City Council - Regular Meeting

under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Roll call, please. Madam clerk, mayor, present. Deputy Mayor Res here for the last night. Don't rub it in. Present. Council member God is excused. Council member Gman here. Council member OD here. Council member Sh present. Thank you. Changes are additions to the agenda as presented tonight. City manager Brown. Mayor Begel have none. Assistant city manager Benson. I have none, sir.

Any from the dis? I have one under the o of office and presentation. I'd like to move uh excuse me the uh recognition of uh Deputy Mayor uh Resnik and Council Member Peter Sharp to number three and move the police officers to number one and the uh others uh to number two. Good. All right. Next up is a presentation. is a presentation of the fiscal year 2024 2025 city of financial audit. Marilyn, go ahead. And then also um I would like to uh introduce Angie Rab who's our new treasurer who'll be coming in after the first of the year. Um stand up and wave and let Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Um, tonight we have our representatives from Plant Moran to do the audit presentation and the findings of our annual fiscal year 2425 audit. Um, we have Martin and James and I'll let them pronounce their last names because I don't want to destroy it. Um, but they'll go through some of the highlights of the audit and everything was great this year. No significant findings and everything turned out really well. Thank you so much for having us. Uh my name is Martin Olenik. With me is James Kapala and Austin Bner who sitting in the second row. Um just wanted to um shortly uh present like three documents that are in front of you. Uh James is going to cover the graphs which are going to present the thickest of the documents uh to you in graphical form. Uh the thickest of the documents, the financial statement itself. I just want to remind uh the council that the document itself does belong to the city with the exception of the first couple

pages which is the opinion letter uh that is coming from plantar. Uh once again um as the finance director alluded it was a clean audit. Uh it's an unmodified opinion which is exactly what you should expect every single year. And what that means is you can rely on the numbers that are within the statements uh for budgeting purposes etc. Uh it's exactly what like I said what you should expect every single year. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to James and then uh once uh James goes over the graphs, I will cover the post audit letter that's in front of you. That's the third document that you have. And then uh with that um we'll address any questions you may have. Uh if you do have any questions like as we're presenting, feel free to stop us as well. Good evening. Thanks for fitting us into the agenda tonight. Um, as Martin said, I'll be going through some highle graphs that we hope will help display uh the overall financial information of the city. So, before we get into the main graphs, really wanted to touch base on some of the highlights from this year's audit of the city. First off, as Martin mentioned, the city received an unmodified opinion, which is the highest level of assurance achievable. Um, the unassigned general fund fund balance as of June 30th, 2025 was approximately $6.3 million. expenditures and transfers within the general fund were approximately 16.3 million for the year. The unassigned fund balance then therefore makes up approximately 38% of uh this year's general fund expenditures and transfers. The city invested in roughly $4.2 million in capital assets during the year. The pension plan was 84% funded uh as of June 30th. Um and the retirey health care system was funded at well over 100% still maintaining that uh this year. Jumping into the combined general funds revenue, you can see that the different breakouts of revenue have been pretty

consistent over the past 5 years. In 2025, general fund revenue increased approximately $494,000 from the previous year. Most of the increase related to the property tax grouping, which was up about $1 million uh due to increases in taxable value, and that was offset by permit revenue decreasing by approximately 354,000 and other revenue decreasing by approximately 196,000. This slide here is another quick snapshot of the expenses over the past five years for the general fund. You can see a pretty consistent trend uh throughout the years. Other than that, one of the middle columns there, the uh transfers out and debt service. Um you'll note in 2023 there's a the large increase and again in 2025 a pretty large increase. The debt service within this grouping has been consistent year-over-year. However, the transfers out uh to the various other funds um is what is kind of uh creating that fluctuation. Uh this year uh that transfer out was 3.1 million to the capital improvement fund for various uh capital projects. Um it's also worth noting that there are no budget overages during the year. Uh so the department heads are operating as they are approved by city council. Slide here is a quick picture of the revenues and expenses over the past 5 years compared to the unrestricted fund balance which is the sum of the assigned, unassigned, and committed fund balances. You can see a pretty consistent trend throughout the years. The general fund has had slightly more expenditures than revenue using about $36,000 of its fund balance this year. Um I will note that does still beat the budgeted expectation because the uh expectation was that about $1.5 million of fund balance would be used. So using only 306 in essence beat the expectation. This slide's always a favorite as it's a

a pretty good representation of where the tax dollars are going from going to. Uh for each tax dollar the city collects, about 38% stays with the city while schools get about 44%. The county gets 16% and then the art, zoo, and HCMA get about 1.5%. [clears throat] We'll now take a quick peek at the results from the water and sewer fund. First up is the water fund. The blue green bar you can see is showing the revenues compared to the orange reddish bar uh showing the cash outflows which are total expenses plus less the depreciation plus debt payments from the statement of cash flows. You can see that the water fund increased its unrestricted net position during the year by about $390,000. Similarly, taking a look at the sewer fund again the blue green bar is showing the revenue compared to the orange bar of the cash outflows. The sewer fund increased its unrestricted net position during the year by about $ 1.5 million. [snorts] Just looking at the operating revenues and expenses for both water and sewer, you can see that the funds uh broke relatively even. Water was down about 363,000 and sewer was down about 100 or 301 uh,000 in operating income. Um, but this really shows that the rates are being set appropriately to cover the costs. Um, one thing to note on this slide, you'll see 2024 has a pretty pretty large increase in the revenue there. Uh, not on trend. That was related to [clears throat] a 1.8 million uh, project cost share revenue received last year. All right, a couple quick slides on the capital investments of the city. This first one here is for governmental activities which includes the general fund, the roads fund, CDBG, land acquisition, safety path, solid waste collection, forfeite cemetery, opioid special assessment and special holding agency. The city continues to invest resources in these capital assets. Uh

during the current year about $3.3 million was invested in capital assets u in the general government. Taking a look at the enterprise funds, this is these these two funds are the water and sewer fund. Um here you can see that about 850,000 was invested in capital this year. Um the trend here kind of shows a a great decrease. Um I just want to make a point that that's not necessarily um an issue as over the the trend of this graph. You know, the city is really uh has has a higher capital investment than the depreciation that's occurring. So, as these assets are falling off and depreciating um over over the course of the five years, the city is doing enough to maintain those assets. All right, taking a look at the pension and retirey healthcare funding. Um the this graph here has the uh the city's funded percentage in this blue green bar compared to the state in the orange and the county in the gold. Um, as you can see, the pension is funded pretty consistently with both the state and the county, just above the state and just below the county. While the OPED fund or the retirey healthcare funding is at about 145% um, compared to the state at 79 and the county at 87 and a half. That was our slideshow presentation. Um, if there's any questions on that, we'd be happy to talk about them. If not, Martin's going to jump into the letter.

Deputy Mayor Resnik. Yeah, related to the U retirey system with the two issues that are facing the municipal um employees retirement system right now, the $und00 million and then the 55 million fraud. Will there be any exposures for municipalities and townships that um are part of the merge system? Do you have any idea if there's going to be exposure to municipalities?

Unfortunately, we do not know. Uh we don't believe so, but we do not know at this point. I did want to mention one thing too is uh on the graph uh for the OPED specifically uh it does show the 145% um funding percentage. I did want to note that the city did obtain the bonds years ago uh to fund it and hindsight you know you've been u very successful in investment income as a result of it. So you definitely [cough] uh the debt uh interest payments etc. So it has put the city in much better position as a result. So that's why just to kind of explain to us is why you're so much more funded than technology in the state as well.

I guess we'll hear more about hers. Like I said, I wouldn't expect cities to have discussions as a result, but don't thank you. Any other questions?

