Board of Commissioners - workshop

Commissioner Hodge. Here. Commissioner LaBar. Here. Commissioner Light. Commissioner Maciejewski. Commissioner Robby. Commissioner Sanders.

Present.

Commissioner Scott.

Here.

Commissioner Somerville.

Thank you. Move now to public participation. This is your opportunity for public participation here at our working session. You have one minute to give comment here. You will have three minutes to provide comment at our full board meeting immediately after this one. If you do give public comment, please start with your name and the municipality within which you reside for our record purposes. Again, one minute. Anyone who wishes to give public comment in person at this time?

Good evening. Greg Warner from GFL Environmental. I'm the Director of Wastewater Treatment for GFL. On behalf of Arbor Hills, this is in response to a blog post by the Conservancy Initiative about an event that took place at the landfill on March 25th. For your record, we will be presenting you a letter on rebuttal to that blog formally to the Commission. But at this time, just want to hit a couple notes on that event that day, verbally in front of the commissioners today and to the board today. There were two claims in that blog post. One claim is that the site purposefully did not sample at a certain time in order to avoid an event or to avoid the disclosure of an event. And the other is that that event on March 25th somehow impacted an event at the Yucca treatment plant a month and a half, almost two months later on May 14th, which it couldn't be, could not be, there couldn't be any evidence of that occurring. For clarity on that day, there was an error by our operator on that day while we were doing emergency maintenance on equipment that we continue to discharge an error of our permit. We notified.

I apologize. Your time is up, but we will certainly, we do not have a commission response portion of the working session agenda. I would encourage you to stick around to give the rest of the comment at our full board meeting at seven, or if you can communicate in writing to the board, we will make sure to add that to the, to the packet going forward here.

Okay.

Thank you. Thanks. Anyone else who wishes to give public comment in person at this time?

Okay.

Sure. And just to clarify, you get three minutes at the next meeting. My colleague wanted me to point that out. No one else in person. Is there anyone online for public comment at this time?

Yes, Chair. First, we have a phone number ending in K3WC. Let me allow them to talk. Here you go.

Yeah, hello. My name is Abraham Shunar, and I live in Ann Arbor, Michigan. And my comment is that I want to ask is I want to ask the Board of Commissioners to come up with a plan to eradicate poverty in the county. It's really very sad that we still have poverty in this county and we have young people that are left behind. I want to encourage the board of commissioners to come up with a plan in bringing in U of M and EMU and all the charities and all the cities and townships, wherever it is, to eradicate poverty. Come up with a plan first, and then let's come and ask the community for the funding of that plan. And I understand this is not going to be an easy undertaking, but I cannot accept that this is not doable. It is doable. It might take 10 years to do that, but I think we owe it to the young people that are left behind in this county. And we can set an example for the entire country that we can take care of our people by bringing them out of poverty rather than handing them... Forgive me, your minute is up, but we encourage you to...

Provide the same comment or additional comment at the full board meeting at 7 o'clock. Again, you'll have three minutes at the time, and there is a commissioner response section. Tabitha, anyone else online?

Yes, Chair. Next, we have Andrea Krueger.

Hello. Can you hear me? We can hear you. Hello. Thank you. My name is Andrea Krueger. I live in Ypsilanti Township, Sherman County. Oak subdivision. My question is, last month, I emailed all the commissioners about my concerns. I am currently a patient of community, Washtenaw Community Mental Health. No one has responded to my email. And I would like to know why, especially my commissioner, whom I voted for. I am a homeowner, taxpayer, and I would like to know why I have not received a response to my email concerning community mental health. And that was sent June 8th last month.

Thank you. Tabitha, anyone else wishing to give public comment at this time?

No one else online, Chair.

Great. Move then to item three, which is the report from the County Administrator.

Good evening, Chair. Good evening, everyone. No report this evening.

Thank you. Administrator Dill, and we'll move back to you, Tabitha. Any report from the Director of Board Operations?

No report, Chair.

Great. Move then to our first discussion item. We have a winter sheltering update, and we're fortunate to be joined today by some of our COC members, Kelly Rutledge, the Executive Director at Ozone House, Nicole Adelman, ED over at the Shelter Association, Rhonda Weathers, the ED at SOS Community Services, Katie Hohner, our CMH Program Administrator, and Shona Teruza, our ED at the Interfaith Hospitality Network. Um, I'd like to turn it over to the panel. I'd like to give them a chance to give, uh, remarks and run through the presentation and then open it up for a commissioner question at the end, just to let them, uh, get through with, uh, with, with five presenters here. Uh, Shona, I will turn it over to you and, and the floor is yours.

Great. Well, good evening, commissioners. Good evening, members of the public. As I was driving here, I was remembering how it's almost exactly a year ago that we were all driving to Manchester. It was hot. We sweated. And we were talking about winter in the middle of like a heat wave. Shona, I'm so sorry.

Are you willing to pull that mic just a little closer?

Okay, there we go. How do I do that? Thank you. So here we are again talking about winter in the middle of summer. And so let's see. To start off with, I just want to thank you all for your support of last winter's efforts. And we're here to share the impact of the 1.3 million that you said you allocated for winter sheltering, and also to give you some information that will help us plan for next winter. And so let's see.

Good evening, everyone. Thank you so much for having us and for hearing this update on how the dollars were spent in the last year. Okay, it moved. We don't know. No, went too far. Okay, well, no, sorry. The funding which was allocated by the BOC last fall was a total of 1.33 million. And the way it was allocated is listed on your screen there. Shelter Association of Washtenaw County received $215,000 for staff and site support, as well as 7,500 for hotel stays for individuals. Ozone House, received 7,500 for hotel stays for young adults. And SOS Community Services received 120,000 for rapid rehousing case management so that we were able to serve more people in rapid rehousing. We also received $105,000 for case management for direct assistance through OCD Barrier Busters. And IHN at Alpha House received $280,000 for staffing and site support. Eviction prevention dollars were also allocated to our efforts and barrier busters received $566,667 to help with direct assistance to folks who were facing eviction. That money lasted, it was almost perfect, it lasted until early May. So it was able to adequately meet the cold weather months. And then there was a 5% admin fee to OCD of 28,333. We also were able to provide a number of different services through coordinated entry, eviction prevention and diversion. Coordinated entry was used at Housing Access for Washtenaw County, HAWC, received on average 128 calls per day through these months. SOS served 274 households, a total of 696 people, which cost an average of $2,177 through eviction prevention. And Ozone House assisted four youth, averaging $1,000 per household. Shelter diversion is an activity that uses a lot of flexible funding. We received from the city of Ann Arbor last year, flexible funding dollars to use with diversion and SOS served 28 families who were diverted out of the shelter system and out of our homelessness system with an average cost of $1,735. per family and 48 individuals were diverted from shelter with an average cost of $806 through Shelter Association. So there are two agencies in town who are doing diversion activities, SOS is one and SOC is the other, okay?

All right, so discussing individuals who are living outside. So the CMH PATH team provided street outreach to 45 individuals who remained living outside for the duration of the winter months. And some of those we engaged into hotels during the most severe weather that we had, but 45 individuals consistently remained living outside. And then from April 16th, so we looked at the part when our, the shelter system that we rely very heavily on when their expanded sheltering closed. We looked at those numbers and we saw 128 individuals returned back to us. So back to that homeless outreach team, we are currently seeing, we saw 122 individuals outside in June. So just to kind of look, we're seeing consistent numbers there. Compared to, just to make that reflection, we saw 59 individuals return back to us in 2025 from the shelter. So quite an increase this year over last year of individuals who are residing outside or in places not meant for human habitation. The shelter system saw 882 unduplicated individuals and that's the same for the path numbers, those are 128 unique individuals shelter site 182 unduplicated individuals during the winter months, this is just an amazing number. that the shelter system was able to support with an average of 176 individuals per night across all the sites. So IPSE sites, Ann Arbor sites, the rotating shelters, just doing incredible work. 15 additional shifts per day, so that support that you saw in that budget line item in addition to the staffing. 19% increase in older adults. We had that all-time high of 242 individuals on March 24th. We're having a lot of meetings about the increase in older adults for all of our service delivery, so we're looking at that. We saw a significant decrease in overdose incidents in all of the shelter spaces. And Nicole can speak to that when she's up here. And 15% of all clients exited to a positive housing destination. We're just very limited in spaces for individuals to exit to.

And over to Cal.

Hi, good evening, Ellie Rutledge. I'm the executive director at Ozone House. I'm gonna talk a little bit about the family and youth and young adults system. So we're kind of moving through that system of care from eviction prevention, diversion, street outreach, emergency shelter, and now emergency shelter for families and youth. So we served 77 families or 332 people sheltered by IHN and SOS during the winter months. And family shelter had an increased capacity by 29 units. Alpha House is expanding and will have 70 total units once they're able to fully open. Ozone House, we served 198 youth across all of our programs during the winter months. 22 young people between the ages of 18 and 24, and seven of those young people were in residence with us, so in shelter with us. The other young people served may have been through eviction prevention, diversion, daytime warming, drop-in center, street outreach, et cetera. Sometimes emergency shelter might not be an option for some of the individuals, families, and young people we serve. And that's where hoteling or moteling might be a type of last resort, even with that expanded capacity for families. And I'll even talk a little bit about youth expansion. We received the YHDP grant, but had delays in being able to open our expansion space. due to HUD and funding uncertainties. So some delays there. So even though we've had some great things with shelter expansion, there are times when hoteling is necessary. That could be shelters are at capacity, there's nights of extreme cold, there may be safety concerns. So with the BOC allocation, we hoteled six youth. I think there was another slide that said, oh, that was for eviction prevention. And SOC hoteled five individuals. There are other funding sources that are commingled with the BOC dollars. So for example, we have some Ann Arbor Thrift Shop funding. that we're able to support some young people. So with those other funding sources, some of those numbers may be duplicate if a young person needs to stay a little bit longer than what one funding source has support for. And then in that right column, it talks about the non-COC hoteling. So through county administration, there were 55 people that were hoteled. You can see that initial stay cost with the damages and repairs. I'll say this with a caveat of that does not go along then with the supportive services and the importance of the supportive services when we're working with someone in shelter or in a housing program. to get them to that next step in the continuum of care. So I'll move it on to Nicole.

Okay, see if I can work this. Okay, good evening, everyone. I think I know everyone, but I'm Nicole Edelman, Executive Director of the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this slide, although it's an important issue for us to consider. You can read the details, obviously, but overall, our latest report this winter showed approximately 30% of clients were served from outside of Washtenaw County. So this is an issue we're talking about how to address, and it isn't an easy one. When someone is homeless, they're homeless. We all struggle with calling a line on a map a reason not to help someone who is unhoused. At the same time, we're committed to working internally with our neighboring counties to see how we can address this issue when shelters may not exist or may close in other areas, particularly as we know our resources are limited in Washtenaw County. So I wanna close our presentation, spending a little bit more time on this last slide to talk about planning for next winter, which for those of us standing here started the day the last winter ended. This past winter, we struggled with having enough resources to serve everyone in need, whether that be with prevention funds, staffing, or permanent housing. Exits to permanent housing during the winter months were low because there isn't enough permanent housing, which leads to longer shelter stays and longer times on the wait list. The Shelter Association alone saw a 68% increase in the individuals we saw this winter, we served this winter. We were just told the Delano Center's capacity for onsite winter shelter is gonna be significantly cut for next winter. For this upcoming winter, our community needs another location or two that allows us to have people supported by multiple agencies so we can start to solve this issue with a well-funded system for our housing and homelessness continuum of care. We are seeing nearby shelters close. Homelessness is being criminalized. We're gonna start seeing more and more people lose their housing due to losing their healthcare. and people are gonna be hungry. And all of this is disproportionately impacting people of color in Washtenaw County. We cannot ignore that fact. I understand this is our winter report and you've heard most of the details and have the full report in front of you, you can read. But as we can see, this is not just about winter. This is a year round problem. This week's heat is the perfect example, causing a strain on shelters to open for cooling centers along with the countywide partnership, but we know the problem's gonna get worse. We need you to know this is a crisis. We are here in front of you tonight in a state of emergency. I'm saying this for our housing, health, and hunger systems. For everyone standing up here, everyone in this room, for everyone listening online, for everyone in this county, we need to see this as all of our issue. If we don't address this together right now for our upcoming winter, people are going to die unhoused. If we work together to solve this issue, which we can with your support, we will literally be saving people's lives. We need a fully funded operational housing and homelessness continuum of care, which we are working on to propose to you. Here's my last. Thank you for listening to our presentation, for giving us this issue time and space in front of you tonight that it deserves, and will continue to be needed to be discussed as the summer continues. Thank you so much. And we're here for any questions you have.

Thank you so much for the presentation. I'm going to open it up for commissioner questions. We'll start with commissioner Somerville.

Thank you chair, thank you all so much um and thank you for addressing the fact that some of like the winter shelter season is not the only time that we need to be worrying about on housed individuals. So thank you for that, and thank you to the staff is my MIC working okay it sounds weird today. Hey, I know that our staff have been working with many of you with respect to this week's heat challenges. And so every time we get one of these reports, I'm like, we need to be putting more money into the system annually. And every year I keep trying to find ways to chip away at other services to try to pull more funding. we don't have, we need 365 daytime space for people who are unhoused, but also just more emergency space for weather related emergencies. And so I'm excited about some of the things that are being talked to about with our space plan changes that are coming. And so some of you are part of that conversation, but I think it's a really important one and how we can use this issue of shelter with some of our other climate goals related to resiliency hubs. um i i don't know if the slide um i wish we had the printout um i have one if you want i don't have board portal open justin thank you oh yeah um

It's coming.

Well, it's okay. It's related to the barrier buster. So since I've been on the board, so it's been almost four years, like I know that on day one, when the bucket opens up for people to be able to pull from that for eviction prevention, it runs out. people can only use it once a year and then they can't use it again and they end up homeless anyways or evicted and like in bad situations. So one of the things that I'm interested in is finding a bucket of funding that we can set aside that isn't restricted to the federal requirements that can be used for people who, if you're facing an eviction in January and you don't get a job that allows you to afford the same rent price that you'll have in June, people are gonna end up in the same spot and we don't really have a solution for that right now. And so I would love to see, I mean, I think it's helpful that we had the senior millage and we're using that for skip, but I would love to see the amount of money that we put in for eviction prevention significantly increase, that way we aren't restricted to the federal rules. I guess the question that I have about this bucket is, so when we pass the resolution, I guess off the top of my head, I just can't remember how much of the barrier busters funding is federal versus some from our general fund.

Yeah, I'm sorry, I don't have the exact percentages of what is what, but we all, but throughout the barrier busters, eviction prevention dollars, they all follow the same rules. So this time we're not separating out local dollars from what might be federal coming in. So we follow the same rules. So there's a $3,000 cap. And if people can't resolve their issue within that $3,000 cap, then we wait to assist them until they can find the extra funding to do that. And we of course help them with that, with the search for those dollars. we wanna make sure that not only are people gonna be able to resolve the entirety of their arrearage, but that also they will be able to sustain their housing moving forward. So we look very closely at what is the household income, what are the costs, so that we don't wanna get somebody in a position where we resolve this particular arrearage, but they're gonna be right back in the same situation again in a few months.

Thanks. I think, thank you for sharing, like responding to that. One of the things, especially with the changes to HUD, I'm just convinced if we put more money from our general fund into this service, we will prevent evictions and save money overall. And so I'm just trying to figure out what needs to be done. Like, so for example, if you're saying the bucket's the bucket, it doesn't matter what comes from our general fund for barrier busters, we probably need to pass a resolution to delegate that to be separated so that maybe people can use it more than once a year with more, if we put more funding in.

Okay.

Thanks. Thank you.

Move to Commissioner Scott.

Thanks, Chair. Thanks for being here. I know that we're here talking about winter sheltering, but I know that every one of you standing in front of me right now is also thinking about summer sheltering right now also. So you're here to talk about what we're doing when temperatures are extreme in the cold. And for some reason, Michigan, we take that more seriously than the heat right now. Some of you are actually out. at campsites and getting people into hotels and into shelter. And I mostly wanted to tell you, I have a sincere thank you for doing that because this can be very dangerous for people. And you're not just working during the winter. I mean, I don't want anybody watching this to think like, oh, we're talking about sheltering people when the weather is cold. You are talking about sheltering people 24 hours a day, seven days a week. families, young adults, individuals who need to be housed. Winter certainly sets up a situation for us where we think about it and more people think about it. But I know that you're thinking about it all the time. And so I want to tell you thank you. I do think that we are staring down the barrel of very dire circumstances. I think we're trying to take that seriously at this table. I have one question and that was just, I heard the shelter capacity at Solanus may be limited. Do I know, am I having a perimenopausal moment that I forgot why? Or do we know why? Like why is the capacity being reduced?

