to to make that and give us some time to adjust. So, our goal is to pay it off as soon as possible, but in a way that's, you know, keeps us uh our account balances safe for anything we don't know is going to happen, the unknown unknowns. So,

I have a question about that. Thank you, mayor. Council member Kapotus, I have a question about that. So, you said that that money that we're using from the fort, we get that only when we have an officer working in the the DA, correct? We get it um based on that officer's connection to a particular case. So if an officer is connected to a large seizure of drugs and and and proceeds, it's split amongst the DEA and the officers within the task force. So because we're involved from I think 2019 till until staffing caused us to reduce, right? We don't have anybody in there now. We don't even now, but it is uh 100% the chief's intent to at least get one person back in. Okay, that's my next question.

We are still having proceeds roll in because the forfeite process, it's up to a four to five year process. So things we did in 2020 2021 we were involved in are still listed as essentially booked for part of that coming to us. Okay. So we're still receiving those funds and in fact um this last year we we received a tremendous amount really from activity from 22 23.

So um so what we're hoping is those funds continue. We were able to put an officer back out. They continue to do excellent work and as an added bonus um help us get this uh these radios taken care of. Jeff, I just want to add too is we still have somebody that doesn't work for us, but that's out there that still advocates for us. So, our K9 officer sometimes assists on some of these activities and they put them in for a piece of the forefeiters, not as big as if it was their whole case, but so we still kind of generate some revenue that way also. Yeah, our connection is still strong. And do we have a plan in the next couple years to put someone back on that task force? Okay, thank you. Doesn't that count as two officers for the K9? K9.

Yeah, I like your math. Further comments from the table from the public. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes 70. Thank you, Lieutenant. Okay. Item eight is uh 21st District Court computer and technological equipment upgrade. I'll call court administrator, Mr. Brandon Krooppy.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Um, I was here a couple weeks ago for the budget presentation. Um, and I mentioned that the court was looking to upgrade our um, computers and uh, some tech technological equipment. Um, and that's what I'm here for today. Um the I know the budget presentation was for next fiscal year. However, um with this um ask is to use um funds from our court building fund um and not out of the general fund.

Motion is in order. Mayor, Council Member Do to motion to approve the purchase of desktop computers, laptop computers, and laptop docking stations from CDW G and a network video recorder workstation and upgraded camera licenses from DA Central in the total amount of $19,557.36 with the funds to be derived from the court building fund and approved budget amendment to the court building fund to appropriate funds for the purchase outlined above. support or from council member Kapotus. Discussion from the table. Mayor, council member Ker Fotus, please tell me this includes the computers that do the Zoom. What's that? I'm sorry.

This includes the computers that do the Zoom. Um, it's all of our workstations. Um, so the computers that do the Zoom are part of that. Um, the Zoom itself. Yeah. I've just been in court when someone's doing that and it's been an awful connection and stuff. So they're always saying how they need new ones. So further discussion from the table from public. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes 70. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

Okay. Uh item nine is the on street sales from for the American Legion riders. Uh Mr. Smith.

Good evening, Mayor and Councel. Uh the clerk's office did receive a request from the American Legion Riders um for approval for on street sales uh for the annual paper flag fundraiser. Um on your sheet in front of you um I just want to point out that the dates listed um it says June 2nd, June 13th, and June 13th. So, it should really be um June 12th, Friday, June 12th, Saturday, June 13th, and Sunday, June 14th from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Uh the irony of me messing up the date of Flag Day um is not lost on me on the paper uh flag sale fundraiser. Um the intersections would be Ford and Middle Belt, Ford and Marman, Ford and Venoi, and Middle Belt in Warren. uh prior to the sale fundraiser. They will provide hold harmless agreements to our office uh for anyone participating in the sale.

Mine mine has June 12th. Okay. So, anybody else's? Okay. Motion is in order. Who said that? Sorry, mayor. Council member King didn't sound like you.

Throw my voice. Uh, I move to grant um approval to the American Legion Writers to hold their annual paper flag fundraiser on Friday, June 12th, Saturday, June 13th, and Sunday, June 14th from 9:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the intersection of Ford and Middle, Ford and Marman, Ford and Venoi, and Middle and Warren subject to the receipt of a valid hold harmless agreement by each participant in accordance with the city policy of on street sales. support from council member Hughes. Discussion from table. I have a question. Council member do

I could very well be wrong on this, but I thought that insurance was also required. Um I can I can look into it. Okay. Proof of insurance I believe is required. And I also believe that the hours were 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., not 9:00 to 5:00 for their specific request or for anybody doing on street sales.