So the post audit letter I did want to cover briefly. Um the good news is again as uh the finance director mentioned uh there was a clean opinion as well as there was no significant deficiencies or material weaknesses uh as a result of the audit. So um this essentially just kind of described the process itself. There's any disagreements with management, any findings of like journal entries or anything like that. And again happy to know that there's no findings or anything like that to uh communicate uh to you. Um there were a couple new pronouncements that were implemented during this year. uh none of them had any significant impact to the financial statements. So again uh pretty uh clean and overall pretty uh pretty similar to last year. Uh the second part of the letter which starts on page four are just some legislative items and I did want to highlight a couple of them that are in there. Um and the second from last page uh talks about the single audit requirements. uh if you receive funding from and spend more than $750,000 historically uh related to federal grants, you would be subject to a federal single audit. That threshold is going up to $1 million, so less communities will be subject to the single audit. Uh so that's usually really good news. Uh the other item, a capitalization threshold. Um the uniform grant guidance is actually increasing uh the threshold for capitalizing S's from $5,000 to $10,000. Uh so we encourage all our cities that we work with to revisit the capitalization thresholds and see if an adjustment is needed as well. Uh that usually just means less burden on the finance department and just make sure that you know you don't have to capitalize every single asset. It doesn't really uh it's not significant enough. And then the last page uh talks about there's a new standard that's coming out next year, Gazsby 103, uh financial reporting model improvements. And I have a feeling that maybe that's why the finance director is retiring early. Uh but in all seriousness, um it shouldn't have any impact on the day-to-day operations for the city. Uh budgeting and everything else stays the same. Uh this will be more of a burden, I would say, on us

since we prepared the statements for you. Um so, uh we'll make sure that you're in compliance with the new standard that's coming out. As I always say, Gatsby doesn't usually simplify statements. It usually probably adds on a few pages and so on. So, you should probably expect the statements to be a little bit thicker next year. Uh but again, uh we'll make sure that you're in compliance with the standard. Uh, with that, I did want to mention again, um, as I alluded, uh, clearly everybody knows the finance director is retiring Marilyn Stanford. I just want to say thank you so much for all the hard work, uh, for preparing for the audit. I'm sure you're very sad about it. That's all done. Um, but I do want to say thank you so much. I realize that, you know, we create a lot of extra work uh, asking for a lot invoices and support for all the data that we ask for and, um, we've received everything that we asked for. So again, thank you so much for doing all that. Well, part of her retirement package is that she's coming back to work on this next year.

Oh, perfect. Perfect. So, again, thank you so much. And I just want to say thank you to the city council. Thank you to all the staff for uh having us uh do the audit. Thank you so much. Good. Thank you. All right. Moving on. Uh for all you in the audience, please bear with us because we do have to take care of some business tonight before we get to the good part of the meeting. So, next up is approval of minutes. We got one set of minutes to approve tonight and that's from the council meeting of December 9th, 2025. Do I have a motion? Move to approve. Support. Any discussion?

Seeing none, I got a motion and a second to approve the regular city council meeting minutes of December 9th, 2025. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I.

I. Opposed. Motion carries. Uh, we have no correspondence tonight, so that moves us to the call to the public. I'll read the rules for the call to the public. They are as follows. The public shall address the council during the call to the public, but shall be included on the agenda immediately after correspondence and again immediately after new business. The first call to the public immediately after correspondence shall be limited to agenda items only. A person shall not address the council in excess of 5 minutes unless the time is extended by a majority vote of the council present. Persons wishing to address the council shall identify themselves and their place of residence and shall state their reasoning for addressing the council and all comments by the public shall be made directly to the council. Do we have anybody for the first call to the public? Seeing none, I'll close first call to the public. Move on to city managers reports. We've got two tonight. The first one is the financial department quarterly budget and investment report June 30th, 2025. Any questions? All right. The next one is the departmental reports from November 2025. Any questions? Okay. Consent agenda. All items listed under the consent agenda are considered routine by city council and will be enacted by one motion. There'll be no separate discussion of these items unless the council member sole requests in which event the items will be removed from the consent agenda and added to the regular agenda at the end of unfinished or new business. So a motion move. I got a motion on support to approve the consent agenda as presented tonight. All those in favor, please signify by saying I.

I. Opposed. Motion carries. Uh we have no unfinished business tonight. So the first item under new business is a recommendation to review the fiscal year 2024 2025 financial audit and authorize an authorization to accept and file. Do I have a motion? So move support. Marilyn, I think that says it all. Um after the presentation tonight, um it's customary for city council to grant approval to accept and file the annual audit so that they can so that the auditors can file that with the state of Michigan and we can complete our year-end reports with the state.

Any discussion? Deputy Mayor Resnick. Just again, Marilyn, um, you know, since you've been our treasurer at, uh, everything's been just clean every audit. Uh, great job and it's great to be able to go into retirement knowing that. Great job again. Thank you. And I'm just going to echo those comments and thank you for all your hard work. Much appreciated. All right. Seeing no more discussion or questions, I've got a motion and a second to uh approve the recommendation to review the fiscal year 2024 2025 physical audit and authorization to accept and file. All those in favor, please signify by saying I.

I opposed. Motion carries. New business number two is a recommendation to approve a professional services agreement with Spalding Decker Associates Incorporated for Civic Center Loop phase 2 design services for a not to exceed cost of $67,700 and authorize the associated budget amendment as recommended by the Wixom downtown Development Authority and authorize the mayor to sign the agreement. Do I have a motion? So moved. Thank you. Assistant Manager uh Benson.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh good evening members of city council. Uh before you tonight is uh uh our recommendation as it relates for uh to design work for phase two of the loop. This is a project that was budgeted for this fiscal year. Specifically, the intent was uh for the city and the downtown development authority to partner on um continuing the expansion of the loop. You may remember that the the first phase of the loop is the halfacre or half mile walking path around the civic center campus. And that was always intended to be a multi-phase project where additional amenities and additional expansions of the path itself uh could be put in over the course of time. Specifically, the original intent was to add additional amenities um or plan for and really come up with with you know what we all would like those to be as well as add an additional approximately quarter acre uh or quarter mile uh portion as phase two. And then over the summer uh back in June, city council uh pointed out and rightly so that the uh the barn that is adjacent to the loop is in deteriorating shape and that a decision needs to be made on that. After referring that item to the downtown development authority, the they came to the conclusion to add that portion um you know trying to understand the feasibility and secure architectural services to potentially uh save the barn. um adding that to this scope of work and putting them all together, especially given the synergies that they're all, you know, right adjacent to each other. So, that was what staff put out via a request for proposals back in September. The city received five proposals. A summary of the bids received is included in your agenda packet and as well as the criteria that that a staff committee comprised of myself, the city manager, uh DDA director and parks and recreation director. Um when we were reviewing these to to make our recommendation, one of the key things I want to point out is that um cost effectiveness and overall

value is one of the key components, but it was not the only factor that went into our recommendation to the downtown development authority. Uh we were really looking for firms, you know, what kind of creative components that they could bring to this project, how well they understood the scope of what we're hoping to accomplish here and their experience kind of doing so. After after our review of the proposals, interviewing uh each of the firms, we came to the conclusion that our recommendation is to move forward with Spalding to Decker. Uh they are a an all services engineering firm that the city has worked with before. I believe we did West Maple Road with them actually. Um they're they're a a large firm popular in uh I guess frequently used throughout metropolitan Detroit. Um, and we really thought that their proposal was unique specifically because they had the ability to bring in um, a third-party expert on barn restorations. Um, so being able to bring some kind of unique components to that as well as their experience with other similar uh, pedestrian uh, walkway kind of projects, we we felt it was a good combination of cost and skill set. Uh, so that that was the recommendation we took to the DDA board. uh they approved that recommendation on uh to move this forward to city council at their meeting on December 11th. The one other thing I'll point out is on the financial side, this is proposed as a split between uh the city and the DDA, but also including a portion of the city's CDBG allocation approximately uh or exactly 8,850. That is the portion of this project that would require a budget amendment. Currently, we did not plan to expend um CDBG funds in this fiscal year. However, we have the ability to because they had previously been programmed by city council for uh recreational amenities. So, it is an eligible expense. Um it's just simply from an an accounting

perspective, a budget to [cough] allocate that 8,800 would be recommended. So, with all of that in mind, I'd be happy to answer any additional questions and Laura with the DDA is also here um and can speak on their behalf as well. Council member Barman.