It's a great question. It's not perimenopausal. It's a good question. So I will say that in the history of Delano Center, I don't think we've ever had to turn anyone away. This is the first time that we would ever have to look at someone and say, I'm sorry, we're full. And we don't ever want to have to do that. And so that's part of what we're asking you to help us figure out is, So the fire marshal came to us at the end of our season, partially because we had more people than ever at the end of our season. And we think one of those reasons is because a Monroe shelter closed. And so we think a lot of those, maybe, we're not sure it's an anecdote, that a lot of those folks came out This is partially why the path team saw a hundred people instead of 50 after the winter season ended, because at the Delano center, there were 130 people on that last night and less sleep. And we had to say, you know, good luck. Here's path. We don't know, you know, do what you can. So, but so the fire marshal did come to us and said, after we had a response to an alarm and said, you have too many people here. And so you have to come up with a we have to come up with a new capacity load and so Jason. He has been incredibly helpful and we're working with the county really closely to figure that out, but I can tell you that the number is going to significantly decrease based on it's never been. determined what a sleeping space is versus a dining space in terms of capacity. So that was never officially determined. And so now we're being officially asked for, you can seat this many people to dine. Like you can seat 95 people in that room to dine, but you might be able to sleep 35 people to lay down.

Oh my.

So if we're going to seat people in chairs, which you can't do for six months, people can't sit in chair. They're not there just for a night. They're there for a long period of time. Winter is six months long, right? So we're working together to see if we can increase that number higher than 30 ish, but it's, but it will be significantly decreased. So we're going to need some significant support. I hope that answers your question.

Answered my question. Tragically. Yeah.

Yeah. Agreed.

All right. Thank you. Thank you, chair.

For other questions, commissioner Sanders.

I have a couple of questions. So I was, I noticed that you gave us a breakdown for damage, but only related that to administrative placement. Do we know the breakdown for damage for any of your placements in hotels?

I think it's been zero. I think across the board, it's been zero. And the path team is the one who hotels people the most, right? So pity, is that right? That your damage cost has been minimal.

Minimal is not zero though.

We also didn't report our hoteling. Okay.

Okay. Okay.

I think the difference might be that so PATH staff has more staffing to visit people and to support people when they're in the hotels. And then when the administrative hoteling happened, there wasn't as much, there wasn't the support of, staffing capacity that went along with it. So people were left alone in hotel rooms. And so that's what happened. That's what caused the damage. I hope that helps.

So for the purposes of the public, tell us what you mean when you say administrative placement. So that our residents know what that means.

Yeah, you want to go for it?

So when the PATH team places an individual who's unhoused in a hotel, we know their name, we know who they are. In this instance, a block of rooms was reserved by a county administration and people were given keys to rooms. We didn't know who all the names of the individuals were until after the fact. So there was not a process of knowing the who, the what, the where. So there was a little bit of a disconnect in terms of connection to services and knowing who the individuals were in this particular case.

I wanted you to clarify because I also wanted to follow that up and say that typically that administrative placement, I won't say typically, it comes from administration, but it also comes from commissioners like myself that see people I can't speak for the rest of them. I have had to make a number of calls over the years asking that someone be placed. And there is always a child involved or multiple children. So I wanted that clarity because I have literally been asked to stop interfering with your process. But I want our residents to understand As I've said before, if I see someone homeless and there are children involved, I'm sorry, I don't care about skipping the line. I'm gonna call and ask that they be taken care of. So I wanted the public to understand what that meant. Also, I wanted to ask how often and are there, and what is your success related to your conversations with counties outside of Washtenaw in terms of us having to foot the bill for people that don't live here? What does that look like? So you mentioned it, but how often are you doing that? Are you successful at all? Are you getting any sort of reciprocal response from them? How many of our folks are going to other counties?

Yeah, I'll let Shona speak for families. I can speak for some individuals. We do, and I know the shelter does diversion as well. If someone that interacts with the PATH team has family in another state and we can confirm that an individual is capable of staying with them, we will, or another county. I mean, it could be. the Lansing, Traverse City, we will help that individual relocate to that county. We need to make sure that there is a legitimate connection. We will not put someone on a bus or a train without a confirmed location. So that is our process for individuals in terms of going to other counties. And for PATH, in terms of working with other counties, we communicate with other PATH teams all the time. in terms of seeing what's going on. One of the issues is there are many other counties that have chosen to criminalize homelessness, and they are doing their best to work within the framework that is that they are working under. So some counties out in the west side of the state have chosen to criminalize homelessness and they're trying to support people who are living outside knowing that their community is criminalizing homelessness.

Explain criminalizing homelessness.

It's illegal to be living outside. So individuals will be taken to jail they will be given significantly legal fees and charges. So we're adding individuals who are homeless to the carceral system rather than providing support. And so those PATH teams are trying to support people while working within the framework of their governments and their local communities. So it's very challenging. So we recognize that some individuals who are homeless are choosing to move out of communities where being homeless is illegal and actively pursued as such. And Tashona for families.

We have a good relationship with our equivalent shelter in Jackson, the Jackson Interfaith Shelter. They came out to visit us. We have a good relationship with them. They don't have the same system we have where you have to call HAWC and go through that whole process. They have their own waiting list. So very often we get calls at Alpha House all the time for families who are looking for shelter. And if they don't have a real need to stay in Washtenaw County, we'll tell them or we'll connect them with the Jackson Interfaith Shelter and figure out how to get diversion funds to help them get the transportation to get to that shelter. And it's the same sort of programs. It's just a different intake system. So I don't know how many we've sent so far, but that's one way we're sending people to other shelters. I wouldn't say county. I'd say that's the shelter we work with.

Okay. Do we have, or do you have demographics that help us understand district breakdown for housing and homelessness and information related to addiction, mental health, or circumstantial?

Wow. What would that be? So for districts, I'm not sure. That would be probably an OCD thing as for addiction.

Yeah.

Would that be helpful? No, because no.

But, you know, I'm asking because, Shona, you are aware we live in the same district. Yep. And we're looking at the same people every day. Yep. And our numbers are increasing just from visual. So, but for me, it would be helpful if I'm... needing to give a response or an explanation to my constituents about why and how many people are actually living in my district that would help support funding requests. So I'm going to plant that there. It would be helpful if we could figure that out. Don't know about the rest, but I would like to know if there is some sort of explanation or understanding. And I asked about the breakdown for the addiction, mental health and circumstantial because you and I had a situation. I had a situation. I interrupted you on a Sunday and brought you into it where we had a family refusing shelter. that we had secured to them because they had an addiction issue and your shelter was too far away from their access to their addiction. So I think we've not really talked about that at all. but I do think it's helpful to understand. And I think it's only right for the folks that we're asking to pay to understand what are they paying for.

Right. I will say for families, I don't have the actual data in front of me to refer to, but we're not seeing families show up with addiction issues. It's very rare, but we are a low barrier shelter. We'll meet them where they are. We'll try to figure out what kind of, support they need. We're not seeing that. And I say that because the narrative coming from this current administration is that homeless people are all addicted and going around trashing places. That's not what I'm seeing with family sheltering. It's poverty. That's the reason why they're in their situations.

But the individual might be different.

Individuals, yeah. Possibly. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, so we moved to a low barrier entry a couple years ago. And so we are seeing an increase in number of individuals with addiction issues and mental health issues, substance use issues in general, and do practice harm reduction and do work with people closely who have those issues and try to connect them with services as they're needed. But we don't stop people from coming into shelter as a result.

But to be clear, you have rules and guidelines and people are put out of your shelters because they don't follow them. So you can accept them, but that doesn't mean that they're necessarily staying.

Right, we do say we have a low barrier entry, but not necessarily a low barrier stay. We are very accommodating of people and understanding of people's needs. We have a harm reduction model, which is not gonna be allowed to be said out loud any longer, but we meet people where they're at. And so we won't kick someone out for using, that's not, they can't use on property. If they're using on property, they may be asked to leave, but otherwise they're allowed to be in the shelter.

And I think my last question, which is probably the doozy, but you all have heard me say this for a while. I would like to ask amongst you all, what conversations and efforts have there been to create more operational efficiency amongst all of your agencies? Have there been discussions about reducing duplications? Whether or not that's my thing is supplies and things like that, accounting or something where you could find a way to merge some of those services, even if you still needed to have a coordinator or someone for each one of your agencies. But what discussions have you all had about the funding crunch and clearly the scrutiny that all nonprofits are under, not just nonprofits, but Right.

So I'll just speak for Alpha House. Because we shifted our focus to trying to create as many shelter beds as possible, we ended up not being able to focus so much on the programmatic aspects when people are in shelter. And so realizing that there was a gap, we formed a partnership with our house. It's a local nonprofit that serves mostly youth, but We partnered with them because we have a lot of, I call them babies, having babies. And we know that we need to get them life skills, training to give them a lot more care than we've been able to in the past. And so the partnership with our house, they bring their staff to do the programmatic aspects at our house. And we've managed to get a grant from Michigan Medicine to fund this and also to fund getting a visiting nurse to help. um with the postpartum depression any postpartum needs through our house um because i don't want to hire a whole bunch of program staff at this point we just want to focus on the sheltering so we'll figure out how to get um support from other agencies i also point out that um nicole and i up until we moved into um the new shelter used to share an office space we used to we had the top floor delana's had the second floor of an ann arbor housing commission building But when we moved to the new shelter, we gave that up for them to have more space. And then we do generally work very closely with SOS community services on a number of different things. And so that's just our alpha house.

She's speaking for nobody else has anything to add to that.

I mean, I think I will say, I think we part, we all partner really well together. I don't know that it saves dollars in terms of, you know, but we, we part. So for example, you know, Kelly and I just had a conversation about, we share an age group, right? So 18 to 24 year olds can go to ozone house on their new program. They can come to the shelter. We might, we have a, you know, a flyer at the front desk. An 18-year-old is probably better off at Ozone House if that can happen. A 24-year-old might need to come to the shelter. And so we talk about shared clients if we can. We talk to PATH constantly about shared clients. So I think we share programmatically in that way. I will say one of the things that we're talking about, hopefully proposing to you maybe by the August meeting or before is a potential shared space for next winter for this coming winter, where we can do something together. We don't know exactly what that looks like yet, but we're working really hard to come up with something where we could have a shared space. It's hard to put families and individuals in the same shelter space, but we're trying to be creative to think about how we could do that together.

So I, um, You mentioned something that is triggering for me, and we hear this every year, that people are gonna die, and I'm not trying to be glib, but I do, I would be interested in knowing, so when you say that, then it leads me to wanna ask you, how many people that you know of have actually died because you have not gotten funding from us over the years? Because it can sound like, you know, calling wolf and the wolf isn't quite there yet.

It's not necessarily a local example, but there's been a couple of situations of families who've been sleeping in their cars and the kids are frozen to death. But here? Not here yet, but we, Alpha House, that's why we did the weather answer program. So anyone who wants to come in could come in out of the cold. And so this next year is going to be the first year where we don't actually offer that program because we just can't. Because we have the same issues with the fire marshal and our plumbing system just can't sustain any more bodies in the building. And so I feel like from who I saw come in out of the cold these past couple of winters, I worry that we're not going to be able to prevent these types of situations in the future. Kids will be sleeping in their cars the way things are going right now. And if it gets super cold and we have one of those Arctic, whatever they call them, polar vortexes, I do believe people will die.

Have any of your agencies, I hear about programs being cut, but I've not yet, oh.

Since the closure of when the county funded the Red Roof Inn, so COVID, we had a lot of unhoused people in the hotel, which was life-saving. We've lost two unhoused individuals outside. So since the end of that program. So just to put a number to it.

And they were individuals that were accepting of housing if it was available? They were working towards it, yes.

Okay. Because some people refuse. Yes. I think... But they were working... actively engaged with PATH in working on the process. But we know right now our average length to house an individual is 380 to 400 days. So they were working through the process.

Can I add to that real quickly? Just because PATH takes the people who once, like I said, on April 13th, the last leap of the winter season, it was still really cold, right? And so PATH then now has 100 people. And if the Delano Center capacity decreases and we have to turn people away, that's where we're literally afraid that there's going to be nowhere for them to go. So those are the folks that were, yes, they haven't, nobody has, or not nobody has died yet, but we're just worried that turning people away, this would be the first time ever to have to turn people away.

Okay, and my last question is about the funding and what we often hear is that if you don't get this funding, then we'll have to cut programs. But I guess I wanna ask more directly, when is the last time any of your entities has actually had to lay off staff or has decided that the vulnerable that you're serving take priority over your staffing.

I had to lay off a staff last October going into this fiscal year due to lack of funding and resources for that position.

Anybody else?

We've had to lay off staff as funding comes and goes throughout the year. And it's difficult because it's, it takes a long time to train staff and get them up to speed and, and how they can most effectively help people who are experiencing homelessness. So it's a yeah, we don't do it lightly, but we've had to do it in the past.

And these are full time.

Yep.

Okay.

That's it. Thank you.

Go to Commissioner Hodge.

Thank you, Chair. I'll be quick because I know we have a second presentation. I want to thank you for all of your work and the presentation more broadly. I was going to ask you some questions related to when you do give us the recommendation. Maybe like if you had X amount of dollars, we'll get you this. Y will get you this. Z will get you this. When you present to us next time, I think that could be really helpful. And I will stop there. Thank you.

Go to Commissioner Robby.

Thank you, Chair. Just want to thank everyone for being here, for the work that you do every day to keep our community safe. This is a public safety issue. It is a humanitarian issue and one that we could not do without your partnership. So thank you for being here and for advocating, ready to partner and work together on solving the problems that you're outlining. A couple of things I want to better understand. It sounds like the fire marshal has visited a lot of you recently. You're not the only ones that have talked to me about the fire marshal. I think there's a new fire marshal in town. Is this different from?

I don't think he's new. We have a new fire marshal. Brandon, he is not living here, so he is.

Ann Roberts isn't.

Forgive me. When you reply, will you hop up to the mic just so we can pick you up?

So the Ann Arbor fire marshal is not new, but you haven't.

So he's a lovely guy. So I'm not trying to beat up on him, but Sayo got a new, They got a new guy and he started doing the rounds to figure out how to catch everyone up with what they're supposed to be doing. And I had to spend $30,000 on upgrading my fire suppression system for the new wing. And then when he saw the basement overflow program, he said, okay, you need to cap it at 50. And then he went away and thought about it some more and came back and said, actually lower than that. So we're trying to work with him because we want to keep people safe as well. But yeah, he's fairly new.

For you, Nicole, what changed?

So I think, you know, again, and we met with the fire marshal just last week and he was very kind and came to the space and hadn't been to the space before. And so I wanted to see what it looked like. And I think what changed is that, you know, the Delano Center was built and just, you know, became over the years what it was. And again, turned nobody away. And I think because we had more people than we've ever had before, it was finally at a capacity where, you know, we also want to keep everybody safe. And so I think when there was an alarm and there was a fire chief or whoever was in the building said, well, there's a lot of people here more than ever. And I will add that we have, again, higher acuity, older adults. So we had a lot of people in wheelchairs. We have a lot of people on walkers. And so I think that was taken into account when they saw how many people are actually there. And it was at the end of the warming center season, again, where we're used to seeing it taper off. And instead we saw the numbers go up. So I think there were just more people than they were used to seeing in the building in the past.

Do they do regular visits or like they do inspections?

They do inspections, yes. But not in the winter. They don't come in the winter.

I got you. Okay. So it was just bad timing.

Probably, yeah.

Okay. All right. I just wanted to, I guess, say one more thing. This isn't a question, more of a statement. But I was at Wheeler Park the other day and had a great conversation with a group of individuals that was experiencing homelessness. And one of the things, one of the stories that really stuck with me was one of the individuals I talked to was telling me their journey to Ann Arbor. They are originally from Detroit and recently came to Ann Arbor. And all three of the people in the conversation were in the same boat for that. They were recently moved here from Detroit and don't have a place to stay. But the one individual that stuck with me was telling me the story of how she it sounded like had inherited her family house and just didn't have the resources to upkeep it. And so her roof collapsed. And so she had to move herself out of the house because it was uninhabitable and didn't know where else to go. So it strikes me that that story really got me thinking about how we can't solve this problem in Washtenaw County. And it, I mean, how, thinking about the amount of money that it takes to fix a roof versus the amount of money it takes to provide all the services that you guys are doing. I think it just is a reminder of how important it is to try to keep people in their homes as a first line of defense, even before the rapid rehousing and all that. And that has to be, something that the state is addressing, which is just not happening right now. And so I would like, as we consider solutions, to consider, I mean, Washtenaw County has always been an engine of like ideas around legislative changes. Maybe it's monetary, maybe it's some policy changes that need to happen. But I'd like for the solution that you guys come up with with us to include, okay, we need immediate funding for this, that, and the other thing from the county. but what are some broader solutions that we can advocate for in Lansing and in a regional partnership to make sure that this type of story doesn't keep playing out across our region and people are able to stay in their homes if that's a possibility. So just putting that plea out as solutions are being considered.