I would have to go back and look and see. I think it was um last year's approval was 9 to5 as well. I But I'm pretty sure our on street policy states 8 to four. Pretty sure. But I I would like it checked because there's other organizations that use this and if that's the case, we we just need to be sure what this policy says. But I I am sure that it does require insurance that the city gets a copy of their insurance. Okay. We can look into that. We can if we want to make move it with on the contingency that he validates the hours. Correct. And Okay. Yep.

Okay. Uh further comments from table from the public. All in favor? I opposed. Okay. Motion passes 70. Okay. Item 10 is our capital improvement plan. And this is just a call for a public hearing. Mayor, Council Member Wit. Move to call for a public hearing for Monday, April 20th, 2026 at 7 PM to receive comments on the proposed fiscal year 2026 2027 5-year capital improvement plan

or from council member do. Uh comments from table and just calling for the public hearing from the public. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes 70. Okay. Item 11 is just the receipt of proposed fiscal year 2627 budget. Mayor, council member King. I move to approve receipt of a proposal fiscal year 2026 2027 budget and accompanying city manager message.

Support from mayor prom. And again, this is just uh a motion that we received the the uh proposal. Uh further discussion from table from public. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes 70. Okay, we have no other business. Uh item 13 is public comment on nonaggenda items. If you wish to speak, it is a time to make comment and uh if it's a question we can answer, we'll answer it. If not, we'll get back to you. Uh, anybody wishing to speak?

Just want to say finally uh Dylan showed up couple weeks ago and oh, I found our federal house representative Rashiba. Toshiba. I finally found her. I was going to file a missing in person action, but I think about four weeks, maybe six weeks ago, she showed up at either Oakland or Mcome County to protest ICE because they was going to take a vote to ban ICE, which we all know is a bunch of I mean, it's foolish. You can't ban the federal marshall from from the state of Michigan or the county. But she I found her. I was shocked when I saw her on TV. We all know what they tell. Uh, how about coming down here and see old David? He I talk to you ever down here. Not look, I don't think I'll see her. But and uh actually, this is the only representatives I've got. I got to be honest with you. As far as the state and the county and the federal, they don't represent me. Unfortunately, I'm stuck with them. You guys have a good night. You

further comments from the public? Hey, city manager, your report, Mr. Gibbons.

Uh, nothing too much. I just uh wanted to thank uh the judge from the third circuit court. I found that very informative and it's good to see uh them visiting us and uh you know, really appreciate all the uh the work they do down there and um it's just good to communicate and come out to our local area and reach out. Um also uh just you know, thanks to John Hennessy, Tony from Hard Rock, and Brad. These decisions on our roads aren't easy. Um it's tough. uh you know we have to decide like uh do we seal the concrete or um or or or do we save the money and save towards another road. Um you know there's no there's no crystal balls that tell us what the perfect answers are. Um but what I can say is and I compliment council and them um the process is what we could control. We could control that we deliberate these things. We come and make the best decisions we can with the information we have. Um you know a lot of of what they say we go out and confirm. Um, but we'll do our best to uh judiciously uh spend our road bond money and our act uh 51 money. Um, we hear the residents that Maplewood is a problem. John Hawk, Hartell, um, Bardeau are problems. I drive them as often as I can to remind myself and I was just on him today and I'll be glad to see them getting fixed this summer. So, um, excited to see that getting done. And just, uh, lastly, advocating the Police Citizens Academy. if you haven't done it. Um, you wouldn't think it would be as much fun as it is. Um, but I watched every class that's come through that I was a part of, um, just thoroughly enjoy it. And it's, it's crazy that we extend the hours because people just didn't want to leave, um, because they would enjoy every thing, which is really testament to our officers and our citizens who want to be that engaged. Um, it's just a win for everybody. So, um, it may counsel,

Mr. Smith. Uh, nothing further this evening. Pro Tim do. Uh, I just wanted to mention a little bit about the Rag Cliff Center. If you haven't been over there yet, which is hard to believe, you you're missing out on so much council and the head of departments as well as the city manager have done a fantastic job to give you a wide variety of things to do. You got the gym, uh, the cooking kitchen, dance classes, arthritis classes, and I can go on and on and on. get over there and check it out. It's all I have. Thank you, Council Member Hughes.

Um, I want to thank both U police Chief and Fire Chief and your department for looking for money for for those radios and Lieutenant Cobber for the hard work you you put into into this. It's greatly appreciated. Thank you, Council Member Wit. Nothing tonight. Council member King,

I also like to, I guess, second what uh city manager was talking about regarding Hard Rock Concrete and um Hennessy and Brad all working together uh to come with a better plan to prolong our our pavement. I I do think the sealant's pricey. However, I think it's the right way to go. Uh it's hard to go throughout the city replacing roads if we just have to come back to roads we've just did within a couple years back. Um so hopefully this is the right move and our roads will hold up longer. That's all I have. Thank you, Council Member Dold.