Uh well, I I did note that obviously the the bid wasn't the lowest bid and I think you uh explained very well why were the recommendation was what it was. Um but uh I am curious in what was so different between the bids that the highest bid for example that was almost twice as much as this like what were they offering or did they not attend the the pre- bid meeting or what was the miss?

No they did uh all of these firms did attend the mandatory pre- bid meeting. Uh I think one of the key things is we did not define ahead of time how this would be build or exactly how you had to propose this. So specifically, one group bid it as a recommended budget to us. So, you know, we would recommend that the city allocate $100,000 for the project and we would be build hourly. Um, other proponents build it or proposed it as lumpsum figures within each portion and the Spalding to Decker is is an example of that where um it's a little bit more specific. So, it's really just how they chose to go about it. We did scrutinize some of the individual components. each proposal sort of broke out costs for each portion. They didn't do them all the same. Um, you know, so some firms were higher. Um, the the lowest firm um, as an example, they had some pieces that were missing. Um, and that's why theirs was lower. Um, so it's I I think they all understood or generally understood understood the scope, but yeah, they did expect different amounts of hours. And so that's what we covered in our interviews is try to understand what their perspectives on that were, if that makes sense.

And the the theirformational packet and their experience with the barn, I I I think it makes sense if that is something we're trying to move in the direction of trying to maintain. Well, and the nice thing and I I do want to you're you're getting at a good point. Really what their scope of work is is to to draw us up some plans to really have a scope of work for here's what it would take to to bare minimum kind of save it. It's the one thing we've never had. We've always had kind of rough estimates what we think it would cost, but we never even knew what it would look like. So, at the end of this, we'll walk away with a plan set and an engineer's cost uh you know, cost of opinion and we can make decisions from there. We can make more informed decisions, but we won't be obligated to either. So,

thank you, Deputy Mayor Resnik. Um partially my questions were answered. uh we council environments questions, but um I I saw you know JDS historical is going to be used as a third party and I I remember doing research on them back in the summer when we had the the uh detailed discussions about what to do with the barn. But they will first make an assessment of structural integrity and then make a recommendation based on that. Right.

Correct. And in taking into account community engagement that's planned for this. So we intend to have a steering committee that kind of guides the decision-m process. So it it will be both, right? What is what do we want as a community, but also what does he see or what do they see out there, you know, if that that makes sense.

Okay. All right. Yeah. I mean, that's great. They've got a lot of experience with it. I know that they've done a lot of local area restoration, so it' be interesting to see how it comes out. All right. Thank you, Council Member Grelin Fox. Thank you. I don't have a question. I just I'm happy to see that we had so many bids. It was nice nice to see that result and I do look forward to seeing what they come forward with. It should be very interesting. Thank you, Council Member Sharp.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, I like the path loop and the barn. In the summer, we asked DDA to come back with a recommendation and they're putting their money where their mouth is and saying, "Yeah, here's it's going to cost some money to make a recommendation because we're not experts. We're going to go hire the experts." So, I support the expenditure for we might not like it at the end, but at least we'll have some solid data to go by. Thank you, Council Member OD.

Thank you. Um, quick question with regard to the uh proposed timeline that I'm looking at here. Um, that obviously we're here on December 16th, 2025. Uh, construction beginning a year from this upcoming summer. Is that the planned? I mean, that's the way they put it to us essentially saying if we wanted to if we wanted to be in a position to have plans ready to put out to bid, you know, next fall, winter, it's it's potentially possible. And I think that's really what they're getting at. But they do understand that the scope of work included here is really getting us the plans for each portion. And then we as a community will decide, do we bid them all out at once? Do we do just the phase 2 part? Do we do the amenity? You know, we'll have the flexibility to decide those things.

Okay. So the January 29th, 2027 date just before that where bid opening and award recommendation is listed that will be obviously for the three components and then

it could be um well you wouldn't even necessarily you by the time we get to that point we'll you will know you all will know um what the findings from from the design work are and we will collectively make a decision if we bid out one two or all three together and at what timelines we do. So, um so there and that was one of the things that's also included in the scope of work is that uh you know some degree of bidding support. So helping us put it all together, make sure that we can get if we do decide to do one, two, or all three parts that we're getting the right specs out there and helping contractors um you know understand be able to bid the job. Thank you. [clears throat]

Any other discussion? Seeing none, I got a motion and a second to approve the recommendation to approve the a professional services agreement with Spalding Decker Associates Incorporated for Civic Center Loop phase 2 design services for a not to exceed budget cost of 67,700 and authorize the associated budget amendment as recommended by the Wixom downtown Development Authority and authorized the mayor to sign agreement. All those in favor, please signify by saying I.

I opposed. Motion carries. New business number three is a recommendation to utilize the com cooperative purchasing pro uh procurement by Sourcewell and authorize the purchase of a replacement engine E11 from Apollo Fire apparatus and the Sten Comp Corporation for 1,212,394 from engine 11 replacement fire account number 401-336-97353. Motion So move support. Chief Gishling.

Thank you, mayor. Good evening. Uh in front of you is a report that outlines the replacement of a vital piece of equipment that the uh equipment at the fire department, our engine 11. Uh this is a quote unquote fire truck. It has 750 gallons of water. It's got multiple hose lines. And this is really in all essence the workhorse of our department. Um it responds to vehicle accidents, alarms, carbon monoxide incidents, wires down, and every type of fire uh that we possibly [clears throat] could have. Um current engine 11 was purchased in 2006, and then delivery was taken shortly thereafter in 2007. Over the last year or so, uh this truck has been out of service multiple times to address issues in the drivetrain. Uh the current proposal is for a build of a sen apparatus. Um, we're very happy with this brand. Um, due to their family-owned manufacturer, uh, they have high quality, dependability, and they have a over 135 year, uh, commitment to the fire service. Uh, I'm happy to say that this could be our fourth Sudin in our fleet. Um, and as mentioned in the report, this purchase is unique because of the extended timeline of 30 to 32 months um, before we can take delivery. Um so this has been a plan purchase in the 10-year capital plan um for the 2829 fiscal year. Uh this would give us an approximate fall of 2028 delivery. Uh and as you'll see we've even come in under budget. So um I will be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you for coming in under budget and um this this piece of equipment like you say is vital and with all the um uh two big companies that are coming in. It's going to be very important that we have a vehicle that's dependable and reliable and because they're not going to take uh any excuses if something happens and we need the fire department

to get there. So I can approve this. Council member Bearman, we have just clarification. We have two fire trucks, right? We have two engines. Yes, sir. Two engines. Yeah. My bad on the terminology. No, no. I'm just This is This is the one that was is traditionally used for residential and the other one is the chemical component for the industrial. That's correct. Okay. So, even with the the issues we're having with this one potentially being down for all the residents here, we are sufficiently covered still. Yes, sir. We are the other equipment we do have.