I think you would find all of us would agree that keeping people in their homes and keeping them out of shelter would be the best.

I mean the, the, yeah, the issue being the jurisdictional differences, you know, the fact that it's not here, if it was in Washtenaw County, we'd have a little bit more control over that, but now it's, it's an, it's not in Washtenaw County. So how do we provide, how can we build that partnership with the city of Detroit and with other communities? But I think part of that is like understanding and knowing like what our homeless population has experience like listening to their stories and compiling that to help find the solution that could help to you know alleviate some of the trends that we're seeing here um I think could be powerful as part of as we're driving towards a solution so go to uh Commissioner Beeman

Thank you, Chair. I'll be brief. Thank you so much for coming tonight and for all the work that you do. I cannot thank you enough. You mentioned a 19% increase in older adults. It's fine if you don't have the number now, but if we could have like what the actual percentage figure looks like it's scary to me is like roughly 17 of a population is older adults so if we're seeing an increase over the population size of homelessness in older adults that's getting making me nervous so i'm a data girl i love the numbers so please always send those to me um but you know what we have with the millage and all those different pieces like i'd love to be able to shift so that others can shift, you know, as needed so that we can better address this completely. But thank you so much for everything that you do and the fight that you have every single day. Thank you. Thank you for your support.

I have some brief comments and I know commissioner Somerville had a, another, anyone who commissioner hasn't spoken or asked a question at this time, we would like to. Thank you, obviously, for being with us and for the work you did. Nicole, you mentioned one good data point in the report about a decrease in the overdoses. I think that's great and I think that's the only good data point in that report. I think you diplomatically at the end said what needs to be said, which is we absolutely dodged the first hurricane in terms of the COC cuts that were ineptly tried via legislative fiat and administrative action. We are not going to be fortunate like the Raptor in Jurassic Park this administration has figured out how to pick those locks and they've done it now legally for the year ahead. We have bad economic conditions underlying in terms of cost of living. We have those COC cuts come into permanent supportive housing. We have the cuts to Medicaid, to other social services. We have an underlying housing scarcity problem. And we have what you've discussed broadly, this criminalization effort around the country, but driven by HUD, driven by ideology. All five of those are going to supercharge that hurricane coming this winter. And so I read what you're saying to mean we will make do with what we can. but we would be wrong to expect the data to go in the other direction. And I will say this to commissioners, we can talk more about hoteling, both process and additional resources for the County. We will also have to talk at this table because all of the continuum of care partners uh, if they're getting federal funding, they have gut check moral questions coming up as agencies in terms of, are you going to care for trans people? Are you going to turn your back on DEI? Are you going to do things that are abhorrent to your character and mission in your community in order to candidly, uh, still get federal funding to serve homeless people? Um, and none of those will be easy decisions, but I appreciate the heads up and I look forward to, um, trying to get through the next 30 months with all of you and really appreciate the work you do and the report you had tonight. Move to Commissioner Somerville.

Thank you, sorry to drag this out more. I just wanted to highlight how important, so we're voting on more skip funding tonight to help, I think, you know, that data point with the older adult population, really important. And I think it's also important as we look for additional shelter on the east side to make sure that we can adequately support the aging population. I do want to thank all the staff that are working with some of the partners on looking, identifying space. We have some pretty good space identified. Fingers crossed that some of our federal and state partners may get lucky and get some federal and state earmarks for that. But even if we don't, I'm trying to identify where we can find money in the county area. budget to be able to find additional space before next winter. I know it takes time to renovate a building to get it up to standards for a shelter, but the thing that's clear to me after all the questions that we've gotten here and the answers that you've given is that we need more space before next winter. So happy to keep working with you. Thank you. I appreciate that. And I know that... I can speak for the city of Ypsilanti has been great to work with and has forward space in the city with folks of the county and shelter association. So we're excited about that. Thanks.

Go to a commissioner summer or commissioner Sanders.

I just wanted to add quickly that I got a communication a couple of, maybe a month ago and I sent it to Rhonda and Shona and I, I sent it, I send it to three folks. This is not a shaming. This is just like I was excited. It was about a complex that was vacant. And I thought, okay, we could figure out a way to obtain that. Ron is the only one that answered me. Nobody else responded. And I thought, okay, so We've got a housing and homelessness problem, but nobody's weighing in on. I'm going to give Shona a pass because I know she's busy. But we didn't get a response back from my side. And I thought, well, because I was kind of saying, can we look into this and find out why is it empty and how much would it cost to assume it? And I mean, it would have been enough to handle all of your issues. So I'm just putting it out there. I know that I'm a drill sergeant.

Yeah.

I am also always trying to find ways. And then when I do find the ways, people get real quiet.

Mm-hmm. And I commend you because this is the season for thinking outside the box and being creative with the resources that we have. I think Nicole and I are feeling really bad about this coming winter is because she wouldn't turn people away. I was the same. And both of us now are going to have to turn people away, which is why we need to be creative and look at all sorts of possibilities. It's not going to just be one response. It's going to have to be all sorts of different ideas for different types of populations because Even within family homelessness, it's not one size fits all. Families come in different sizes with different needs. Some do much better in the congregate setting where they're being supported 24-7. Some prefer or do better with housing, like master lease houses. Whatever our response is, we have to look across the board.

Yeah. I mean, I would just rather us be able to look into something and say why it won't work instead of just not even doing anything. I don't like no as the first answer. So I'm just saying that because it was a large complex. Even if we started one building at a time, because this is urgent, and it's always urgent, and we always seem to be ending up in the same place. So I'm just being a jerk and putting it out there that I tried. sit something through and then we didn't get the response that I thought.

To be honest, I saw the listing.

And not from you.

Right. It was overwhelming to even think about. But with the right support and a great team, because we need to be all working together. And I know that you're trying to figure out what the system next year will look like post HUD. It would help if we form some kind of task force that is the pure goal is to look into all the different options for when the HUD funding does eventually run out, because I'm pretty sure it's going to.

Thank you. Commissioner Ivey.

I fully agree with Commissioner Sanders. I think it's a great idea. It's one that I floated before when we had those hotels available to purchase over near Palm Palace. There were two of them, $8 million for two hotels.

They're still available.

Oh, they are? Wow. Let's buy it.

So this, I mean, yeah, I mean, this is a lead in into what we're hoping to propose to you. We're looking into those hotels right now. So we will bring that to you if it's, if it's a possibility.

That's awesome. I think it should be a possibility. Like I said, a year ago, whenever I first brought this up, we pay so much every year in winter hoteling that it would add up pretty quickly to the cost of just purchasing an entire facility. I think we would be, fiscally irresponsible to not make this investment.

Support.

That's a good note to end the working session on. Thank you for the presentation. We'll look forward to seeing you in a month on a related set of issues.

Thank you.

Move then to item B under number five, which is our emergency 911 surcharge overview. We're fortunate to have with us... Sheriff Alicia Dyer, and I've given the sheriff assurance. Sheriff, I'm going to let you get through your presentation because I know you've got one, and then we'll open it up for Commissioner Q&A.

All right. Thank you so much. All right, well, good evening, everyone. Thank you so much for allowing us to present today as we talk about Metro Dispatch and just kind of go over what the surcharge revenue is in Washtenaw County. So to start us off, I just want to, you know, everything we do at the Sheriff's Office really goes back to our mission statement, which is actually quite timely because this mission statement was created actually by somebody in our dispatch center upon taking office. We held an employee-wide competition, and the person that most aligned with the values was actually Ryan Schuett, who is in our dispatch center now, so... Just wanted to give him a shout out. Together, we are committed to creating a safer and more just and compassionate Washington County. And then below that, you see our values. And so when we think about the direction of public safety, when we think about what we're doing at the Sheriff's Office, we really try to ground it in these values as well as this unifying mission. And that brings us to talk about E911 dispatch and PSAPs, how it works, how it's funded, and what our options as a county are. So you'll see there on the left at 241,966, those are all the emergency calls in 2025 between all PSAPs in Washtenaw County. So this is our Metro dispatch, which the Sheriff's Office operates, as well as other PSAPs, which would include Chelsea PD, U of M PD, and EMU PD. Our county surcharge cost is 43 cents per month. We are an outlier compared to some of our neighboring regions. And what this is, is the fee that you'll see on your telephone bill, you'll see like an E911, A lot of people don't realize that they're even paying it. And this is basically governed by the state law, and it allows counties to adopt a local surcharge, which is intended to fund 911 dispatch in any county to really make sure that we can keep the public safe. Just a reminder, dispatchers and Metro Dispatch, as well as our PSAPs, they work 24-7, 365. And so no matter what happens, no matter what time of day, you call 911, somebody is there on the other line. The work they do is critical. It saves lives. They talk to people in their most vulnerable moments. And as we have really modernized technology in so many ways, the demands on dispatch are also increasing quite significantly. And so our current funding structure for E911 in Washtenaw County is this surcharge, along with the county general fund that you all contribute to public safety and dispatch services, as well as dispatch contracts with neighboring, I cannot talk right now. neighboring with all of our dispatch partners. So like for example, Pittsfield Police and Arbor Police, they contract with dispatch. And what that really looks like from a budget standpoint, and I'll get into that actually coming up, but the surcharge barely covers the actual operating cost of dispatch, which is why we have always had to do these contracts for more funding to be able to cover the gap. So when you call 911, who answers? So police dispatch is what we do at the Sheriff's Office with Metro Dispatch alongside our partners. And then for fire and EMS dispatch, the 911 call will come into the local PSAP. So wherever you are in the county, it will geofence to your exact location. And that is how you will then, that's how the PSAP will get triggered to where that 911 center will answer. So unless you're on U of M's campus, EMU's campus, or in Chelsea, it's going to come to our Metro dispatch. And if it's a fire or EMS emergency, dispatchers then transfer the call to emergent health partners, and they do a handoff for fire and EMS dispatch services. So a lot of our municipalities actually do service contracts separately for fire and EMS dispatch. However, our Metro dispatch is the largest PSAP in the county and does a lot of that coordination. And then you have the mental health triage, which is something that we are really starting to lay the groundwork to prepare for. As public safety has evolved in so many ways, there are some municipalities that are looking at alternative response or looking at unarmed response. And really supporting that at the 911 center is best practice. We actually had our crew unit that we have right now in the county, which is where CMH and our deputy work together. The work that they do is evaluated by the University of Chicago. And one of the recommendations in that report was to embed social workers in the 911 center. So that way, when people have a mental health crisis that does not need police, they can actually triage at the 911 Center. And we are fortunate in this county to have community mental health, which has a 24-7 access line already as well. So our structure is already set up to be able to, in the future, do mental health triaging if we actually had the resources to be able to do that. And then Michigan E-91 legal framework. So the authority that is granted to you all as the Board of Commissioners falls under the Michigan Emergencies 911 Service Enabling Act, and that governs emergency communication districts and the PSAPs, as well as the surcharge collection. One quick note, this act is set to sunset at the end of 2027. This is pretty routine. 2021, it was the same thing. It gets reenacted. Typically, it's extended or reenacted. The idea behind having a sunset is in case the ceiling is The state law ceiling needs to be raised for how much counties can charge. And so we have not heard anything at the state level anticipating any change to where local boards of commission could set surcharge rates. Because most of the counties in Michigan actually depend on the surcharge framework. If you see here where Washtenaw stands versus our neighboring counties, we are at the 43 cents in Washtenaw. We were grandfathered in at that many, many years ago. Our neighboring counties have actually already increased their surcharge to be able to fund their dispatch center with Livingston at $1.85, Monroe's at $2, Lenawee's at $3, and that would be the state cap. So as of now, you can't go higher than that $3. And that is how they are funding their dispatch centers. And so here's a little timeline to show how we got here. So pre-2008, it was the early 911 era, very fragmented landline-based systems. Counties relied on state distribution and limited local surcharges. Washtenaw had a 911 plan under Public Act 32, Then 2008 was a major turning point where 911 laws were updated, wireless funding distribution. And then we get into the 2010 era and 2018 where you see some, in 2010 it was pretty low rate era and that's when we were grandfathered in at that 43 cents. And then the state reform came in at 2018. Our current reality is we have rising call volumes. There's a growing need for mental health calls to be triaged appropriately as municipalities think through alternative response. And we have a rising community demand just for dispatch service. And given that our rate hasn't changed in many, many years, we have a huge structural gap between the dispatch costs and the actual surcharge revenue that we get as a county. And so as we evaluate options and think about the future of public safety and dispatch, this is just a demonstration just so you guys can see what could a surcharge increase generate. And talking to other counties, some people have actually They have asked voters to increase the surcharge more than once. They've been doing it for many years. And then I want to also kind of just give you sort of a landscape of where we are now at that 43 cents. That means that we bring in about 1.8 million to Metro Dispatch and all the PSAPs. to operate 911 countywide. And like I said, there's a huge structural gap, so then we have to do dispatch contracts. And then if the surcharge was to increase by $2, we would actually bring in significantly more revenue. It would be about 8.3 million. Metro dispatch would get 7.4 million. And then the other PSAPs would also see an increase in their revenue, which is significant for their current budgets. $2.50, it would generate about $10 million countywide, and the Metro PSAP for us would be about $9.3, with then you see Chelsea, U of M, and EMU there as well. And then the $3, which is the state cap. So regardless if the county or board of commission decide to put this on the ballot, and let's say this passes, no matter what, you can't go above the $3. So whatever rate is ultimately set cannot go above that state cap. But to go above the 43 cents, the board of commission can choose to ask the voters how they feel about that. And this is just a breakdown of our budget. So what it costs to run 911 in Washtenaw County for Metro Dispatch. So this is our 2025 operating budget. You have the biggest expense, which is always our salary, our permanent staff, our dispatchers, fringe benefits. You have overhead, the cap, overtime costs. We have part-time temporary positions and then supplies. and the county 911 coordinator. So that brings us to a total of 6.7 million. And then on the right hand side, those are our municipal contracts. And you'll see the municipality and then in the middle, the actual cost that it takes to dispatch for that municipality. And then the very right hand side is the contracted cost. So we have had to do 9% increases because we are not at a place where some of our partners are paying for the actual cost, which is also causing significant strain on many local municipalities budgets. This model has been in effect for a while now. And there's a lot of interest in trying to see how we can really do 911 emergency services more affordably. And then funding context and operations. So, you know, what current funding covers is the 24-7, 365 answering dispatch coordination, police, fire, and EMS. We work closely with emergent health for the transfers that we need. We have text to 911 service, and then of course the municipal contracts. Areas that additional revenue could address as we prepare for the future of dispatch services is staffing and retention resources, funding for embedding mental health into dispatch, embedding social workers into dispatch, so that way we can really make sure we are sending the right response at the right time and we are making sure that we are properly caring for people when they're in a mental health crisis before even needing to send a responder. So this also frees up the time and the resources because right now what often happens is if a 911 call comes in for mental health, if they don't request CMH or if the police that respond don't request CMH, dispatchers often rely on the first responders on the ground to do that. And so having mental health actually embedded in the center would be a huge game changer. And it also helps lay the groundwork for what municipalities decide to do. Ypsilanti has been looking at evaluating 911 calls for service. We've been working on them through the Law Enforcement Action Partnership. And Ann Arbor has definitely made some strides in looking at not only doing the model of co-response, but also looking at unarmed response. And when you think about alternative or unarmed response, the 911 center and making sure we have call takers and we have training and we have the staff available is going to be critical because it all starts at the 911 call. Often when people are in a crisis, they're not going to remember, you know, another number. We've done a huge education campaign in this county around people understanding that there's an alternative number for CMH and people still forget or they don't have it saved in their phone. And so, you know, just having that triaging could be critical. And ultimately what this comes down to is if it was decided to look at changing the surcharge rate, you all as a board that is in your authority to decide to then put the question before the voters, if this were to get approved by voters, then the emergency telephone district board would meet. and we would convene, we would have a public hearing, and then we would propose a rate to you all, and you all would ultimately set the final rate within the range that was approved. If no rate change is approved, and if this doesn't happen, Metro Dispatch and all of our other PSAPs We'll continue at our current funding levels absent other funding opportunities and Metro Dispatch would have to continue contract increases for our dispatch partners as basically we have to stick to the model that we're doing now. And it would be really hard to expand service when you think through centralizing services on the public safety side, as well as alternative and unarmed response. Also, the surcharge revenue is legally safeguarded. So you cannot spend the revenue for anything that is not allowable per state law. And so this ensures that this revenue actually goes to 911 dispatch. The whole reason behind this act was so counties could fund their 911 centers. And so allowable uses of surcharge revenue are dispatch staffing, embedding call takers into dispatch to work with dispatchers around unarmed response and alternative response, 911 interoperability, you know, systems linking, so linking and coordination systems between Washington PSAPs with other regional law enforcement, fire EMS systems, and CMH could be better streamlined. Training and certifications, basically a lot of the allowable funds have to benefit 911 dispatch and be in the dispatch center. and what this would mean for municipal budgets if voters or we ever decided to change the surcharge in Washtenaw County. So like I said, the current model means the County General Fund has to cover the gap between dispatch for the revenue that we do not bring in from our dispatch contract partners and also the revenue that we don't get from the surcharge to cover the full budget. And this is significant on everyone. The county is paying significantly. You know, some of our neighboring municipalities are paying significantly for dispatch contracts. And with increased surcharge, you know, WCSO, we could provide dispatch to contracting police agencies potentially at a less or no cost. It would ultimately depend on what the final rate was. but most counties have not relied on contracts to fund dispatch operations. And we can also look at how to better support our residents across the county as people have been calling for more options at the 911 Center involving having social workers and mental health triage opportunities available. What this would cost per device. So something I really wanna stress on this, I'm talking to other sheriffs that their counties have already done this, is it's really important to make sure that people have the accurate information. This is not a millage. It is not a property tax. It is not based on property taxes. It is a user surcharge. And so it is a monthly charge that is on your phone, wireless, and voice over internet connection. So like I said, the current rate's 43 cents. These are the example rates. And then the annual cost per line are at the bottom there, as well as the monthly cost. And because this is a mechanism that the state has really enacted so counties could fund 911, the way it works is it basically creates significant revenue countywide because it goes off of phones as opposed to off of property taxes. So it also just helps to spread out the cost across the county. And what would a six step process if a local surcharge request were to be considered? So you all at the BOC would need to obviously propose it to go on the ballot. And if it were to go on our ballot in November, the voters would then ultimately be the deciders on if this should happen or not. And then once that happens, the ETDB meets, convenes, updates the 911 plan, does a public hearing, proposes a rate, and then you all would then set the final rate. And then new revenue would not come in effect. So just as a sample timeline, if it was, on the ballot and approved in November, revenue would not come in until the following year because July 1st is when the service providers would be notified and the state 911 committee is who notifies the state providers. So then the revenue would start coming in. You all would have, depending on how the ballot language and how what voters approved. If there was an approval to go up to and not to exceed the state cap, you all would then have the authority to set it within a range. Some people have done staggered. You can set the rate every year. You cannot use this funding for anything but dispatch, so you also shouldn't set a rate higher than what you need, if that makes sense. And then as far as the sheriff's office, if something like this were to happen, our biggest goal is making sure residents know what it is. A lot of people have no clue they're paying this E911 charge on their phone bill. And we wanna make sure we get out accurate information and we wanna do public education across our county alongside our local municipality and public safety partners. So that way people really can evaluate their options and then ultimately make a decision. So here's a suggested timeline from the educational standpoint. Government communications, obviously strictly educational. We would want to start meeting with first responders, CMH, community mental health, the sheriff's office and public officials, and really just begin educational presentation so people understand what it is, also what dispatch does, and also meet with township supervisors and administrators. We have had a lot of informal conversations and I want to thank Administrator Dill, because we have worked on this all year, trying to figure out what are our options to prepare for dispatch. The county, we don't want to burden the county budget. We want to make sure we're providing reliable safety. It's life and death when someone calls 911, so it has to work. And it's been a lot of hard work evaluating things. And to get to this point is definitely, I'm feeling very optimistic about that. And then September and October community outreach, November would be a voter decision. And then after that would be when the ETDB, the Telephone District Board, whose sole purpose is to meet to propose to you all the 911 plan so you all can set the rate. They have not met in years because we haven't changed the rate, but we would convene it, and then you all would get a recommendation after a public hearing, and then you all could adopt the rate proposed. You could choose a different rate. It ultimately rests with you all at the end of the timeline. And then as a sample timeline here, I just basically the same thing, but it's just laid out in a different format. So key facts for the board and our community is, like I said, the surcharge is not a millage. The E911 surcharge is per line monthly fee on phone, wireless and via voiceover internet connections. It's not a property tax. It does not appear on your tax bill. Michigan law is the MCL that is notated there, authorizes counties to collect up to $3, no more, per month per line. And no rate has been proposed. This presentation is to really educate you all as you all consider options. And if you all did decide to place a measure on the upcoming ballot or a future ballot, voters ultimately would be the ones deciding. It's really up to all of our residents in Washtenaw County. if they would approve this. And then, like I said, the board would then set the actual rate. If something like this wasn't approved, then we would continue doing the work that we do now and we would have to go back to, you know, square one and think through other funding options. And, you know, ultimately, you know, the other PSAPs as well as Metro Dispatch would stay at current funding levels absent other funding opportunities that came up. And I think that is it. I wanted to go really quickly right back to So in these counties, something else I want to say. So these are some of our neighboring counties that have done this and they've looked at their surcharge revenue and their funds. And most of these counties are like Lenaway, for example, they're considering eventually they're going to have to potentially raise it again. It's based off of population size with how much revenue is actually going to be needed. Obviously how many folks, you know, monthly phones or how many landlines and mobile devices are in the county. So one of our neighboring counties, Wayne County, theirs is still at a lower rate, but they have a significant population. So the revenue that they generate from their surcharge looks very different than the revenue that we have here in Washtenaw County. and talking with other people that have done this in the neighboring counties, they said on the education side, the public was very receptive and seemed to digest and understand it well, but really emphasize the importance of making sure accurate information is out there so people understand what it is because it's not as talked about. And that concludes my presentation and I will pause for questions.