Ditto, to all the thanks for everybody. Everybody continues to do a fantastic job. So, I I do appreciate it. Um, tickets for Frozen are on sale at ludus.com. Garden City High School. Don't miss this one. It's going to be fantastic. And not last but not least, fire down the street. Now that the weather's getting warmer, um that the the uh fencing is almost to the road. We're we're already seeing a lot of kids walk, but with weather getting warmer, they're going to be walking even more. Everybody remembers a few years ago the kid that lost his life. It wasn't Garden City, but you know, um he stepped off the curb. And I can just see this being a huge safety issue. it.

Can you tell us what what's the hold up? Why is this not getting cleaned up on the outside and get that fence pushed back?

I can't speak on it behalf. So, um there is an ordinance that requires a time frame for them to move on the building whether they're going to repair it or it's going to be torn down. There was some investigation going on in the building. So, the insurance company was holding it up. Uh in the last couple weeks, we have contacted the building owner. They have secured a contractor to demolish the building. They're waiting on some information from DTE to confirm that the services are off before they can start that process. The the reason that the fence is still up there, I know I've spoke to a couple people, is the the overhang there is not secured on the building and to take that down and to clear the sidewalk. We're concerned that some stuff may fall if people are walking under there. So, we're doing it just for the safety of the the public, but that is in process of getting torn down. We're just waiting on some things to be finished up prior to the start of demolition. In the meantime though, can't they clean up that whole front and move the fence in so someone could walk by? I mean, that whole lawn is

You'd still have the fence up, just move it in a little bit, give them a little bit more room. It looks awful, too. I mean, it does. I agree. I mean, who knows how long that's going to take for them to secure this contract and stuff. So, if it's another 3 months, we're driving by seeing that every day and people are still walking in the street. They're waiting on what I was told is they're waiting on information from DTE to confirm that the utilities have been disconnected, that the contractor can't start their their process until that. But they have a a contractor secured is what I was told. No one likes waiting on DT. Oh, I understand. We're going to be on them though. Yes. Getting our fire been with the uh the building owner on a weekly basis. So

Okay. All right. Thank you for that. And I can verify the building owner was in last week and I had contact with her at in the city hall hallway. She she indicated and she just had right after she saw me, she met with the city fire marshal. So they are working on it. Uh we can have someone examine the fence. Our fear is that that that those walls are compromised. There's a certain amount of distance we need them to keep from that building. So but we can definitely take a look and see if the fence needs to be that far or not. Um and clean it up. These kids are going to step right out into the road, go around it, you know, and

we are in a real rock and hard place right there right now because it is not comfortable watching them go around the fence, but at the same time close to that building has its own dangers, too. But, uh, we we'll for sure reach out and find out if that fence can be moved in closer to get them a little farther away from Middle Belt at the very least. Thank you. That's all I had. Thank you, Council Member Carotus. Uh, I just had a couple questions for the city manager. I know it's snowing today, but is there a timeline on when the roads are supposed to start? Like, is it April, May, June? Um, you know, I know for Maplewood, we've talked about June. Um, that is the beginning. Um, is that going to be the first street done or we're starting other streets before then?

I think we need some pre-construction meetings to get the dates um completely set now that the contract is has been uh agreed to by council. So, we can provide some updated information. Also, um yeah, I received a call from a resident on that note that we'll do our best to put in the buzz the next these upcoming road projects to make sure that's getting out there and do a little more advertising of when now that the contracts and we know which roads are being selected, we can put that out there. Yeah, I think there's a lot of people concerned if they're they live they're living on Maplewood and they have uh graduation parties or whatever happening, you know, they need to make their plans ahead of time. So,

we'll do our best to update them. Uh no problem. And the only other thing I want to say is to the residents that contact me with issues. Uh just know that I do um talk to the city manager about those problems and they are getting work done. Uh I just have a couple things. One, uh Mr. Omen, while you're here, do you have any dates on street sweeping for the spring? Not yet.

Okay. soon as soon as we get that. Can we get that because I know a lot of people want to some actually care and we'll clean up the street themselves, but if street sweeping's coming two weeks, whatever, they they don't have to. So, thank you. Uh, and also last thing is uh uh my condolences to the Talby family uh on their loss u happened just uh recently. Um so sorry for that. No further business. This meeting is adjourned. Heat. Heat.