Yes. Yes, we are. And I am in support of replacing this especially if it needs 20 years old. But I just wanted to make it clear that you know we're not just operating without a fire. No, we are not. Okay. Thank you. Council member Gone Fox. So is because of the length of time that it takes to to get possession of these is is the plan then to go ahead and pay for the the engine now and then wait for it to be built and then we'll get it. We will not pay for anything now. They will start the build process with just a signature. Okay. So are we

it it'll it'll be paid for. It'll come out of the 28 29 capital budget just like it would normally. My only concern is they're telling us it's this 1.2 now. In two years, are they going to come back and say now it's No, the number is locked in. It is locked in. It is locked in at this point. Yep. Thank you, Councilman Rashard. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, Chief Gizler, thank you for the tour of the fire station yesterday and uh reminding me which engine we were talking about because at 1.2 million, I was sure it was the hook and ladder. That's not. So, you can imagine what that bill's going to be when in 2038 or whenever. Yeah.

But anyway, I I support this and when I went yesterday, uh E11 isn't even running. It was uh down for right now for out of service diesel emissions problems. So, hopefully we get that fixed and back on the road. But I support parts to come in. I support the expenditure and uh look forward to council paying for it in three years. [laughter] Deputy Mayor Resnik. Thank you. Uh partially my question was answered regarding the um payment because in the T's and C's they don't require anything down on this. They'll start building it and it's 36 months out. Yes, sir. 100% on final inspection at their facility then. Right. Yes sir.

So there is a clause though in the T's and C's that said if their materials and things go up by over 5% they can still come back for a 5% uh price. It is like that in the terms and conditions that they provided. um I [clears throat] was ensured that that would not be the case. They have not had any issues like that um in the last 5 years since you know the uh co issues. And then uh my last question then regarding the 20-year-old uh piece of equipment when it comes out of service in 28 will there be any uh possible auction value for that?

I'm actually waiting to u find out those numbers. Um when this proposal was provided uh to myself, the truck was currently not in my possession, it was uh getting some other work done. Uh so they couldn't come out and do an assessment of it. Uh so now I'm just waiting for that process to happen to kind of see what our options are, if it will make sense to sell it or maybe even hold on to it as re reserve apparatus. All right. We'll find out in 28 years. No, it's not that. [laughter] All right. Thank you, sir.

Yeah. All right, seeing no further discussion, I've got a [clears throat] motion and a support to approve the recommendation to utilize the cooperative purchasing procurement by Sourcewell and authorized the purchase of a replacement engine E11 from Apollo Fire Apparatus and the Stepbin Corporation for 1,212,394 from engine 11 replacement fire account number 401-336-97353. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh, new business number four is a recommendation to accept the Oakland County Economic Development Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Grant of $155,500 for Alpha Drive extension pre-engineering and approved the professional services proposal from Hubble Roth and Clark of Hubble, Michigan for a not to exceed cost of $167,680 from LDFA project expenditure account number 250-551. 1-971.0000 authorized proposed uh project expenditure account and um authorized the proposed budget amendment and authorized the mayor to sign the agreement. Do I have a motion to

approve or assistant city manager Benson?

Thank you mayor. Uh good evening members of city council. Uh just like the uh the motion to to introduce this this is an interesting and complicated item. Um the the long story short is you all are aware that the city uh has tenatively been selected by Esteemos America for the location of their new regional headquarters and research and development facility that uh that is tentatively planned for a site on Alpha Drive that currently is at the end of a deadend culde-sac. uh given the the uh potential traffic impacts from uh 500 plus uh jobs coming to that site, the city and to some extent the developer have had some concerns about, you know, is access adequate? Are there other things that that we need to look at? Um and then combined with the city's sort of I'll say long-term intents to try and connect Alpha Drive to Beck Road just to improve regional, you know, uh connectivity for for vehicles. uh it all kind of came together and over the last few months we've been working together with them as they prepare their site plan for formal submission to also try to figure out a what will their traffic impacts really look like and b what are the most appropriate ways to address that. We have been very fortunate to have a lot of support in this project from our partners in Oakland County Economic Development, the Detroit Regional Partnership, the state of Michigan. Um this is a this is a very large project and a very exciting one and so a lot of resources have been uh you know made available to help with this. As an example, the Detroit Regional Partnership actually is paying for a uh traffic study to study the the specifically the developers project and what that impact would be if this connects to Beck Road. All of these things being said, there's an expense on the city's part and the developer's part to try and study this, to try to figure it out and determine the site, the the readiness of this site. And that's where

this grant opportunity comes into play. Oakland County was granted a a strategic outreach and attraction reserve or soar s grant from the state of Michigan with the intent [clears throat] of preparing sites to be ready for economic development projects. they are uh what this is that's being presented to us is an opportunity for a subgrant allocation. Originally Oakland County uh they had a variety of subgrants kind of worked in and one of those opportunities fell through which then opened an opportunity for the city and our I'll say somewhat shovel ready opportunity uh to to be a good fit for this. So this opportunity and this grant has kind of come together very quickly. Uh but we're very appreciative of of their support and understanding of you know what goes into this. So uh attached to this is an agreement that uh has been put together by Oakland County staff. It has not gone through fully through their approval process, but um they have told us that they they would like us to approve this prior to the end of the calendar year because they need to allocate it on their end for their grant reporting requirements with the state. Uh we we secured a scope of work from the city's engineers with Hubble, Roth and Clark. Um they've been heavily involved in the city's uh discussions and negotiations with the developer as our engineer of record and we feel that they are well positioned to do to perform the scope of work for us. The number one thing I mean there's a variety of things included in the scope of work that's before you tonight. um you know the the topographic surveys, the right-of-way descriptions, working with the adjacent property owner who is not the developer. There are two property owners in play here. Um and doing preliminary design engineering that will all be required to pursue a state of miss or Michigan Department of Transportation transportation economic development fund or TEDF grant. Um, so this grant from the county will help us

cover the costs of even applying for that grant. As you can see, you know, there there's a lot of layers to this. Um, but uh so we have uh and and I mentioned that there is an adjacent property owner who uh right ofway would need to be secured from. They are aware of this conversation. They've been an active participant and specifically we have run the scope of work by them and you know what we're doing. They are uh they're they're tenatively supportive of the entire project and basically have said if a traffic study can be produced that will indicate that the impacts on Beck Road will not be detrimental to their other business interests immediately adjacent uh they they would likely be supportive but they won't commit until they know that um so this this happens to work out. The one other thing that's really nice about this particular grant opportunity and the scope of work that can be completed with it is let's say the worst possible case scenario is that a Steo Americas doesn't work out for one reason or another. The data and information that's that's gathered as a part of this process will be useful to the city and it will be useful for our own business attraction efforts regardless. And that's part of I believe the appeal and really why it fits with the the subgrant allocations. It's about site readiness. it is tied to attracting a specific project, but it it can be applicable to more than just that. Um, so um the reason for the budget amendment is that we propose to run this through the city's local development finance authority. Our local dei development finance authority or LDFA does not currently have a TIFF capture, but it has an existing fund balance from years in the past when it did. the specific connection between Alpha Drive and Beck Road is a a uh designated project within the approved LDFA plan. And um essentially what it all means is that LDFA funds can be used for this

purpose as well. So um while we believe, you know, 95% of this particular scope of work would be covered under the grant funds, if there are any other things or as we move down the [clears throat] line, um the LDFA is just an appropriate place to place that. Um, but since we didn't plan on this, we didn't know this was happening during budget season, we didn't budget for it. So, that's the need for the budget amendment. Um, with all of that in mind, I know that was a mouthful and you likely have questions and I'm happy to try and answer them as fast as I can. Council member Glenn Fox. Yeah.

So, am I reading this correctly that the city will the city's expenditure would be the 167680, but then the grant that we'll receive will be the 155. Correct. So, so our total expenditure for this piece would be $12,000 up to that amount. That's the one thing to make and I sorry I didn't say this. Uh the the HRC proposal is what they estimate this could cost like in in hours, right? It will depend on the amount of work and what goes into it. Um but they recommended we seek an authorization for up to this amount. So it only really, you know, that $12,000 you mentioned only comes into play if we really hit the upper end of this.