Thank you, Sheriff. Appreciate it. Start with Commissioner Somerville.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Sheriff. I will keep my comments brief because I know we have another meeting to start, but thank you for the presentation. I actually appreciate the way you broke it down. I think it was presented in a way that folks will be able to understand if they watch this later or were watching it while you're presenting. I think this is a good opportunity for us to get voter buy-in to change a system that we currently use and make it better. So I'm really excited about the opportunity to have social workers in dispatch for a number of reasons. But one of the things that is a struggle currently in the county is the fact that You can't transfer it's not easy to transfer people over to the crisis line at CMH people are confused which line to call which, like this is an opportunity to educate people about the services that we currently have that are unarmed. That could be, I think. facilitated in a way that will create a better outcome. I also I know when we got the some of when we talked before today, it was actually interesting the way that some of the technology has improved the system already. And so I'm actually looking forward to ways that we could maybe notify a fire department quicker. And so I just think it's really important. Very interesting. I've never really thought about how we the little attachment on our bill. But I also liked the breakdown to show the maximum about annually that people would pay. And hopefully, if this is on the ballot in November, the advertising for this will include like how things have changed since people have moved away from landlines. There's a lot of people right now who probably haven't thought about the way services have changed. So those are all of my comments. Thank you. Thank you.

Move to Commissioner Hodge.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Chair, for the presentation. I thought it was really clear. Well done. Well done to the whole team. I would assume it was a joint effort.

Yes, it was a joint effort. Okay.

Well done to the joint effort. So I had a couple of questions on the slides that Commissioner Somerville mentioned around how much could be generated and how the County General Fund is currently covering the difference in cost. So if I'm understanding it correct, oh, you're bringing it up. Uh, yeah, right around the note. Not that one. Uh, it's, uh, eight and nine. We'll go to nine, go to nine.

Uh, I can't see the page numbers on here.

Oh, you're doing it. Uh, that one. Yep. That one right there.

Is it this one?

Yeah. That one.

Oh, shit. Okay.

Yep. Okay. So a couple of things that I'm thinking about here, uh, hypothetically, if it were going to be recommended that we put it on the ballot at whatever rate, I would be looking at a number that then takes the stress off of the general fund to cover the cost. So I see the 6.7 there on the left side, and then there's the municipal contract costs, and the county general fund is covering the gap between the two there as well. How would things change though for the municipal contract if we were to go to something like 250 or three?

So if we went to the $2.50 or even $2.30 or 40, it would cover dispatch services across Washtenaw County in the PSAP. So you look at like, as an example, 9.3 million is revenue generated, the dispatch operating budget being 6.7, thinking through obviously increases over the years. That would significantly reduce, if not eliminate, all the costs to the dispatch and police contract partners. We would no longer have to contract for dispatch services. We could county fund it, and it would not cost or burden the county fund. and would give us some room for putting social workers into dispatch or looking at fire or other streamlining services between the sheriff's office and our other dispatch partners. And so that would cover it. $3 would be significant. I actually, you know, it really ultimately depends on what the final, you know, rate and proposal is, but $3, I don't anticipate our county needing to go that high for some years. But, you know, as the years go on, I could, you know, over time, I think that preparing for the increase in costs would be helpful. But I am not anticipating that it would need to be at the actual cap. but somewhere between two and 250, I feel like we would have enough revenue to cover much of 9-1-1 across Washtenaw County. And then the other PSAPs, right? Chelsea Police Department, UMPD, EMUPD, that would significantly assist with their budgets as well. And they still do their own dispatch services. And so it really... It really does assist everyone in the county, which is very, I think, unique, but a good model.

That was the answer I was hoping for, so thanks for giving it. Did I hear you correctly in saying that we would not need to have these contracts with the municipal contracts?

So, you know, obviously we can't make any promises. This is something that ultimately voters decide if it were even to be placed on the ballot. But effectively, if it did go on the ballot and voters did approve that, and the ETDB and public hearing and what you all set as a final rate, if it was in that range, we would not need dispatch contracts. So we would save every local municipality across Washington County, some municipalities quite significantly, because it is definitely hard on their budgets. And they are trying to think through how to better care for residents at the local level.

Okay. And as you know, I'm very pro social work. And so- So I would want to go to a number that takes, that relieves the general fund and then allows you to do the things that you've mentioned related to social workers. So, I mean, I would want to keep that in mind as you propose a number to us. And you and I have talked about this before. If we do this and it relieves the general fund, I wouldn't be interested in then allocating the general fund dollars that have been relieved to the sheriff's office. I'd want to put it towards something else like our, with the four H's, housing, hunger, the three H's, housing, hunger, and health, So only three H's, there's a fourth one in there somewhere, but homework, Annie says.

You know, ultimately you all set the budget and, you know, decide the needs. And all I can do is give you the education on what we need on our operational side. And that would be a, you know, decision for you all to make as a board member. Let me frame it as a question on the county general fund gap right now.

Oh, let me frame it this way. So you're not showing this us with the expectation that we would pick one of these ones that would cover the general fund difference. And then we would still be allocating general fund to you for it.

No, so my intention behind this is I really think we have to be prepared as a county for 911 evolving needs. The dispatchers are working their butts off every day. 911 is critical. Technology is changing. Mental health crisis. So this is really my intention is to make dispatch work better. for the entire county and to reduce the cost burden on our local municipalities that often really do struggle with affording it. I don't have any earmarks in my mind around what happens after. And we also just don't know. These would be good conversations for the ETDB after something like that would happen because the ETDB would probably wanna hear some of this as they think about what rate to set. And then ultimately you all as well would probably wanna do some sort of public comment or hearing when you do set the final rate and then people can speak and talk about the things that they care about. And we can present you the information as to the budget and the cost of 911 and give you an idea of you know, what, what rate would be needed to make sure that cost can be covered.

Okay. Well, I like the presentation. I like the idea of not having to have the municipal contracts and I like relieving the general fund. So I like it so far. Thank you, chair.

Go to commissioner Scott.

Thank you, Chair. It was a great presentation. I know we talked a lot coming into this and talked about just wanting to make sure we got all the information on the table, and you did it. Sometimes I was like, I can't read that, but it's in my email too. I also think that like for years, this is not you. For years, I've been saying at this table, we need a presentation about how dispatch works because it is incredibly complicated and like very technical. So I think at some point, we still need to understand that at this table. So we understand more of what this money is doing. I've talked before about like if you've ever called 911, Has anybody ever called 911? Yeah. Yeah. I feel like out, out in the audience. Yeah.

Okay.

Okay. It's scary as hell. Like the first time I had to dial 911, I was like shaking. I am an ICU nurse. It takes a lot to rattle me, but like shaking um and they were so calm it was a fire in my house and they were so calm I called from the house and dispatch was like are you still in the house and I was like oh yeah I'm supposed to leave the house leave the house I mean they were just so lovely um so I want to do what we can to support the dispatchers um so Can you explain to us, help everybody understand, then how does this impact the payment and how HVA, emergent, comes into this equation?

Yeah, so there could be a couple options with that. So, you know, some local municipalities have expressed interest for years over more centralization between police and fire. You know, this could allow funding for a path for Metro Dispatch to start thinking through that or municipalities that wanted to it's always driven at the local level but absent that we still coordinate and work with emergent health partners and this funding could be used to cover the cost that people have to pay for emergent health because they also do the ems side and so there's a lot of possibilities there and there's a lot of different models that we could we could look at but the short of it is it would be an allowable, the dispatching 911 service would help with on the financial side, whichever route local municipalities chose to proceed. And then really quickly, if you all have not done a tour of the dispatch center, I would be happy to have my staff show you the dispatch center. And would be happy to continue doing public education. And thank you, Scott, you have been a great partner and leader and just really knowing the nuances around emergency dispatch and being engaged in the conversation because it is definitely very, very nuanced and complex.

It is, thank you. So do municipalities pay to contract with Emergent also, or that comes as part of the cost that they pay to contract with us for EMS and then we pay Emergent? How does that work? I know about the workings of the calls, but I've never thought about how a merchant gets paid for their 911 service.

So a merchant typically would do a service contract as well with that local municipality.

Okay. Okay. Then that is even more compelling to think about doing this just to take some of that burden away also. My only final point is that... Is it? Nope, yeah, Justin, Commissioner Hodge made some of my other points, so I won't belabor them. For running to make sure voters understand that community outreach, I think we'll just have to, this is just sort of a caution to all of us, we'll have to be super careful um cognizant about being neutral so we can't say to people this is a great thing and vote for it we can just say this is a thing um and so i don't know if there's anybody that you have in mind to run a less neutral campaign or we're just gonna do a community outrage saying this is a thing

So, you know, keeping the politics side out of the boardroom, what I can say about the education part is you're absolutely correct. We can't say vote yes or vote no. You know, what we can do and what our obligation is is to make sure the public has the information.

Right.

and understands how dispatch works. It also is an opportunity to educate the public on, as Commissioner Somerville mentioned, the CMH 24-7 crisis services. And so we can provide that education. People in their personal capacities, you know, I think, you know, can make those decisions from looking at what other counties did and talking to other sheriffs. It sounds like a lot of sheriffs and counties did educational materials and they did not have much issue. People seem to really digest it. But, you know, yeah. So it's something that we need to be mindful about.

Yeah, for sure. I don't want any of us running afoul of election law. Thank you again for the presentation. I thought it was fantastic. I think we're on a pretty quick turnaround timeline here. to get this moving. So for my colleagues, this would probably have to come to us either tonight as a first reading. I don't know if we're prepared for that. I don't think we are. I think or coming at the August meeting as a single reading. And then that meets the deadline to get on the November. Yep. For November. I'm supportive of doing this. So I think we'll just have to figure out as a board how we want to do that at what cadence. And I will look forward to continuing to work with you on this.

I think it's a great idea. Thank you so much. And thank you all for having me here. I know that the timeline is tight. And for any commissioners that I haven't had a chance to talk to, we still want to reach out. And so we were just expediting with you all meeting once a month in the summer. So we want to make sure that if you all have any other follow-up questions, you can always reach out and we can talk more. Caroline or Commissioner Sanders?

Well, real quick, I had Commissioner Beeman in the queue, and then I will go to Commissioner Sanders.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Sheriff. Really appreciate the presentation and everything that's gone into it. You touched on it a little bit, and so mine's going to be kind of like question slash comment. But one of the pieces I really feel that this could help support is technology and how it's changing. As much as we love data centers, different pieces of pools like ChatGPT actually do help people in crisis. do connect them and the assumption is at some point that's going to evolve to like a different level as does the robot computer reach out to dispatch because they are conversing with someone who's in crisis so i can just see this growing as technology grows and as we see all of these data centers popping up. And I feel that this could prepare you, but you would also mention things about language translation and different tools.