Okay. So our expenditure could be less, could be correct. It could be it could be significantly less. Then we might have to give them money back. Thank Resnik. Uh thank you. Um the local development finance authority um doesn't that eventually run out too if we don't use it we'll lose it?

No. So we have the funds in we've already collected them. If you do not have a plan that indicates that you intend to spend the money you theoretically could have to give it back to to um taxing jurisdictions. Our current plan is active through 2030. So, let's say we and I believe we only have a fund balance of about 285,000. If we hadn't spent it on eligible activities by then, then yes, potentially we could have Yeah, cuz I remember that it came around once already if I recall. I think we we upped it. Um, yeah. So, this is a great project for it and it's within the eligible boundaries of the LDFA too, right? Correct. Very good. Thanks, Council Member Sharp.

Thank you, mayor. Um, yeah, I support the expenditure as well. I think this is a the road connection is probably something we need, but can is it feasible and can we afford it and those are the first steps to figuring those two pieces out and while the two owners are playing nice with each other, we ought to get it now rather than wait till something's in place and it's much more difficult. Thank you. Any other discussion? All right. Seeing none, I got a motion in this second to approve the recommendation to accept the Oakland County Economic Development Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Grant of $155,500 for Alpha Drive extension uh pre-engineering approved the professional services proposal from Hubble Roth Clark Incorporated of How Michigan for a not to exceed cost of $167,680 from LDFA project expenditure account number 2550-5. 551-971.0000 authorized to propose budget amendment and authorize the mayor to sign the agreement. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I.

I. Opposed. Motion carries. Very good. Got [clears throat] through that pretty quick. Um, next up is a call to the public. I won't read the rules to the call to the public. They are the same as before except with the exception of you can speak whatever's on your mind. Do we have anybody for the second call to the public? Seeing none, I'll close the second call to the public and it moves us on to the oath of office and presentation. Uh number one is the reaffirmation of oath for police officer Jaylen Branch and police officer Gabe Scott. Chief Langmire,

good evening. Uh thank you for your time here tonight. It's a big day for us. Again, we get to introduce two new young officers to you that we're very, very excited and very fortunate to have here. Um, and [clears throat] get them sworn in so that they can start to get trained and get on the road and working. So, uh, the first one that I'm going to call up is Jaylen Branch. [clears throat] Ladies and gentlemen, this is Jaylen Branch. He's a 2023 23 graduate of high school. I struggle with that one right now, but uh 2023 graduate of Byron High School. Um he's currently attending class at the University of Michigan Flint, pursuing a bachelor's degree in criminal justice. He started uh with us here at Wixom um back in March of 24 as a service aid. Jaylen excelled from day one. Uh we are very very fortunate to have him. Um he did so well that he was one of the officers that were one of the service aids that were selected to go to the academy. Um and he has recently graduated from the 133rd class of the Oakland Police Academy just last Friday on December 12th. Uh we're very fortunate to have Jaylen with us. Comes from a law enforcement family. His mother is a a captain for U of M uh Flint PD. Uh his father works for Sterling Heights PD and his and his stepfather also works in law enforcement. Uh when off duty, Jaylen enjoys golfing. He likes hanging out with his friends. Um, so at this time I'd like to call his mother up, Captain Heather Bramley of the University of Michigan, uh, Flint PD, and she'll put her badge on after you swear him in. here.

I branch do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Michigan, and the charter and ordinances of the city of Wine, Michigan, and that I will faithfully discharge the responsibilities of police officer according to my abilities. I will [applause]

[applause]

Now, I'd like to take an opportunity to uh introduce you to Gabriel Scott. Okay, congratulations.

This is Officer Scott. He also is a 23 graduate of St. Mary's High School in Orchard Lake. Currently attending classes at Oakland Community College and I believe the academy credits that he just obtained uh will lead him to his associates degree. Um, and Gabe plans on uh continuing his education and obtaining his bachelor's degree in CJ. Gabe started with Wixon PD as a a service aid back in August of 23. And again, he also excelled. These two guys have been heads and shoulders above all of the other service aids. We have some good service aids. Uh, but these two guys really excelled. He also attended the last local police academy uh, academy class 133 and graduated just last Friday. Uh we're very fortunate to have Gabe also. Um also comes from a law enforcement family. Uh his grandfather's retired Oakland County deputy. Uh and his uncle who is a Bloomfield Township sergeant that I actually hired back in the day. He kind of steered Gabe towards us. So I'm very very very h happy to have that happen. Uh when Gabe's not at work, he likes to work out if you can't tell. Uh and he loves to spend time with his mother. So, uh, his badge is going to be pinned on by his grandfather, retired Oakland County Deputy David Scott. I Scott do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Michigan, and the charter and ordinances of the city of Wilson, Oklahoma County, Michigan, that I will faithfully discharge the duties and responsibilities of police officer according to the best of my ability. I will [applause]

[applause]

Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Thank you. All right. Next up is the swearing in oath of offices for city council members and mayor. Madame clerk. So, November 4th, 2025, we had a general election for the local mayor, [clears throat] city council, and library board. And it was so busy. We had so many people that wanted this position, but he feed them all. Here we are. We're going to share our hand for another term happily. It's my honor to do this today. When he asked me to do it, I couldn't have been more. I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Michigan, the charter and ordinances of the city of Wixom, Oakland County, Michigan, and I will faithfully discharge the duties and responsibility responsibilities of mayors to the best of my [applause]

again. Same election. So many council members wanting to run. We're happy to have her for another four years. I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States. the Constitution of the State of Michigan and the charter and ordinances of the city of Wixom, Oakland County, Michigan. And I will faithfully discharge the duties and responsibilities of city council member to the best of my ability. Congratulations. [applause] And Jason is next. Uh Jason Kennedy, will you come up please?

So Jason is a new council member for us. His dad was a previous council member. Um so he's not uh not foreign to this, but um we are so happy to have him and that he's willing to participate in local government here in Mix. If you could just raise your right hand. I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Michigan, and the charter and ordinances of the city of Wixom, Oakland County, Michigan, and I will faithfully discharge the duties and responsibilities of city council member to the best of my ability. I will [applause] And next up is uh Veronica Simmons. [applause]

[laughter] So, we're happy to have her and sorry and pray that we

do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Michigan, the charter and ordinances of the city of Wixom, Oakland County, Michigan, and I will faithfully discharge the duties and responsibilities of city council member to the test of my ability. I will CONGRATULATIONS [applause] ALL RIGHT. And next up is the recognition of Deputy Mayor Thomas Resnik and Council Member Peter Sharp for their public service to the city of Wixom. If you guys could both meet me down at the podium. never been shy. Um we're we're really honored to have Peter and Tom on council and um following um people that sent proclamations uh to them from the US and the federal level. We got proclamation from councilwoman Taylor Stevens. And from the state, we have a special tribute from Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a special tribute from Senator Jim Runstead, and a group tribute from Senator uh State Representative Anne Bowen, State Senator Jim Runstead, Lieutenant Governor Garland Billrest, and Governor Gretchen Whitman. [applause]

And and next up we have our county commissioner Rob Smiley here with a couple of proclamations from himself and Dave Coulter. I'm going to read a few of these u but not all of them. There's there's too much gateway for us. Um before I begin though I I did want to say one quick thing and that is that um you know uh you know my time in Wixom you know for 10 years we I saw you know a lot of really good people you know come and go and all and all for good reasons retirement or moving on for certain things and um and here we have you know three more really great wonderful people I'm including Marilyn in this too um that uh you know Wixom will miss uh but one thing I have noticed is that uh the good Lord has sent us really great replacements every time. And I I I I have every confidence that that's the case this time with um uh Veronica, Jason, and help me out with our treasury.