Yes. So it's a really good point. So, you know, right now, and this is an example of how important the evolving technology is, is if somebody is speaking a language that dispatchers do not recognize or do not understand, they have to call the language access line. They do a triaging. It can take time. There's technology now that can rapidly detect the language and allow dispatchers to communicate with that person while this process is underway. And so it basically significantly would reduce response times and make sure people that are speaking different languages that the dispatchers might know are getting help, right? When the 911 call comes in and they're hearing someone on the line and they can't understand what they're saying, that's critical, right? You really want to make sure you understand what's going on. So this idea with our evolving technology uses, with being able to detect the language and at least have some idea of what is happening is critical as one example. people with disabilities. There's a lot of ways that technology in dispatch is helping to save lives. And then we at the Sheriff's Office are very committed to maintaining our values. And so we always set up safeguards as well to make sure that nothing is, we're not like gathering data or doing things that are gonna cause harm to the public as well.

Perfect, thank you.

Go to Commissioner Sanders.

I've got a couple of questions. Some we talked about on the conversation that we had the other day. One is related to the state legislation that is scheduled to sunset December of 2027?

At the end of the year in 2027.

Okay, so if the sky is falling and they don't renew it, and we've agreed to support your ask, would that mean that legally we'd have to stop collecting? What happens if it doesn't go the way that you?

So the act from all of the experts that we've talked to, it's always reenacted because if it did actually sunset and then counties couldn't use a surcharge, keep in mind, we are unique as most counties like this is a critical funding for their 911 infrastructure. So it would destabilize 911 services across the state. There would be either an extension of this act or they would create a new act that still allows the same thing. There could be grandfathered in rates just like reforms in the past. But really, for our purposes, it doesn't change. And if the sky is falling, like you said, worst case scenario, if we could not use surcharge revenue anymore, we'd have to go back to the model that we really are using now. It wouldn't, the timeline that we have, dispatch would not change before we would have an idea. And my understanding is there's talk about not only maybe extending, but they're thinking of even raising the cap because some counties are already at the $3 threshold for their counties. And it's not like they're, you know, dispatch is getting more expensive 911 services. And the state relies on this as well. So it is highly, highly unlikely. But if it were to happen, we would continue our current model, which is where we have to do the contracts.

So under your current model, though, aren't you getting your authority from that state

So not the majority of our Metro Dispatch budget comes from the County General Fund and Dispatch Contract Partners. And then the surcharge revenue does help out. But if the act wasn't enacted most likely we would still have, we still have the state and the local surcharges. But if even those went away, we would be looking at about a $1.6 million funding gap.

Okay. But I think what I was trying to ask was if you didn't have the act, are you legally able to levy?

So, so yeah, the act is what makes this possible for you all as a board to raise the surcharge above the 43 cent threshold. Okay.

You mentioned rising demand and calls. Do you know what's the breakdown for that? At least do you know what the breakdown for per district is? So do we know that Pittsfield has higher call volume than they've had over the last couple of years as opposed to somewhere else? If you don't know it now, can you share that information?

I can get you that information.

Okay.

I'm bringing Lee up here. This is Lee. She's our dispatch operations manager.

We actually do not charge by call volume. It is all based on population, which is how the county 911 plan creates with the surcharge funds. So that's how we dispatch our dispatch cost model is done the same way. So the population size of Pittsfield determines what portion of our overall budget that they have to pay. We could change to a a call volume model of our, I think that would disproportionately impact certain communities extensively. And I wouldn't recommend doing that. The population base is more equitable in my opinion.

I'm not asking for a change. I'm just asking like, where is the growth?

in the most populated areas. I can get you all some diagrams of our previous history, because we can't pinpoint. I can make maps during certain times. I'll take that. That's where this technology has advanced so much. In our 911 system, I can go set a specific time, draw a little map, and it'll show me each call when it came in. It's kind of amazing.

Okay, I'd appreciate that.

like when you get time like you have time one one one bit on that uh sun setting thing that that same law pa32 is exactly the same law on how the state gets their money so if they don't renew it the state doesn't get their money either so there is no state surcharge there is no county search charge so the likelihood of the state turning down themselves getting money

I wouldn't want that. But I mean, if we look around, the overall attempt is to destabilize us. That's what's going on right now, politically. So, okay, we'll stop there. So Pittsfield had communications that I have here that indicated that this 9% that people have been paying was only supposed to be a five-year period. But yet now... I'm going to say without appropriate notice, because to me, notice, I think these documents say that they got communication in March of this year. So this 9% was going to need to continue, but that's not what they were told. They were told it was going to be five years, and now... So that may go away if this happens.

Yep. So in looking at the previous communications, former Sheriff Clayton sent a memo to all the dispatch partners, basically getting them on a five-year proposed plan. This would be the, is this the fifth year? This is the fifth year of that plan. But what was communicated is we are going to have to figure out what the future will look like if they're not at their actual cost right so some people the nine percent increases got them to the actual cost um some people they're still they're still not and so this is also really good timing um because i know you know as we look to the future continuing to do nine percent increases is going to be very burdensome on a lot of our local municipality budgets um so it wasn't wasn't that we weren't going to do any increases anymore. It was that that was the five year plan to hopefully get people closer to their actual cost.

Okay, and then Pittsville has, we've got a question about incrementally, if you are not actually so If this were to be approved in November, you start collection in January.

Nope. So July 1st, the state committee would notify the service providers and then the revenue. So you would start seeing it come in as a phone bills. Yep. The phone bills in July or after. So it would, they would be notified in July 1st, the revenue likely would start coming in September, October. And, and then, so basically around the fall.

Okay, and so then there would be a, there wouldn't be an overlapping, right? So municipalities would not be paying this percentage that they're paying right now and the increase. One would go away, correct?

So if the revenue came in and it was enough to cover, depending on the rate that was set, then we wouldn't have to continue the contracts.

Okay, if it was not enough to cover, then would you be resetting so that they are paying just the amount that needs to be paid in order to Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. I, I do not want to charge any more than we have to. It is really hard on local municipalities and we're all, we're all a team, you know, across public safety partners. And so, you know, we, my, my goal is to figure out a way to make dispatch services affordable for everyone in Washtenaw County and to make sure that we are lessening the burden on the County and the local budgets as much as possible. Okay.

And then I was picking at some of your verbiage. So let's be clear. If this were to be approved, you are not going to come back and ask for any money related to dispatch because you didn't say won't. I think you said you should need to.

You know, I can't predict the future. What I will say is we shouldn't need money for dispatch because of this, right? But I don't want to make assumptions on what you guys set the rate for. I don't want to make assumptions on if this will pass. But I am not anticipating that if the rate was set to where dispatch services could be covered, we have to use that money for dispatch services so there would be no need to.

So that's where I want to box you in at.

I gotcha.

You get all of the money that you need to appropriately run 9-1-1. You are not going to come back and ask for more money.

We would not need any more money for 9-1-1.

You're a good politician because you're still not quite getting it there, but okay. And then my other question is, is dispatch a constitutional responsibility of the Sheriff's Department? Is that something you are supposed to run or is it just a service that you are providing?

So here in Washtenaw County, you know, we have really kind of paved the way to a more affordable metro model. But the mandate for 911 and for dispatch is to a serviceable level to basically, there is some mandate for the county to route calls, right? We, us doing police dispatch for other police departments, even though we do have to contract now, I mean, going back years and I mean, Administrator Deal, you were probably around for this. I mean, when we moved to Metro Dispatch, we saved, I think in Arbor alone, a million something dollars. Like it was huge to be able to centralize those services. So while it's not a constitutional mandate, I really think that we have been leaders in how we do things here in Washtenaw County.

Okay, so our municipalities, if this were approved at a funding level appropriate to cover, should likely save money?

Every local municipality in our county would save money. Ann Arbor alone, they're paying, I think, one point something million for dispatch right now. They would not have to pay that anymore. Areas like Saline, you know, Manchester, I mean, all across the county, local governments would save significantly because this would be a user fee and county funded.

Okay. Okay. And then I brought this up on our call the other day. So I'm just gonna say it out loud for the purposes of everybody else to hear that when we talk about social work in dispatch, I personally would want more information from community mental health and related to our millage because the public safety and mental health millage was highly contested. people feel some kind of way about it, whether it's positive or negative. And so when you're talking about a service that the average person should assume or would assume would be covered by that millage being covered by this money. I would like to see a greater explanation, especially when you're doing your outreach. And I asked you about the outreach yesterday because I wanted to make sure that it's not an expectation that we as commissioners are supposed to be educating the general public about why this is needed. I think that's a burden that the sheriff that should fall on you for the education, because you have the answers, we don't have the answers.

100%, we are happy to do the education and do feel it's our obligation to make sure we assist with that and would love to partner as well as you all want to partner with us and do educations in your districts. And then on the mental health side, Trish Cortez and I have talked extensively about 911 and dispatch services. And also the framework we have now to build at the 911 center level is made possible because of the millage. So the 24-7 crisis line and some of these services And she's talked to the millage board as well. So I know that on her end, they have been doing some just preliminary education around what it would look like to have social workers in dispatch.

24-7. That would be costly.

Yeah, 24 seven would be costly. What what a lot of other areas have done to pilot and start out is look at the highest call volumes in the 911 data to see where the mental health calls are, and then structure staffing around those wrote those call volumes. And that's something we're helping out with Ipsy City, they're looking at their 911 data now, just to kind of think through, like, when is the best is bang for your buck on having a mental health person involved?

Okay, and then I'm gonna just say my little spiel right quick and then I'll turn my mic off. I think that as we look at these asks, including millage asks, which is not really, you're not- This is not a millage. I do think that we, as the commissioner, should look at a process, because we don't have a process. You just get the notice. There's no pre-planning that is done openly to all of us. And so I'm gonna use you as a guinea pig for that.

All right, thank you.

Go to Commissioner Light.

I just wanted to reference, well, thank you for the presentation, first of all, and coming to join us. I just wanted to reference back to make sure that the amount of the new surcharges, you said between $2 and 250 would be the best amount to,

So in looking at our operating budget and looking at how Metro dispatch works in the County, as well as how much local municipalities have to pay at around that range, would be enough to completely cover it. The $3 range, what we don't want is not to be able to spend the money because that will get us into issues because the state only wants you to collect how much you actually need. So we'll just need to monitor that every year.

Okay, that's all, thank you.

Go to Commissioner Scott.

I listen, I want to get back to my, my meeting mantra of business and brevity. So I'm going to be really quick, but just to put Caroline commissioner Sanders mind at ease. I think if the, if the state legislator didn't renew it, they'd be looking at a whole nine one one system state. This is what's given me peace. They'd be looking at a whole statewide nine one one system. They had not fund it. And I don't think that there's any interest in that. So that's ultimately what brought me to the peace of mind when we talked about that. So thanks.

Thank you.

Mr. Maciejewski. Thank you, Chair. Sure. Thank you for being here in the very comprehensive presentation. My colleagues have asked a whole lot of questions tonight, which I found very insightful and your answers insightful as well. I just wanted to chime in and say, I very much support your efforts to, hopefully include social workers in the work that is done by 911 dispatch. But I'm curious to know, you've mentioned technology, the language line, social workers, is there anything else in the next generation of 911 that we should also be looking forward to and potentially considering in the total cost of the service as we move forward?

So it's something we're evaluating. I would have to, I can give you some ideas. We have a pretty good system in place now. We're actually bringing in the language access line technology. And there's a lot of possibilities. And so it's really thinking through what is going to be most useful when it comes to saving lives, response times, making things easier on staff, and also the technology we might need for triaging mental health calls for service and figuring out better coordination between PSAPs and between police, fire, as well as EMS. And so that is a very broad question. Nothing top of mind where I'm like this system, but we are constantly evaluating that. Thanks. Appreciate it.

Commissioner Hodge. Thank you, Chair. I thought of one other question for you, Sheriff. All right. Would you think that there's any value, let's say we decide at the next meeting to put this on the ballot, think there would be value in us passing a resolution like we do to support certain bills in the legislature and direct the GCSI to get to work on it?

You know, I think that passing a resolution, notifying and, you know, intention, or we're considering this, or announcing, if you guys do that, I think that would be very helpful, because we're gonna need to then ramp up the education. So people understand. And, and so whether you all did something like that tonight, or whether you did that at the August meeting, I do think that could be could be fruitful.

Sounds good. Thank you. That's it for me, Chair.

I'm supportive. Great presentation. Thank you for your help. Any other questions or comments at this time? Sheriff, thank you for being with us.

All right. Thank you all so much. Thank you, Chair Scott, Administrator Dill, for your work this past year on this. And have a good rest of your evening.

Sort of ominous foreboding words. Yes.

I'm just like, it's getting late. Yes.

Speaking of that, move to items for current or future discussion. Seeing none, Chair, what time would you like to reconvene?

7.50. Okay.

Entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Support?

Support.

All those in favor say aye. We are adjourned.

My name, please.

What's going on? First, okay.

Oh, I wanted my cherries.

Sorry.

You know, Greg hates when we do that. He doesn't want people to think they can do that. Okay, Brady's gonna get us started. Okay. Okay. Hi, everyone. I'll call this meeting of Wednesday, July 1st, Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners to order. First thing we do is we stand for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I have my pen. Brendan, can you do a roll call for us?

Commissioner Beaman. Present. Commissioner Hodge. Here. Commissioner LaBar.

Here.

Commissioner Light. Commissioner Maciejewski. Here. Commissioner Robby. Commissioner Sanders.

Present.

Commissioner Scott.

Here.

Commissioner Somerville.

Okay, the first thing we're going to just move some things around because people are here for special things. So I'm just going to move part of my report of the chair board of commissioners up to first and that is a very special welcome to Dr. Brendan Kelly, the new president of EMU. Welcome. So excited to have you here and so honored that you would come and visit us. So welcome.

Well, thank you, Madam Chair. I'm honored to be here too. The other Dr. Kelly, the original Dr. Kelly, shares that same view because while we have had the privilege of serving other universities as president, not here, not in our home state, not at the university that we graduated from, and certainly not in the region that we fell in love with and had a love affair with for a long time before moving to other states. So we've tested out the rest of America, folks. This is the best place to live. And I will say... For me, coming to the County Commission is really important. We have served enough universities and been in enough counties and cities and townships and regions to know that if there's not wide partnership, then everybody loses. And when there is wide partnership, everybody has a chance to win. And that's especially true with universities and in particular in this county, since we have such a heavy presence for higher education. There are high expectations for students to go and get connected to opportunity. And we want to make certain that that's true for Eastern Michigan. But I will tell you, we left in 2004 and moved down to Florida just in time to be hit by a hurricane.

Another thing that does not happen in the state of Michigan.

But we're returning in 2026 to a different Michigan and a different Eastern Michigan and a different Washtenaw County. And there's a lot of challenges and need for transformation. And I will say on behalf of Eastern Michigan University, those especially sit with us. Higher education is a really tough business right now. Tougher than it has ever been. But transformation is the thing that is on the menu. because the world has changed and students have changed and their needs have changed. And the one thing that hasn't changed is they go and they study and they get a university experience so they can have the seeds for their life planted. And that has to result in opportunity on the other end of that. And we need to make sure that that happens in ways that are relevant in the 21st century. And that's exactly what we plan to do. And that is linked to building quality of life in this region, in this county, and making sure that we are partners in contributing to that in ways that work for you and I hope that work for us too. So I appreciate you making time for me and I hope you won't mind if periodically I ask for time to come back so I can report on the progress that we're making. Today is day 90 for me. And I know, I appreciate it. You start clapping after 90. Well, what? Did I get a gift at like 180? I love that. When I came in on April 1st, which was the worst possible day of the year to start any job. Jokes on them. I said that our reason for being here is to be in service to every single student at Eastern Michigan University. If you want to know what my priority is as president of this institution, it is them, it is the experience that they have, and it is the quality of the life that they're able to live as a result of it afterwards. And I want to make sure that we lay in the richest possible experience and the richest possible support to go along with it so that we can build rich community as a result. With that, if you will allow me, Madam Chair, I'll take any questions from anyone on any subject. I know you have a busy meeting, so I don't mind if you say no.

I will not say no, but I will remind commissioners we're working for business and brevity. So does anybody have any questions? Commissioner Somerville? Comments?

Thank you. Quick comments. So I'm really lucky to represent Eastern Michigan on the county board. And I was a student there. I feel really lucky to have found Eastern. I moved to Ipsy before I decided to transfer into the university. And it was a really great experience. And I feel lucky to be able to stay in the community that I graduated from. And so we appreciate you. I really appreciate the... extent that you're going to be so focused on students. And I also want to just uplift that you also care about the faculty. I really care about the faculty. They shaped, you know, who I am now and a lot of people that I know. And so I am just excited to see what you do at Eastern. Thank you for being here.

I appreciate that. And I was a faculty member at that university as well. And being able to return and be in service to so many people who helped shape our lives. I should note, Tressa was also a faculty member there. I apologize, because if I didn't know that, I'd stay at the meeting. I appreciate the kind words. Look, it takes a whole ecosystem. It's everybody. It's everybody, and that includes when they walk off campus into the streets and cities that are in this county. That's part of the experience, and that's why it's so important that we get the holistic experience right.

Commissioner Sanders.

So I want to say, first of all, thank you. Had it not been for me stepping out on faith to reach out to you, we probably wouldn't even have this discussion. But you inquired about whether or not you could come. And I thought, well, yeah. I'm sure I got on Commissioner LaVar's nerves. But I'm glad that you are here. I appreciate and appreciate applaud the fact that my sleuthing of your professional experience consistently pulled off the fact that you put students first. I am always going to be a lifelong student. And as an alum, and I think there are four of us here on the board that are alum of EMU, that was very telling to me. And that was the deciding factor in whether or not I should reach out to even have a conversation with you. And so I appreciate that you put them first, that you landed on campus and you made it your mission to prioritize what they wanted and what they needed first above all else. The other adults matter too, but the students pay the bill. So I just want to say thank you for that. Thank you for your interest in wanting to even come and address us. And I hope that this will strengthen our relationship with EMU. And especially because our students stay here.

That's right.

They stay here.

Yes, they do.

They keep their money here. They keep their commitment here.

And when they leave. They come back 22 years later.

So I just want to say thank you to you. And I asked her secretly if I could call her Dr. Tressa. So thank you both for coming.

Thank you. I appreciate your kind words.

Commissioner Light, did you signal?

Yep. I just wanted to thank you both for coming and showing and displaying who the true real green is. Go green. EMU. We were here first. But I just appreciate the reconstruction and on how EMU is going to be back to its best. Not that it isn't great now, but I just really appreciate you all for coming back and getting us back on track to the true EMU. Thank you.

Thank you.

That looks like it might be it. Thank you for waiting. Also, I know that you were expecting to potentially be talking to us an hour earlier. So we really appreciate that you're waiting. All I'll say is that my grandmother would say, Brendan Kelly, that's a good Irish man. I like your grandma already.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I appreciate your time.

Thanks for coming. That was fantastic. What a treat. And thank you to Commissioner Sanders for helping facilitate that. Next thing, we do have a few resolutions honoring people I want to get to before we go to public participation to make sure those people can leave if they would like to. So the first thing I would like to do is ask Commissioner Hodge We have a resolution on the agenda. I'm looking for, it is N, a resolution proclaiming September 2026 as Veterans Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. And I think I have Pastor Bull and David Sames here. Sames? Sames? Sames. I had it right the first time. Should trust my gut. Sames. Sames. I had it right. I knew it too. Okay. Okay.

Come on up closer so you're in the shot. There you go. All right. Now you got to look to the viewers at home. Thanks for being here. All right. I'm going to read the resolution and then take as long as you'd like to say anything about it that you'd like. But thanks for being here. Thank you. Yep. So this is a resolution proclaiming September 2026 as Veterans Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, whereas our nation's veterans served bravely some typos we're going to fix on this one. Sorry, some, some spacing. We're going to start over. Whereas our nation's veterans have bravely served and sacrificed to protect the freedoms and values that we hold dear. And whereas the mental health and wellbeing of our veterans is of the utmost importance. And we recognize the challenges they may face as a result of their service. And whereas it is essential that we raise awareness about the alarming rates of veteran suicide and the impact it has on families, communities, and the nation as a whole. And whereas every life lost to suicide is a tragedy that can and should be prevented through increased awareness, access to mental health care and supportive resources. And whereas by working together as a society, we can create an environment that promotes understanding, empathy and early intervention for veterans struggling with mental health issues. And whereas we must acknowledge the unique experiences of veterans and actively work to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health challenges, encouraging veterans to seek help without fear of judgment. And whereas communities, organizations and government agencies should collaborate to provide comprehensive support networks for veterans, ensuring that they have access to the care, resources, and assistance they need. And whereas this resolution aims to honor the memory of those veterans who have tragically lost their lives to suicide, to express gratitude for the service of our living veterans and to pledge our commitment to preventing further loss of life. Now, therefore, be resolved that the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners hereby proclaims September 2026 as Veterans Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and we are urged all citizens, community organizations, government agencies, and businesses to join in this effort by raising awareness about the importance of mental health among veterans and the signs of suicidal behavior, promoting the availability of mental health resources, including counseling support groups and crisis hotlines, specifically tailored to veterans, encouraging open and honest conversations about mental health to reduce the stigma surrounding seeking help, supporting initiatives and programs that aim to provide veterans the necessary tools to cope with mental health challenges and fostering a culture of inclusivity, empathy, and understanding that recognizes the unique experiences of veterans. By working together, we can honor the sacrifices of our veterans by ensuring they receive care and support they deserve. Let us remember those we have lost and stand united in our commitment to preventing further tragedies. Thank you for being here and feel free to make any remarks that you'd like.

This is a particularly important month for me and an important year for me. 2026, I've been doing this now for 10 years. And although I've only been employed by the CMH PSM for about the last four and a half, the importance of this is very, it is important to me. I lost a granddaughter 15 years ago, right about this time to suicide. And Since then I've lost a number of friends and colleagues and fellow veterans to the same thing. And as much as I love this and we're trying to get all the counties to do the same thing, it's so much more important that we get past the awareness part. The most recent statistic I have for you for veterans is that veterans under 45 the second leading cause of death is suicide that the number one cause of death for active duty military today is suicide the number one cause of active police officers death in this country today is suicide all right and then you have the children as young as eight years old And you have the young adults, and you have the seniors growing and growing. Everybody talks about how wonderful 22 a day is, okay? And you've all seen it everywhere, the flags and the displays. But would you be surprised that it's more like 40 to 45 veterans a day? Okay. And that's just in this country. We don't know how many. The suicide rate in other countries is high, too. but in this country with our children and our grandchildren and our great grandchildren, not, yeah. So my work is to do as much as I can to get these kinds of things out there so that County veterans know that the County cares about them and is thinking about them. We'll present this at the vet fest on August 1st so that the pain, the veterans that come there, the six to 800 veterans and their families that come there, We'll also know that the County cares. Okay. But let it be known that awareness is not enough, right? That we have to stop veteran suicide. We have to end veteran suicide. I have a new motto. It says, help us stem the tide of suicide. And I hope that we can do this. And I hope with your help that we will. One more thing is I talked to the sheriff, um, as she was leaving and I said, you know, and we talked about a number of things, so I'm not going to go through all of that. I'm not a politician. But did you know that we've been trying to get 988 on your cars for the last two years to no avail? And I would really like it. And I will pay for the stickers. We'll pay for the stickers. Okay. We've asked the state police, by the way, and they said they will, but they want to know who's going to pay for it. Well, they're not telling me how much it's going to cost. That's the other thing. But I'm hoping that this year we can do that, that we can get the cars tattooed with this thing so that people can see it, that we can get the hospitals, that we can get the schools that we can get. And you know, I've got bumper stickers and everything else that we can get out there so that people make people aware and let's get past awareness and, and start digging in and this. Thank you.

Yeah.

Okay, I moved to a new place because I have a proclamation right now for the International Association of Bridge Structural, Ornamental, and Reinforcing Ironworkers for the 42nd Annual Instructor Training Program. Come on up. Just like Commissioner Hodge said, come on, get in. Don't leave me standing here alone. So let me, this is very, this is business in brevity. Whereas the International Association of Bridge Structural, Ornamental, and Reinforcing Ironworkers, Ironworkers International, represents approximately 120,000 members who perform skilled work to build bridges, stadiums, skyscrapers, and many other important structures in North America, and whereas the Ironworkers International has held its instructor training program in Washtenaw County for the past 17 years, and whereas the Ironworkers International holds its 42nd annual instructor training program July 7th through the 17th, 2026 in Washtenaw County on the campus of Washtenaw County Community College. And whereas the Ironworkers International Instructor Training Program will bring an estimated 900 participants to Washtenaw County in 2026. Now, therefore, be it resolved that Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners does hereby proclaim the period of July 7th to the 17th, 2026, as the 42nd Annual Ironworkers International Instructor Training Program Week in Washtenaw County, Michigan, and calls upon the people of Washtenaw County to observe this week with the appropriate programs, activities, and ceremonies supporting this 42nd year of training excellence.

Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening, I'm Michael Price, Executive Vice President with Destination Ann Arbor. First, thank you for taking the time to recognize this impactful and special group that we have in our community coming up here in July and August. I'm joined tonight by Al Snow, who's our Director of Sales and Service with Destination Ann Arbor, and Rachel Robb, who is our Destination Services Manager with Destination Ann Arbor. They are two key individuals in really making sure the everyday execution of these groups come together and their every need is met while they're in our destination. I just want to take a quick moment to thank them for their work. around these two groups, or excuse me, these three groups. I'm gonna embrace your work and brevity phrase, I think you said it, but business and brevity. Thank you, thank you. Is it trademarked or is it?

Soon.

Soon, okay. You might wanna get on it, it's good on a shirt. But we do wanna take a quick moment just to recognize how fortunate we are to live and work in a community that supports the skilled trades and truly embraces their work and their growth in our community. Every year these trades groups come into our community and they train the future leaders in the skilled trades workforce. And we're very fortunate to be the home base for these groups. So the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of Plumbers and Pipefitters, the International Association of Bridge Structural Ornamental Reinforcing Ironworkers, and the NTI, the National Training Institution for the Electrical Alliance, all come into our community, bringing thousands of folks here over the summer, contributing over $23 million in economic impact back to our local businesses. So we appreciate them taking the time to be here. Thank you all for recognizing these groups and taking the time to do so. And then lastly, and very briefly, I believe you are tonight appointing our board representatives as well to our organization. I want to take just a quick moment on behalf of Sarah Miller, myself, and our entire organization to one, thank this entire body for your support and your engagement to our organization. And secondly, we look forward to welcoming Commissioner Maschieski and Commissioner Hodge to the board and your support as we continue to grow and create opportunity in our destination. So thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, and we have one more resolution we just want to look at and celebrate before the meeting starts. And this is a resolution honoring Gregory Dill upon his retirement and celebrating his distinguished service to Washtenaw County. I'm gonna ask all of my colleagues to help me with this. And I'm gonna start with Commissioner LaBar. Commissioner LaBar, polite. So Sanders. Yeah. And then I'll, I'll, we'll keep it going around the table.

Great. Whereas Gregory Dale has dedicated more than 30 years of his professional career to public service, providing an exceptional leadership to local government. There is unwavering commitment to organizational excellence, fiscal stewardship and innovation and.

Whereas Gregory Deal began his career in public service with Washtenaw County in 2002, serving with distinction in the Office of Infrastructure Management and the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office before being appointed interim county administrator in February 2016, and subsequently named county administrator.

And whereas Gregory Deal was instrumental in building the Gavanna Center I'm not going to start all over. I'm going to start all over. Whereas Gregory deal was instrumental in building the Delano center while serving as the director of the office of infrastructure management and has continued his commitment to the how to the housing insecure.

while County Commissioner championing the recently completed Eastern Washtenaw Temporary Family Shelter and whereas under Gregory Dill's financial leadership, Washtenaw County maintained its AAA bond rating from both Moody's and Standard & Poor's, reflecting the county's strong fiscal management, robust reserves, and prudent budgeting practices.

and saving county taxpayers significant sums through favorable borrowing costs and whereas gregory dill demonstrated a consistent commitment to community focused practical solutions oriented governance earning their respective colleagues commissioners and partners alike for his calm and effective approach to public administration and

Whereas Gregory Dill worked diligently to strengthen partnerships across jurisdictions, including close collaboration with municipal leaders throughout Washtenaw County and Southeastern Michigan to identify cost-saving measures and opportunities for shared services and

Whereas Gregory Dill served the public on numerous boards and commissions on behalf of the County, including as chair of the emergency communications millage project oversight committee, reflecting his broad commitment to regional cooperation and public safety. And.

Whereas after more than two decades of community advocacy and unfulfilled promises that Eastern Washington community and recreation center finally moved forward in 2024 under Gregory Dill's leadership, and through his stewardship of land acquisition, demolition, community engagement, and the securing of bond financing, the long awaited project has moved steadily toward completion, delivering on a commitment to the residents of Eastern Washtenaw County that spanned generations. And.

Two. Whereas Gregory Dill's career reflects a lifelong dedication to public service, rising from humble beginnings to become a trusted steward of Washtenaw County government and a respected leader in local administration. And whereas Gregory Dill is not only a dedicated public servant, but a devoted member of the Washtenaw County community, having made his home in District 5 and raised his family there, sharing in the same community life, schools, and neighborhoods as the residents he served.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners does hereby honor and recognize Gregory Dill for his many years of exemplary service to Washtenaw County and its residents.

Keep going.

One more.

Be it further resolved that the Board of Commissioners extends its deepest gratitude to Gregory Dill for his leadership, integrity, and unwavering commitment to the well-being of the Washtenaw County community.

Now, Crystal. Be it further resolved that the Board of Commissioners extends its heartfelt appreciation and extends best wishes to Gregory Deal in all future endeavors, both personal and public, and recognizing that his contributions will leave a lasting legacy to the organization and community well into the future. Thank you, Greg.

Well, thank you everyone. This is certainly more than I anticipated. In some ways, I feel like it's more than I deserve because we do this work because it is the right thing to do for our community. We do this work out of the nobility of public service. So I always want to make sure that that guides how I think about things. And I want to say to you all, I am so blessed, so blessed to have been your administrator for the last 10 years. We've had some very, very difficult conversations in this room. We've had some disagreements in that office behind the screen. But all of it was focused on making sure that our residents have the very best in community. And for that, I am eternally grateful. I do want to borrow a couple of things that the president of my alma mater just lifted up. Number one, this is roughly the 3,700th day that I've been your administrator. And it has been a fantastic ride. It has been challenging at times. It has been very rewarding at times. And I am so grateful for the way that you guys have approached governing this community. You have done so with a careful hand. You have made certain that you held me accountable, and I certainly do appreciate that. Also, our president indicated that higher ed is tough business. and it certainly is, but I think there is no tougher business than the business of running a county. We are the form of government that's closest to the community, and our work is paramount important right now, particularly given the external environment that we operate under. And then lastly, just a couple of things of note for me. I spent some time this weekend, I guess you'd call it introspectively, I had my favorite beverage in my hand. And I took the opportunity to review the recording of the presentation that I made before this body just over 10 years ago. And I see some folks around the table who were in the audience that evening, some in the back that were here. And I think about a couple of things that I lifted up that evening. One, we had to be better and we needed to be better if our community was gonna reach its full potential. I talked about relationships, I talked about resources, and I talked about doing the right things right. Those three things are of paramount importance today as we think about the external environment that we operate under, the challenges that our community faces, and the resource model that you all have with a great deal of discipline shepherded through this community. At the end of the day, we talk about being the closest form of government, and we talk about the growing needs of our community. We can't do it without the appropriate resource model. And your discipline has really placed us in a position to make sure that we respond to the needs of our community in the very best way. I do want to just take a personal point to thank the 1400 employees of this organization. uh they are you know the tip of the spear around everything that we do from a programmatic and a budgetary perspective so we do want to thank them i want to thank the department heads i think there are 21 in total uh listen from a programmatic perspective they're absolutely the best our county-wide elected officials uh while there is uh you know a mandate that that that really drives the work that you do. You all do it with the grace and dignity that really puts our residents and community first. So I'm so very grateful to call all of you guys colleagues. And then lastly, to the team that I assembled, as I look at you guys, I am just incredibly proud of the work that you do, the the fact that you make certain that you put first the needs of our community before going home at night, answering my phone calls on the weekend, and making sure that we're doing again the right things right in community. We have the very best team in administration, and I hope we will continue to build on the legacy that we have put together in our office. Thank you all. I could talk about you all forever, but I guess we'll do that at a later date. And I'll close by saying, listen, Washtenaw County is the best for a reason. You guys lifted up some of the things that we're all really proud of. A AAA bond rating is not something that the administrator can move forward. It is not something that the 1400 employees can move forward. But collectively with this board and administration and those employees, we are doing the right things with the resources that we have. And I just want to say heartfelt thank you to you all. Remind Commissioner Robby that my 92 year old mom lives in your district. I convinced her to move to this community and I have never regretted for a single day that she is a resident in Washtenaw County and is able to age gracefully in this community. So I will just say thank you. And then I'll go back to what I heard the chair say earlier today. We are moving things around on the agenda so that you can go home after the presentation. Does that apply to me as well, Chair? You don't have to answer that. Just my attempt at levity. I want to just say again, thank you all. Thank you. I really do appreciate it.