Angie and I haven't had the pleasure of meeting Angie yet, but I will tonight. Anyway, so that's just uh you know, quick thoughts on on having so many years of you know, wonderful service to Wix. I'm kind of you know, leaving right now. Uh I'll start with uh with uh uh Councilman Sharp and I have [clears throat] I have a proclamation here from the board of commissioners. I also have one here from uh Executive Coulter. Uh you'll have quite a collection here. I don't know how you're going to put this all up on a wall, but uh you know, they're they're they're a testament to how wonderful you all are. So, I'm I'm sure they'll you'll find some space. Anyway, let's uh let's read this one first. Uh honoring Peter Sharp, a proclamation. Whereas, it is important to recognize individuals such as Peter Sharp who are inspired to serve the public through democratic leadership. And whereas Mr. Sharp, a resident of Wixom since 1992, became eager to participate in local government after several years living abroad. This experience left him with an appreciation of the democratic election process and a desire to work within his community to ensure collaboration and conscientious deliberation between differing viewpoints. Mr. Sharp's commitment to thoughtful planning, responsible growth, and long-term community development steered his 2015 to 2019 service in the Wixom Planning Commission. He then served six years on Wixom City Council, where he took part in expanding public access access to council packets, supporting the completion of the Assembly Park development, and championing the city's wayfinding signage. And whereas a graduate of a school in Ohio, this [laughter] now it says a graduate of Ohio State

University. They wouldn't let me change that. Uh Mr. Sharp earned a bachelor of science in industrial engineering. After moving to Michigan, he established a 32-year career with Ford Motor Company, beginning at the Wixom assembly plant and working his way up to retirement from Ford's product development division in Dearbornne. And whereas on the occasion of Mr. Sharp's retirement from the uh Wixom City Council, we join with the residents and public officials of the city of Wixom and his wife and two daughters to thank him for his thoughtful and wellbalanced approach to serving his community. Now therefore, David T. Woodward, chair of the Oakland Board, uh, Oakland County Board of Commissioners, uh, myself and the entire Oakland County Board of Commissioners do hereby proclaim special commendation to Peter Sharp. [applause] Uh, all right. Thomas Resnik. Oh, yeah. Um, all right. Whereas, it is an honor to recognize public servants such as Deputy Mayor Thomas Resnik who making a lasting impact on their community. And whereas a resident of Wixom for more than 30 years, Mr. Resnik began his foray into public works in 1998 where he spent a decade in the Wixom Parks and Recreation Commission. During this time, he made significant contributions to expanding the city's parks, trails, and recreation opportunities, such as development of the Michigan Airline Trail. Mr. Resnik was elected to the Wixom City Council in 2008 and served four consecutive terms of office where he was most recently the deputy mayor. He is applauded for his

vital role in ensuring outstanding city services continued as the city navigated challenges including the great recession and the departure of Ford Motor Company. No small stuff. Uh Mr. Resnik was also instrumental in establishing the Wixom Community Foundation and creating the Wixom Cemetery Colombarium. I never hear about Colarium and I think of you Tom. [laughter] Whereas Mr. res attended Henry Ford Community College where he earned an associate degree in electrical engineering technology. Following his graduation, he built a highly successful 45-year career working in automative technology, which culminated in his 2024 retirement as president and chief executive officer of Danlaw, Inc. Additionally, the Resnik family founded the Drafting Table Brewing Company in 2016, which enriches Wixom's vibrant atmosphere and is considered a beloved downtown attraction for sure. Whereas, on the occasion of Mr. Resik's retirement from the Wixom City Council, we join with the residents and the public officials of city of Wixom and his wife, children, and grandchildren to thank him for his tremendous leadership and service to the community. Uh now therefore, David T. Woodward, chair of the Oakland County Board of Commissioners, myself and the entire Oakland County Board of Commissioners, we hereby proclaim special commendation Thomas Res. [applause] No, we're not done.

We have two more proclamations from the city for here and I'll read Peter Sharps. Uh whereas Peter Sharp has been a devoted resident of the city of Bush since 1987 having moved to the community from Columbus, Ohio where he attended the state university and his wife where I asked Peter Sharp and his family of proud members of the Wixom community raising their two daughters in the home they built in 1992 on Wexler Drive where they continue to reside. And whereas Peter Sharp has built a distinguished career as an engineer serving 32 years with Ford Motor Company beginning with the Wixom assembly line and ultimately retiring from Ford's product development division in Dearborn. Whereas he is a graduate of the Illinois State University holding a bachelor science degree in engineering and MBA from the University of Michigan. There we go. Peter Sharp was inspired to enter public service following nearly [snorts] four years living in China from 2011 to 2015 where he gained a deeper appreciation for the importance of democratic leadership and the privilege of electing officials ser who serve the public. And whereas during his six years of dedicated service on the W city council, Peter Sharp has made uh significant contributions to the community, including expanded public access to county packets, supporting the completion of the assembly park development and ch championing the city find way project. And whereas Peter Sharp also faithfully served on the wisdom planning commission from 2015 to 2019, further demonstrating his commitment to thoughtful planning, responsive uh responsible growth and long-term community development. And whereas after years of honorable service, Peter Sharp has chosen to retire from the council to allow fresh ideas to emerge and enjoy more time for travel. And whereas Peter Sharp leaves office with sincere hopes that future councils will continue to work collaboratively respecting different

viewpoints, engaging in healthy deliberation, and upholding the decisions made by majority vote, and that the city of Wixon will continue to enhance its downtown open spaces and pursue the development of a vibrant, quaint downtown for residents and visitors alike. Now therefore, it be resolved that the city of Brooks only hereby honors and extends his deepest gratitude to Peter Sharp for his commitment, guidance, and uh service to the city and community. And may we have further resolved that this proclamation can be presented to a testament of his lasting impact on the city of West. [applause] One more proclamation honoring Thomas Resnik. Whereas Thomas Thomas Resnik has been a dedicated resident of the city of Wixon for more than 30 years, making his home here since April 1995 after residing in Wing Lake and spending four years abroad in Germany. And whereas Thomas Wesnik built an accomplished 45-year career in automotive technology accumulating and his service as president and chief executive officer of Dan Law Incorporated from which he retired in February 2024. And whereas Thomas Resnik is a proud graduate of Henry Ford Community College holding associates of science in electrical engineering technology. And whereas his commitment to public service began well before his election to the city council, including a decade of service on the Wixon parks and recreation commission from 1998 2008 and participation in numerous committees dedicated to enhancing the city's natural, historical, and recreation assets. And whereas Thomas Resnik was encouraged by fellow community leaders to run for office and embrace the opportunity to serve, viewing public office as a meaningful expression of his commitment to democracy and civic responsibility. And whereas during his 16 years on the Wixon City Council,

serving four consecutive four-year terms, Thomas Resnik has played a vital role in guiding the city through significant changes, including the great recession and the departure of Ford Motor Company while upholding high quality city services and maintaining community assets. And whereas he contributed substantially to the city's economic and residential growth, supporting expansion of arts, trails, and recreation opportunities, and played a key role in projects such as the development of the Michigan Airline Trail, improvements to the city park, and the establishment of the Wixon Community Foundation, as well as the creation of the Wixom uh cemetery, Calibarian. And whereas Thomas Resnik and his family further contributed to a vibrant commuter debate by founding Dragon Brewing Company in 2016, which has become a beloved and enduring downtown destination. And whereas following his retirement, the Thomas resident uh will continue to amplify service and community spirit while enjoying time with his wife, grandchildren, travel, perform volunteer work, witnesses. [laughter] And whereas Thomas Resnik will express uh expresses his enduring hope that future councils will lead to integrity, transparency, and dedication. and that Wixon will continue to grow as community where residents can live, work, and play in a thriving forward-looking city. Now, therefore, it be resolved that the city of Wixon here honors and extends a deep gratitude resident for his extraordinary dedication, leadership, and service to community and be a further resolve that this proclamation will be presented as a testimony to his lasting impact on the city of Rixon and his residents. [applause]

[applause] I'll take my comments at the end council. All right, I'll do one more call to the public where you can come up and speak whatever's on your mind. If you want to talk about Peter or Tom or anything like that, come on up. I don't want to talk. All right. Well, I see nobody for that, so we'll move on. Uh, city manager comments.