Commissioners, I think we probably all want to say a lot about that, but I'm going to ask that we hold it to the place in the agenda where that item is so we can move to public participation. So finally, it is time for public participation. Welcome to the meeting. We're happy to have you here and speak with us. When you come up to the podium here, we just would like you to introduce yourself with your name and the city or township in which you live. You have three minutes to address the board. The light will be green when it means go. Yellow means start wrapping it up and red means your time is up. I'll interrupt you at that point, not because I'm trying to be rude and my parents did raise me correctly, but because I'm trying to make sure everybody has the same amount of time. So with that, welcome to the meeting. If you would like to address us, come on up.

Thank you chair and commissioners for your time. My name is Mallory Shea. I'm a resident of Ann Arbor, and I'm here today to urge you to pass bridge funding for Planned Parenthood of Michigan to support Washtenaw County residents in accessing vital sexual and reproductive healthcare that we all need. My personal experience with Planned Parenthood began with my first gynecological appointment at age 18. My family didn't provide much education in sexual health, so it was a Planned Parenthood doctor who educated me on safe practices. I went on to receive annual exams, birth control, and STI screenings from Planned Parenthood, all at little or sometimes no cost at all, depending on my financial situation at the time. Because I was uninsured and working with a low income, Planned Parenthood was the only healthcare that I was able to access throughout my time in college and into early adulthood. Later, when I began my journey into motherhood, Planned Parenthood provided the life-saving care that I needed during my second miscarriage. I had experienced what is called an incomplete miscarriage, which means the tissue from the pregnancy did not leave my body. The treatment for an incomplete miscarriage is an abortion. Without it, my reproductive organs would have become infected, likely leaving me unable to conceive again and possibly killing me. Planned Parenthood was there with compassion to walk me through my medication abortion so that I could be home grieving with my partner while my body passed the tissue. Without the abortion care that I received from Planned Parenthood, I likely wouldn't have the family that I have today, and it's possible that I wouldn't be here at all. Like myself, many patients have faced financial barriers to care. For those who are uninsured, underinsured, or living on low incomes, Planned Parenthood health centers are often the only affordable option. Patients still need care, but politicians have cut or eliminated the federal funding that helped make that care possible, putting health centers and patients who rely on them at risk. I respectfully ask the Board of Commissioners to approve one-time bridge funding to help preserve access to reproductive health care in Washtenaw County. This funding would help ensure patients at the Ann Arbor Health Center can continue accessing the care that they rely on while Planned Parenthood navigates this unprecedented federal funding crisis. Thank you for your consideration.

Hello, good evening. My name is Kat Silcom. I'm from Whitmore Lake, Michigan. I want to say that I'm presenting on behalf of our Woodlawn Cemetery Restoration Project, which is up for a study committee for designation as a local historic district. In the project with me is Dr. Debbie Covington and Dr. Tiffany Fryer. So I'm just speaking for my component here. This fall and spring, we dedicated our time to do listening sessions with the descendants of those that are interred at the only black cemetery in Washtenaw County. It is abandoned, and if you drove past it, you wouldn't even really know it's a cemetery. We've been working very diligently to clear a lot of that excess overgrowth over the last year. We've been blessed to have many commissioners here visit the site, get sweaty, and get out there and help us, and I appreciate that ever so much. In those listening sessions, the descendants noted that one of the most critical components was preservation of the site in perpetuity, ensuring that it would not be damaged or developed or anybody would be disinterred. So the resolution on the agenda this evening is to move us in that direction. We currently have a contractor working on the nomination for that property, and it's being facilitated by the Office of Community and Economic Development and their historic preservation staff, which we greatly appreciate. I also want to note our appreciation for the Racial Equity Office and Derek, who's been exceptionally helpful. Justin Hodge has been to the site, Crystal Light, Caroline Sanders, Commissioner LaBar was just recently there as we asked for more things. As we always come here asking for things, I also wanted to tell you guys some things. We have found in our geophysics data 257 grave anomalies so far. yesterday we had a human remains detection dog out at the site and we found many many many more we have a lot more land that we need to clear at least twice as much as we have cleared already based on the detection dogs initial indicators so there's a lot of work to still do i also really want to thank gregory dill who's been an exceptional point of contact for us and i appreciate you greatly As I mentioned, we have worked very hard to clear that overgrowth with hundreds of volunteers who have come out multiple times. I cannot overexpress the amount of dedicated hours that regular staff have done, individuals, volunteers. We have research assistants at U of M, classes at EMU, over six figures in funding dedicated to this project through donation or work in kind. As we approach the 250th, I want to note that our history matters. The history of the nation matters, of our state, of our county. Our history shapes our future. It is critical that we protect this site and that we ensure that we are preserving it for future generations to learn the lessons of the past and help us build a better future. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Thank you chair and thank you commissioners. My name is Amy Belfer and I am moving to Ipsy Township in approximately 19 days. So I'm very excited. I'm here to express my support for bridge funding for Planned Parenthood of Michigan. This would help ensure patients in Washtenaw County can continue accessing the essential sexual and reproductive healthcare they depend on. This is important to me because when other doctors were unable to help with my polycystic ovarian syndrome, I turned to Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood provided me crucial healthcare. They listened to my concerns and referred me to get an ultrasound where it was discovered I had a four centimeter cyst that needed monitoring. They prescribed birth control to help regulate my hormones and prevent further cysts. Planned Parenthood of Michigan's Ann Arbor Health Center is a critical provider of sexual and reproductive healthcare in Washtenaw County. The Ann Arbor Health Center provides birth control, STI testing, cancer screenings, wellness exams, abortion care, and many other essential health services. Federal funding cuts are putting these vital services at risk. PPMI is the largest provider of Title X family planning services in Michigan. If health centers are forced to close due to funding cuts, it strips patients from life-saving and life-affirming health care. Michigan voters voted to protect abortion rights by passing Proposal 3, but legal protections alone do not guarantee access to care. If additional health centers are required to close or reduce services, patients in Washtenaw County will have fewer places to turn for essential health care. Many Planned Parenthood patients face financial barriers and are underinsured or uninsured or living on low incomes, and Planned Parenthood is often the only place they can turn. In 2019, this board was voted to make Washtenaw County the first county in Michigan to provide bridge funding when Title 10 was cut the first time and threatened family planning services nationwide. That leadership then inspired other counties to take action. So y'all are leaders as always. I respectfully ask you to approve one-time bridge funding to help preserve life-saving reproductive and sexual health care in Washtenaw County. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Paula Thornton-Greer. I am the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Michigan. So thank you so much. I want to just spend my time talking about a really important topic, and that is equity, because ultimately that is what is in front of you. Equity is a simple idea with extremely hard consequences. It says that your health should not depend on your income. Your health should not depend on your zip code, or what is in your wallet on the day that you need it. At our Power Family Health Center here in this county, nearly one in four patients we serve live at or below the federal poverty level. And for them, the difference between a door that opens and one that doesn't is not this abstract idea. It's whether they get cancer screening, as you've heard, or birth control, the care that lets them plan their own lives. 7,000 visits a year happen at that health center. You've heard references to that type of care. You've heard we're living through a sustained attack on that kind of care, aimed at people with the fewest ways to replace it. It lands hardest on the low-income patient, on the student without stable coverage, on the working person caught between Medicaid and a plan they can afford. The patient's already on the wrong side of every single health gap that we have in this county and in this country. I thank the board because you have faced this before and you have stood up and you have continued to stand for what is right. I urge you to please pass the bridge funding in order to sustain care for Washtenaw residents. What you did last time, it is that same leadership. But what we are facing is a loss that is far steeper than the one that you answered before. I want to leave you with this. When the federal government pulls back, the county can step forward. When others look away, Washtenaw can look at its own people in the eye. When the easy thing is to wait to study it and let it become someone else's problem, this board can do what it did before and decide that care belongs to everyone in this county, not only those that can afford it. And that is what equity is. Not a word to say, but a thing to do. So behalf of the patients who walk through our doors, the ones who are afraid they soon won't be able to do so, thank you for standing with them and for leading again. Thank you.

Thank you, Chair and Commissioners, for your time. My name is Ruth Odenbach, and I live in Ypsilanti. I'm here today to ask you to support the bridge funding for Planned Parenthood of Michigan so they can continue to support Washington County residents with vital sexual and reproductive health care. Last year, I visited Planned Parenthood's Ann Arbor location after finding a lump in my breast. I didn't have a primary care physician at the time, so I immediately called around to make an appointment. A new patient appointment was going to be months out at the local doctor's offices that were in my network. I was able to go to Planned Parenthood's website and get an appointment within two days. The staff, nurses, and doctor were beyond kind and helpful. I was able to get a referral and have a mammogram a couple weeks later. And thankfully, after a biopsy, the lump was shown to be benign. Later in the year, I went there to have an IUD placed. Due to some health issues that I had in 2024, the thought of an exam caused me extreme anxiety. As soon as the doctor walked into the room, I started crying. She immediately put the chart she was carrying down, sat down and asked me how I was doing, what was causing my distress, and then talked me through different things that they could do to help and other contraceptive options. As most females can attest, it often feels like doctors aren't really listening to our concerns. Both visits to Planned Parenthood, I can say my experience was the complete opposite. I've never felt so much care and kindness from medical professionals. I wasn't just a patient there to receive a service. They cared about my physical and mental health and that I was making the decisions that were best for me. I'm thankful at this point in time, I do have insurance and therefore some options for medical care. But I do know that that is not the case for millions of Americans, especially after cuts to Medicaid and ACA subsidies. Planned Parenthood provides vital services to residents of Washtenaw County who don't have other options. Federal cuts to Planned Parenthood, Medicaid, and Medicare have not eliminated the need for health care. It's just made it inaccessible for some of the most vulnerable in our community. People die due to not seeking care because of the cost and financial burden. Due to that, I respectfully ask the Board of Commissioners to approve one-time bridge funding to help preserve access to reproductive health care in Washtenaw County. This funding would help ensure that the patients at the Ann Arbor Health Center can continue to access the care they rely on while PPMI navigates this unprecedented federal funding crisis. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Michelle O'Grady. I'm a resident of this county. I am a volunteer at Planned Parenthood, and I've also been a provider at Planned Parenthood. And when I was much younger, I was a patient at Planned Parenthood. I always received wonderful care. I have witnessed the wonderful care that goes on there and how essential it is. I was a nurse midwife for about 30 years. I understand how essential that care that Planned Parenthood provides is for women and for their families. So I urge you please to extend funding and support this very necessary essential services. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hey, good evening. Again, Greg Werner from GFL. I'm the Director of Wastewater Treatment for GFL. I'm here on behalf of Arbor Hills Landfill in regards to a post blog that was posted on June 5th, 2026 by the Conservancy Initiative regarding an event that took place March 25th at the Arbor Hills Landfill on the Leach 8 treatment plant there. On March 25th, there was some emergency operations that were conducted, some emergency repairs to some equipment. And during that time, there was some operator error in which we continued to discharge to Yucca or Ypsilanti County Sewer Authority during that event in which we were not treated. During that time, Yucca was onsite and they did perform some sampling of our discharge as it was untreated discharge. After we came online, we took some samples to show them what our results would be if we were under normal operation. Those were the events of the day in summary. The blog claims that we purposefully or deliberately took a sample post-COVID. returning to treatment in order to somehow deceive or decept the situation. Yucca was knowledgeable of the situation at the time. We made them aware. We were transparent. They were aware of why we took that sample and when we took the sample and when we submitted those results. And we were very transparent with them the days and weeks after that as we worked through an administrative hearing. in efforts to get through and understand what happened that day in our corrective actions to not, so that doesn't happen again. And in the words of Ypsilanti County, paraphrased a little bit here is basically that the information, the corrective actions that we took after the event were sufficient enough that no further action was required. The second claim is that the events that occurred on March 25th, somehow caused a discharge violation of Yucca on May 14th, which would be nearly two months after the event. And the only thing I could say there is that there could be no correlation or cause or effect to that at all. What I'd say is we have formally written a letter that we'll be issuing to you and presented to you after this meeting or in the days after this meeting to provide you that context and clarity on the events of the day. And that we felt those important to come here in person, at least to be able to verbally and present that case to you. But again, you will be receiving a letter on that. So you're aware of that.

Thank you.

Good evening, everyone. I'm the dude with the rug, man. You people are crazy, man. I'm going to stand with our great president, Ronald Reagan, and say more than nine scarce words in the English language. We're from the government. We're here to help. Man, so you wouldn't believe how crazy your CMH is. I mean, you keep bringing these thugs to my door who want to strap me to a gurney or something. I mean, what? You got issues with prior restraint? You want me in restraints, man, to go to Bleach Drinker University Hospital to drug me up like you're Jackie Treehorn or something, man? I mean, what's the deal, man? I mean, what? You keep calling the authorities and say, oh, he's going to get up. He's going to get up. He's going to get up. Oh, yes, indeed. I'm gonna kill that poor woman. I'm gonna kill that poor woman. Well, I don't know how to tell you this, guys, but I've been there, done that, and got the t-shirt, man. Yep, yep. So, what's the deal, man? The Demon Slayer won't hurt you, Karen. What's belligerent about me, man? Well, where's the fire? Where's the fury, Karen? What's bludgeoning about me, man? Where are you getting these leads, officer? You got all this money for research and whatnot and law enforcement. I think you need to go back to the crime lab and adjust the satellite feed, man. I mean... I'm not sure what your frame of reference here is, man. I mean, you're a place that chased me around like either nihilists or Nazis. You trying to get my family jewels or something, man? I mean, the only difference between those two is, well, at least Nazism isn't ethos, man. And, oh, well, I'm glad that EMU president is here because I still can't stand the Eagles, man. For real, this aggression will not stand, man. Vice President George H.W. Bush, the one who's really in charge, man. Yeah, it's all corrupt and disgraced, man. Why are you acting like I crashed a plane into a building or something? Yeah. I thought, I'm Lebowski, you're Lebowski. I mean, I think the big Lebowski here is you because you're over the line, man. I mean, have you all gone crazy by the only one who cares about the rules, man? I mean... Sheesh, there's one place to crash my rod, man. I mean, you don't give credence to the words of a crazy person, do you, man? Because if you do, then that crazy man becomes man of the people, man. Thank you.

I was going to say that.

Hi everyone, Conan Smith, Ann Arbor, Michigan. I want to say thank you, Chair Scott and commissioners. I'm up for appointment to the Regional Transit Authority Board this evening. I started my career at the Michigan Environmental Council in 1997, working on the Detroit Area Regional Transit Authority. I am so excited to see how far we have come over the last decade, but we still have a long way to go. Commissioner Robby made a tragic mistake years ago, appointing Alma Wheeler-Smith to this board. And I'm glad to have a chance to correct that error and pick up some of the slack that she's left behind there. Don't tell my mom I said that. So thank you very much. I want you to know that if you do approve my appointment this evening, I'm going to make it my job to be of service to you, the members of this board, to ensure that you are fully aware of what the Regional Transit Authority is planning, how they're moving forward, and that you have full opportunity to to engage in those conversations effectively on behalf of your constituents so that I, as your representative, can carry those perspectives to the board and ensure that our regional entity is serving the residents here in Washtenaw County. Thanks for your consideration this evening. I also just want to say, if I may, Greg, it was a real pleasure to serve with you when I was on this board. I loved being here. I loved your leadership. I don't know how you can sit there and not be disappointed that everyone stood up when you said you were going to leave and applauded that. That's not right. You can't please everyone. Great. Thanks for your service. And I look forward to your leadership in this county in an ongoing way. Thank you, everyone.

Thank you.