Thank you, your honor. Um, the only thing I had really mentioned in the uh, city manager update was related to the uh, on-site training. Uh, city clerk Chris Aalco went went uh, into contact with the MML and arranged for an on-site training session to occur at the city of Wixom uh, for new elected officials, new board and commission members and new HOA board members. Uh, this training is for Wixom and the surrounding communities in the area and the details are provided in the city manager update. Um the uh training is entitled Everything Meetings. Uh it's scheduled for Thursday, January 15th at 6 PM. It's going to take place at the Whipsom Community Center. Uh it's at 49015 Pontiac Trail. And I'm saying that for the benefit of anybody who might be appropriate target audience for that. Um if you want to reserve a spot, you can uh email the city clerk and clerk admin.org. It's going to be focused on helping public bodies conduct smooth, well-run, and legal meetings. uh please see uh the attached flyer that I provided for some additional details that is also available on the website with the council packet for anybody who's interested as well. Um so that's the only other item I had on there besides work anniversaries. Uh we're honoring uh city employees that have uh put in years of service to the city ranging from 24 years from our police uh lieutenant Mark Bradley uh and I'm down to 10 years I'm sorry one year um for a couple of people that are on the list as well. So, I just wanted to uh give kudos to those people and thanks to those people for their service. And also, we have dates to remember for a variety of events that are taking place uh in the coming weeks, including stuff uh like closures for the city that are happening on uh December 24th, December 25th, as well as uh December 31st and January 1st. And that's all I have this evening, your honor.

Very good. Assistant City Manager Benson, just wanted to say it's been a pleasure working with you all this year and our outgoing city council members and new folks coming in. Looking forward to working with you. So, uh, merry Christmas and, uh, see you all in January. Very good. Uh, council comments. Council member Barman.

Well, I'm going to miss my neighbor next to me here. I've really appreciated working with you the I guess the last six years I've been with you here. your uh guidance to me has been instrumental and um wish you the best. I'm sure I'll still see you around at least once a week at drafting table. Council member Sharp as well. It's been a pleasure uh not having you next to me, but at least we can text back and forth. [laughter] We have comments during the meeting. I'll miss the conversations with you as well. and I'm looking forward to our two new council members coming with some fresh ideas up here and uh welcome to our two newest uh police officers. Uh it's exciting to have u some new younger blood coming into our police department.

Very good. Uh Council Member Gran Fox. Well, it's hard to go after that, but I I would also like to uh to thank um Council Member Sharp and Resnik for for all their their wisdom and um working with them and we've all gotten along so well and we've been respectful of each other and I appreciate that very much. I'd also like to uh to welcome our two new council members, Veronica and Jason. I look forward to working with you both. [clears throat] And um of course I'd like to thank all those um employees celebrating anniversaries. And then last but not least, Marilyn, it's been a pleasure.

I I wish you all all the happiness and joy in your retirement and good luck to you. Thank you, Council Member OD.

Thank you. Got to look at my notes here. Um, Marilyn, congratulations on your retirement. Um, I know all too well how difficult your job is from having a similar one. So, um, I'm sure you will enjoy [laughter] retirement and again, thank you for a job very well done. Um, officers Branch and Scott, uh, congratulations on the academy and on being sworn in today. uh young men such as yourselves choosing such a noble, albeit dangerous, potentially dangerous, hopefully never position um is so admirable. Um so I congratulate uh commend you on that and um wish you a long and uh prosperous career here at Wixom. Um, new member, new council members, uh, Kennedy and Simmons, I look forward to serving with you after, uh, the new year here. Uh, Pat and Tia, I look forward to continuing to serve with both of you. Glad you guys both won in landslide

margins. Um, uh, council members Sharp and Resnik, I did that in reverse. Sharp and Resnick. [laughter] Um, as I'm rounding out what has only been my first year here on council, I have nothing but gratitude, respect, and appreciation for both of you, um, it's like osmosis just from your historical knowledge. Um, and, um, you know, I hope we can all just pick up and, um, lead with the examples you set. Um, and lastly, I'll just wish everyone in Wixom a very safe, happy, healthy holiday season. Um, you know, there's a lot of negativity in the world, in our country, all over the place right now. And I think it's just [clears throat] lovely to be able to live in a city like Wixom. Um, I think in past uh comments or I can't remember, but you referred to it as a quaint city, and it really is. It's just a great place to live. um and to meet people. So, um I wish everyone happy holidays.

Thank you.

Um and I want to thank the uh firefighters for allowing me to uh serve breakfast again at breakfast with Santa this weekend. It was very well attended. It's always a lot of fun and I really enjoy um participating in that. And I want to uh thank everybody who's celebrating a workversary um here, including our own Cheryl Lucas back there. Wave, Cheryl. Thank you for your eight years. Um to the new police officers that we swore in tonight, congratulations. Nothing but the best for you guys and stay safe. Uh Veronica and Jason, I'm really looking forward to working with you guys. Um but get your shoes on and buckle them up because we got some big projects. We got a lot of work going on and we're going to start out right away with some big things. So, be ready. And Tia, I'm you know, it's been great working with you so far and I'm looking forward to another two years. So, um and with that, I'd like to wish everybody um uh before that um I just want to thank Tom and Peter for their dedication and service to the city of Wixom. Every vote or decision you made was based on the city and the citizens best interests. And I would also like to thank the Resnick and Sharp families. Being a council member is much more than attending two meetings a month. It is countless hours preparing for meetings including HOA and other city related functions and all that's taking time away from their families. So I really appreciate you guys allowing them to to do this job. And uh Tom and Peter, I've been honored to serve with you guys and I wish you all the best in the future. Um, with that, uh, Council Member Sharp, council comments.

Okay. Thank you, Mayor. I only have, uh, 20 or 30 minutes of comments to add to this meeting. Um, first of all, I wanted to thank everybody for coming tonight. As uh, Council Member OD said, we're middle of holiday Christmas season and everybody's busy. And to lend an hour and a half or hopefully we'll keep it an hour and a half to to this meeting means a lot to me and I know it means a lot to council. It's always good to have uh the residents here. Um not as often as we would like frankly because it's always good to get feedback. Um but I wanted to thank a few things people. One, Laura Clutier and the DDA. Thank you very much for the sweatshirt. Very nice. Might have to go to large. So just um people in attendance, I knew most many of you were coming, but I didn't know my daughter Sarah and her husband Matt Dornan uh were coming. Thank you very much for coming to support uh us. I know you wanted to listen to the firetruck discussion. Um I want to uh congratulate officers Branch and Scott. Uh we've got a great team led by uh Chief Langmire and it's been a it's been a real honor to work with uh the fire and police departments, too. I feel like we've become more than just acquaintances in the um in the meetings. I see uh police and fire uh uh officials and and um officers around the city and just saw somebody at Aldi yesterday and spoke about uh fire trucks. Uh I want to congratulate Marilyn on her retirement. It's always pleasure. I'm kind of a data guy and really into the numbers and uh you always have had great preparation and and good responses to frequent questions from me. Um, so as this is my last meeting after six years on council, I wanted to thank some

other folks and reflect for a moment. First, I want to thank Mayor Beagle and council for appointing me to a vacant seat in 2019 and the Wixom voters for electing me in 2021. I always felt like our council works very well together as we each bring a unique skill set and I could name each one of them. uh if you ask. We listen well, speak our thoughts, and although we do not always vote unanimously, we respect the results and move on. I'm sure our new council members, Veronica Simmons, and Jason Kennedy, will continue to be part of our highly functional city council. I also thank Steve Brown, Drew Benson, and their teams for all their work over the years. Collaboration, planning, and action made it a pleasure to move the city forward with budgets and projects that were brought before council. And of course, I want to thank my wife Ann Marie for supporting the twice per month council meeting commitment and adjusting our family schedules as necessary. The last six years saw many improvements in city businesses, housing developments. Let's put it up here and infrastructure. But there were a few projects that were dearest to me and you heard a couple of them as uh uh they went on and on. Uh the development development and near buildout of the assembly park which is a carryover from my four years on planning commission as well as my first job at Ford Motor Company where I was a maintenance supervisor at the plant. um the publication of council packets for the general public ahead of each meeting. That was near and dear to my heart after coming home from China where nobody knew what was going on. It just happened. And the packet tonight, I'm

sure you all read it, was 314 pages, among the largest I can remember in six years. Um, also was uh advocate of hiring our code enforcement officer, which I think has been a great service to the city. I've noticed a lot of clean up and and around the town. Um, our city logo update and wayfinding signage project. I was on the the steering team to create the logo and uh get the funding approved for uh the signage uh which is coming very soon. uh the airline trail completion and ongoing support from the city. I'm an avid user of the of the trail as I know several of my council me co-consil members are and believe it or not the disc golf course at Gilbert Willis Park where I saw that our the biggest disc maker in the world is based here in Wixom and we had really didn't have anything and I worked with Deanna kind of proposed it and she told me what I needed to do to kind of make it happen and uh I've never played disc golf in my life but I'm glad we have it. It's been fun work. It's been I should I wanted to highlight it's been fun work on Wixom City Council and I look forward to many more years of living in the city, watching it grow and enjoying all it has to offer. Thank you, [applause]

Deputy Mayor Resnik.

Oh, thank you, Mayor. Um, first off, I want to congratulate our new officers, Branch and Scott. Um, um, commend you. Um, and following the footsteps of, uh, some of your relatives into law enforcement. That's great. Welcome aboard. Um, good luck, Marilyn, on your retirement. Um, that's great. You've always done a wonderful job here. And, uh, I remember I was wondering what the transition was going to be when Kevin left and you've just, you picked it up and ran with it. and we've had clean audits all the time and and thank you for answering all my questions because [music] I always got into the numbers as well. Um, welcome Veronica and Jason. Um, like I said, you you'll you'll get it and uh I know you've already been to some meetings so you get the the gist of it and the cadence of it and just a lot of reading, right? Um, also um attend those training sessions. Uh, Chris Johnson is your instructor. Chris Johnson who was the mayor of Northville for 28 years. Um he's a great instructor and uh everything meetings will help you in in knowing how to act up here and whether when something gets tabled, you know, when it's get tabled or something gets uh uh you know rebroad up on the agenda, you'll you'll have an understanding for that. Now to my comments. First of all, I want to say how humbled and honored I was with all those accolades up there today and the on the resolutions. Um, I am but one on a a team of seven here and uh I know it's been 16 years, but uh uh thank you everybody for those accolades. When people asked me back in April why I wasn't running for a fifth term, my answer was pretty clear. I said, I don't believe that our forefathers when they framed our constitution and our form of government meant for one man or woman to

serve in an office indefinitely. I felt it was the right time to move on and make room for the next generation uh to lead and set our direction in this city. Our city's grown and changed quite a bit over these 16 years and I feel that the incoming council reflects those changes and I have every confidence they'll do a great job. I'd asked myself honestly if I felt Wixom is a better place today than it was 16 years ago and it I reflected on that quite a bit over the last couple months and I said yes it is. When I think back to 2008 when I was first elected we were in the midst of the Ford departure. I also had hair and I didn't need these. But we also had a double whammy with the great recession that came upon us. We as a council had to make some very very tough decisions at that time such as not funding our future liabilities for a short period of time. Maintained existing facilities rather than pursuing new ones and uh we kept our budget balanced through that period. New developments were stalled, bankruptcies were rampant, but we kept up hope and we still managed to continue to grow through this period. we became more efficient and eventually we were able to bond those future liabilities which proved as you heard tonight in the audit to be just a great measure. So we uh continue to invest in our infrastructure including roads, water, sewer, DPW, fire, police equipment and facilities and continually improving our parks and recreational programming. Subdivisions are still being built and developed in the city and the eyesore that was once the Ford Wixom assembly plant complex is now built up as the assembly park and full of new tenants and employing hundreds of people. We have several promising new business prospects coming in the next few years as well which is a testament that Wixom is variable desire a very desirable place to do business. a few accomplishments that I'm especially proud of having played a role in on this

council and that is formation of the Wixon Community Foundation, a revitalized and very active uh DDA. Thank you, Laura. Um for those of you that have been around a long time, you know what it was like prior it was uh pretty much stagnant. And um we have a um revamped parks and recreation facilities, the cemetery calarium, 247 manned fire department, which was a big step and big decision we made. And of course, the Michigan Airline Trail, which draws people from all over the world, not just our local community, not just our state, but I've talked to people that have come from foreign countries and love it. I would first and foremost like to thank the citizens of Wixom for having had the faith and confidence in me for these past four terms. I hope you feel that I've represented you fairly over these years. I next would like to thank my fellow council persons, Mayor Beagle and everybody else up here in the DAS. While we may not have always agreed on a particular issue, we respected each other's opinions and moved on. This is not a blessing enjoyed by many of our surrounding communities. You've all been great to work with. It's been an honor to serve alongside all of you. Next, I'd like to thank Steve Brown, Drew Benson, Crystal Aalco, Marilyn Stamper, Phil Langmeer, Brad Giesler, Tim Sigma, Diana McGee, and the entire city staff, current and former. Uh we've always worked together in a respectful professional manner uh with council and it's been a privilege working with all of you over these years as well. And I especially want to also thank our volunteers who tirelessly serve on various boards and commissions. Many of you have also served for several terms and continue to step up to the call. I especially also want to thank my lovely wife Annette and my children uh some of which are in the audiences and their

spouses for having put up with me all these years. Vacations were cut short, event rescheduled, and those were the norm, and we tried to make the next meeting to avoid an absence. And lastly, I'd like to thank my former employer who accommodated my regular and special meeting schedules, ribbon cutings, and other events over 16 years. Most of my overseas travels and board meetings were set to fit within the twoe period so I could fly back in time for the next meeting. A lot of redeye flights there. To the incoming council, I ask that you serve our city with a continued high standard of ethics and integrity. Remember, you represent the city, not just in these meetings, but whenever you are out in the public eye. Avoid conflicts of interest. And when in doubt, ask. It doesn't hurt. And remember, when casting a vote, understand and research the topics. Ask the city manager questions if you don't understand them. I had no clue what a lamela clarifier was when I took office, but soon found out that Tim Sigma is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to solids removal and sewage. Pay very close attention to the details during those very important budget study sessions. Those are very important as it sets the agenda and the pace for the rest of the fiscal year. Cast [snorts] your vote not just with your talents and your conscience, but with the best interest of the city as a whole in mind. You will have some big and potentially controversial issues coming up in before you in the next four years. And I have every confidence that you'll be able to continue to grow and mature through these. My family and I are still very deeply committed to the city. Two of my children, their their families, their spouses, they own businesses. They live within the city limits. I won't be a total stranger. You'll just be seeing me on the other side of the DAS, probably next to Mr. Meredith over there. So again, thank you all and I'm overwhelmed

by the attendance tonight as well. Thank you. [applause]

[applause] [applause] Right. Deputy mayor, do I have a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Support. Mr. Sharp. You can at least wait. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I post. Thank you everybody.