Hello, commissioners. Thanks for letting me speak. Dirk Mayhew, Ann Arbor. You might remember I was here about a month ago asking for budget for poll worker training. A lot has happened in that month. We've seen the head of a political party try to take over who could get ballots and who couldn't. We've seen an army of federal agents raid a voter registration group in Ohio. We've seen DHS agents enter a poll illegally to intimidate a poll worker in Syracuse. Illegal, but they did it anyway. But Monday night, there was a election staff meeting at the LRC. Thank you, Commissioner Hodge, for running that. A constituent, not me, asked about those things in the Q&A section and was labeled a fear mongerer. The same staffer that said that's fear mongering is the real world things that really happened. I don't know if they're going to happen here, but that's the staffer that would provide the training. that Chair Scott, you identified budget for. So I'm saying even if you move the budget, it won't turn into the training I want. Staff doesn't think there are real concerns. So I'm back tonight with a different, hopefully better plan. Please hire an election lawyer. If I'm not trained or somebody with a warrant says open the ballot box, whatever, something happens, I'm gonna call the clerk, that's what we do. The clerks aren't election lawyers, most of them aren't even lawyers. please move that budget instead into hiring elections lawyer to be on call, not representation, just advice, consultation, somebody that'll pick up the phone and knows in Michigan election law just for that one day. That's what I'm asking for. Thank you again, Commissioner Hodge for running that. And I want to echo something that Greg Dill said. Ashley Hall, off screen to my right, You took a night off of your own campaign to serve the public at that meeting. And it didn't occur to me until tonight that you prioritized community service higher than your own aspirations. I want to thank you for that. Thank you, commissioners. I've sent you a note to that effect with a proposed resolution. I hope you'll consider it.

Thank you.

Good evening, everyone. Jeremy Haley, Ypsi Township. Well, you probably don't see the U of M president standing here ever. You know, it's nice to see President Kelly here. I saw him at the Ypsilanti City Council meeting. He's actually a good CA president of a college, and you can actually get out within the community. I was going to ask, or Talk to Commissioner Beaman for a second. The project, the transformational brownfield that's going on in Manchester right now are going to be going on. Who's going to be paying for or taking care of the maintenance, repair and replacement of the infrastructure, the water, sewer and the roads for the city of Manchester for 30 years for that project? That project has put Manchester behind the eight ball. for 30 years because no money's coming in. And I know they're probably hoping and praying that nothing catastrophic happens to any of that infrastructure or anything in the economy that takes a downturn in housing prices or anything. That community now is behind the eight ball for that. And for economics, I'd look into Thomas Sowell and Milton Friedman for some advice, because especially Thomas Sowell, he's wrote quite a few books about quite a few things. And the Brownfield Authority leadership is in bad hobnobbing with developers. The last meeting, he said he worked the Brownfield Authority, where now it pays for testing. It also pays for his salary. How does that work? Isn't there some bias, conflict of interest somewhere in there? If the Brownfield Authority is paying his salary, where's his salary coming from? Where's that money coming from and going to? If he doesn't work for the county, where his money coming from? And how is it getting money? Like you had the sheriff here earlier for a working session, you should have him here. describing how the Brownfield Authority gets his money and how he gets paid and how much of a conflict. And actually, because he's doing that, any and all interactions he has with the developers should be recorded so people can see and hear what they are talking about. So for full transparency, it's the only thing that is right at this point. He physically said his salary is being paid by the Brownfield Authority. Where is that money coming from? I like to know as a citizen. I like to know how much of that money is coming from the developers. He sure has a nice relationship with the city and the harbor. Thank you.

Anyone else in the room? Oh, God, so loud.

Anyone else in the room for public comment?

um ashley is anybody online for public comment yes chair um we have one person with their hand up and they do not have a name but it says 401 iphone 401 iphone welcome to the meeting

Yeah, hello. My name is Ibrahim Shannar and I live in the city of Ann Arbor. And I want to thank everybody who spoke and I want to thank the commission for all their work. I think my comment is I want to ask that the county go big. and do something big and try to eradicate poverty in Washtenaw County. It's a big undertaking, it might take a lot of time, it might take a lot of effort, it might take a lot of money, but this community is willing and generous. And we have one of the best counties in the country. I think we can bring in the universities, the schools, the charities, the county, the cities, the townships, and come up with a plan. And then come, I'm sure there will be other places that will be willing to provide funding. But then you come back to the community and say, this is our plan. This is what we're going to do over the next 10 years. And we can eliminate and eradicate. It's really very sad to see young people young kids that are left over because of the circumstances around them that need really our help. We need to have a dual generation plan so we can bring people out of poverty. The other item I want to talk about is, again, let's be out of the box and go into rehab and treatment for our unhoused community. I know it's not easy. I know it's very difficult, and I know there are many challenges with all types of challenges, but we're going to have to do something. And any partial success, we're not looking for 100% success here, any partial success that might have left people and bring them out of poverty or bring them out of their other challenges through rehab, or treatment, this is our duty as a community and we owe it to them. I know it's very difficult. I know it's very costly, but we have to do it and it can be done. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Ashley, anyone else online? Yes, Chair, next we have Madden Linton.

Madden, you said?

Yep.

Oh, Madden, I see it. Madden, welcome. I think you just need to unmute Madden. There you go. I see it's unmuted. Welcome. I don't, we can't hear you Madden if you're talking. Well, oh, does that mean Madden's gone?

Chair, I'm going to try one more time to take her off mute.

OK. Ben, we're going to try again if you're listening. I can't see a screen anymore.

I could see her name before. She's off mute, but. Yes, Chair, she is off mute, but I'm assuming she's having some technical difficulties. It might be some technical.

Why don't we see if there's anyone else online?

There's no one else online, Chair. Oh, okay.

Still off mute or no? We'll just give it one more try here.

Madden, I'm allowing you to talk right now.

Hello? Oh, I can speak. Can you guys hear me?

You're there.

Okay. I was calling in from my phone.

Yes. Good.

Okay.

Hi everyone. Thank you so much for your patience. How kind of you. Okay. My name is Madeline. I live in Ypsilanti township. So I'm a member on commission on aging. So firstly, thank you everyone who attended our town hall all around the older adults millage and how the dollars have been at work and the priorities and So thank you, Shannon Effler, for accommodating this space and everyone's needs. Thanks, Justin Hodge, for showing up early and helping. Thank you, Ashley and Brady, for helping us record it. If you missed it, it's on YouTube. I also saw you there, Commissioner Sanders. And of course, thank you, Commissioner Somerville, for supporting us every month. I'm also a social worker at Housing Bureau for Seniors, so I am inclined to support and be here today to talk about skip. So happy to see that again because we do need it again as we, you know, it's expected. Last time I was here, I talked about a person we helped between getting into market rate housing and subsidized housing. So I've been able to do that a lot more, three more people. And that's just me. So there's a lot of other people that work with the skip funding. So excited to hopefully do more with that as it hopefully passes. And also in support of the gap funding for Planned Parenthood today. So thank you all. Have a great evening. And I hope it wraps up quickly.

Thank you. Thank you very much. As it's nine o'clock. Thank you. There's no one else online chair. Okay. Commissioner follow-up to public participation. Commissioner Hodge.

Thank you, Madam chair. Thank you to everybody that came to give public comment. I want to give a special thank you to all of our friends from supporting Planned Parenthood being here. I think particularly given the climate in our community, it takes a lot of courage to come and speak publicly on what is really a critical issue for all of us, which is why it's on the agenda. I would also mention that while all of you had the courage to express your support for the action that we will be taking, those that dissent only submitted written public comments. We did receive some written public comments urging us not to pass it. I didn't like those. I didn't like the language they used. So thank you all for being here and being in person. We're to the update on Woodlawn. Thanks for coming. Really excited to see all the progress that's been happening there. And I think the quote you closed out on about how important history is as it informs our present and future really underscores the importance of the work there at Woodlawn Cemetery. So looking forward to continuing to support that work. Conan is gone. No, Conan's there. Oh, I just can't hear my blind spot. Hilarious. Thank you. Thank you, Conan, for that. Dirk, is Dirk still? Dirk is right there. Hey, Dirk. Thank you, Dirk, for your ongoing work related to election security and ensuring that we have free and fair elections that are not disrupted by bad actors. And thank you for coming up with an alternative to your other suggestion. And I appreciate you being at the town hall the other night. Jeremy didn't have anything specifically for me this time, but hi, Jeremy. And Madden, thank you for your comments. I was happy to help set up for the town hall. I think it went really well. Thank you to Shannon. The red light is beeping at me, but I don't have a time limit. I know. Thank you, Shannon. There you are, back there, all the way back there, Shannon. Thank you for, I'm looking forward to voting on the skip resolution later. I appreciate the work that you did to also get the administrative costs related to OCD taken care of as well. I'd love for you to be able to speak more to that when it's time for us to vote on that. But, you know, we have a stellar team here in Washington County government. So thank you all for being here and stay tuned for how the votes go. That's all I got for now. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Hodge. Commissioner Beeman.

Thank you, Chair. I want to thank everyone for coming out to speak. It's always difficult to speak at these meetings, so appreciate so much, especially those who came out in support of Planned Parenthood. Your voices are just amplifying the voices who can't be here, who can't take the night off. We talked about equity. There are many people who don't have the ability to come and speak at this meeting, so thank you for amplifying those voices of those who can't even have the bus fare to come out. come here tonight or take off of work. I also want to thank everyone that's working on the Woodlawn Cemetery. I mean, for me, I think that's a wonderful historical marker and something we should be looking to memorialize and know as part of our 250 year Celebration of our country. Also want to thank our landfill partners for coming out and explaining and looking forward to additional information on that piece. In terms of the Manchester TIF, so there was some information that was not shared correctly. It is 23 years. That is not 30 years. It is 30 homes, six that are affordable for me in an area where affordability is very different. It's very different to be in a rural community and lose your home. It's very different to be someone who's even seeking a home and grew up near agriculture in a small town, all of those things. Those areas are getting priced out. We think of Ann Arbor, but we don't understand the price point that hits in Chelsea and Dexter and Manchester and Saline. All of these areas are stretched to the brink. I brag all the time. I'm the only one that has USDA-backed federal housing. but it's full and need more. This is going to provide more. And the tax capture that this is going to be is less than 10% of one year of the annual budget of the city of Manchester. So when you do the math for me personally, in my hometown, where I raise my children, I want them to have friends of all walks of life. I want them to see people get homes and succeed and be full members of society. Nothing to renters. I love you guys too. You are there. But we all know that that's part of what we think of as this American dream. I want my piece of the pie. I want my flag that I can plant in the ground. I want my garden. I want my kids to run in the back. I want my mom to age in place, whatever it happens to be. And that's what they're trying to do in Manchester. So I know that I conflated this by comparing it to what's happening in Ann Arbor. And all I meant was that we did not see the same outcry for my small community that we did for the city of Ann Arbor. That was the true juxtaposition there that we need to think about how we treat each of our municipalities and who we put under a microscope and who we don't put under a microscope when it comes to some of these issues. So while I appreciate it, I know the mayor, I know city council very well, and they worked really hard to make this possible and to make growth and development possible in our new city of Manchester. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Beeman. Any other commissioner?

Commissioner Somerville? Thank you. Okay. I have a list so I don't forget anything. I'll start with Skip. Thank you, Madden. If you didn't get on, I knew why you were here, so I was going to totally give your comment. But I want to also take a second to thank your colleagues who are here from the Housing Bureau for Seniors. Thank you for being here, as well as Shannon for the work that you've done to better understand skip and i'm just excited that we're continuing to pour money into what we know works and keeps people in their homes especially as we've outlined preventing homelessness for older adults in the millage framework and it's offsetting needs and other areas of the housing funding in the county. Thank you, Jeremy, for your comment, for your questions. And I think you often want to understand county government better. And so, you know, I think there's staff in our Brownfield area of the county who would be happy to talk to you. And I'm sure Commissioner Hodge can help make that connection. But we always appreciate you trying to learn more. And I like your jokes because the U of M president would probably not. Yeah, well, yeah, the interim. We still have an interim, right? OK. Yeah, so I thought I'm very proud to be an Eastern alum and represent Eastern because so in my experience, our presidents have been very accessible. And thank you, Dirk. I know you sent us an email a little bit ago. I share some of your concerns around election security. I'm hoping that the commissioners can help facilitate a more productive conversation because there are other folks concerned about election security and, like, safety and welcome it like people are going to feel unwelcome at the polls if we don't handle um this appropriately and so there's a lot of conversation happening around what it's going to look like when you go into the polls to early vote for the days leading up to the election or on election day and so i think that's a really important role that we should be playing as commissioners to make sure that our constituents feel safe to go vote and sometimes if you see armed officers and you're not gonna feel safe getting out of your car and walking in to vote. And I think we need to do everything that we can to make sure that our residents feel like they can vote. And if that's trying to get people to go to early voting or vote by mail, I think that's also important. But I think the issues that Dirk has also raised are serious and they deserve attention. For the folks that are working on the Woodlawn Cemetery, thank you. I actually serve on the Highland Cemetery Board, and I haven't made it out to Woodlawn yet. I'm sorry, but I promised Debbie that I would, so I will make sure I do that soon. I think it's really important that you guys are preserving. information for people who are still living who want to find their descendants and congratulations Conan on the appointment for the regional transit really important stuff and finally Planned Parenthood Thank you all for being here. I'm really glad that we have a strong showing of support for this critical bridge funding. It is a really scary time for a lot of organizations, but it was really terrifying for me in both of the worlds that I work in to realize that there could be a moment in time this year when clinics close. And as I've shared in the past, I relied on Planned Parenthood when I was in my twenties. I understand what it's like for people who don't have health insurance or who are scared to get certain procedures done. And I think that to some of the public comment, the folks who work at Planned Parenthood always do a phenomenal job making people feel comfortable and I think that's really important. It matters how you treat patients. And so I really have always appreciated that about Planned Parenthood. Even the people who make sure you can get from your car to the door without being harassed are critical. So thank you so much. And I feel like I got everything. But if I forgot something, just email me. Thanks.

Any other commissioners for response? Commissioner Rabi?

Thank you, Chair. I want to just respond to a few of the members of the public that came and spoke. First, I want to thank everybody for being here and sharing what you did before us. This is such an important part of our meeting. I want to start with Conan. Conan, you're going to do a great job. I'm very excited about you. Conan and I served together many years ago with Greg. And Conan and I did a lot of work to help build what we now know as the RTA. And back in those days, we had a number of working groups, one of them called Our Path, that we worked really closely with regional leaders to build the political framework that ultimately became the RTA. Conan was the chair of the board and I was the chair of working session. And we worked really closely together to advocate for and to get Washtenaw County included as part of the RTA. We would not have been included but for the efforts that Conan and myself and others put in at that time to make sure that we would be part of that vision. And so now we're coming full circle to this time where Conan, you are going to be our champion on the RTA. You are going to be by far the most experienced and competent RTA representative. definitely representing washington county probably in the whole region because you have that depth of experience and you were there from the very beginning um and so i have full confidence in this appointment and i have full confidence that you will be uh our champion at that table so i'm excited for you my friend um dirk The fact that a staff member said that is really concerning. And I am sorry that somebody said that at the meeting, that you were an alarmist, or that people bringing up these concerns were alarmists. That's not okay. And you're not being alarmist. This is extremely important. And What we're seeing with election security across this country is extremely alarming. Our democracy is on the line. If people don't feel that they can vote in a free and fair election, it compromises the entirety of our democratic experience. We're at 250 years of what has been a very imperfect democracy that has experienced many episodes of our history where that democratic voice has been robbed from people intentionally by a system that is racist. And we've made much progress as a country until Donald Trump became our president and took us back to the Jim Crow era in many ways. And now many of the repressive tactics that are being used are going to, again, compromise the trust that Americans have in their democracy. But as we celebrate 250 years in particular, now is the time to redouble our efforts to protect this democracy. And what you're doing, Dirk, your advocacy, just coming to our meetings and talking in the community about this is very important. Keep it up. I support you. And we have to make sure that on election day and on the days leading up to election day that people feel confident that they can cast their vote in peace and that they can cast their vote in the quiet and confidence of a democratic process. So thank you.

We appreciate you.

I want to also talk about Planned Parenthood for a second. I want to thank everybody for coming out today in your pink. You look great. And it is awesome to see so many of you here representing such an amazing organization that I have had the proud privilege of supporting in my entire tenure in elected office. The emergency funding that you guys referenced from a few years ago was not the first time Washtenaw County allocated funds for Planned Parenthood. In fact, when Conan was the chair of the board, we allocated tens of thousands of dollars through the coordinated funding process. And over the course of my tenure as a county commissioner, the first time we allocated close to $200,000. And that was back in the day. And it was an annual allocation that we were making sure that Planned Parenthood was funded. I got to experience the... ups and downs of the attacks on Planned Parenthood in the legislature and served under a Republican trifecta where the Republican Party tried to put up legislative effort after legislative effort to strip away and restrict abortion access in the state of Michigan to use all kinds of different playbooks to try to make it seem um you know to change the definition of personhood to uh you know uh ban certain types of abortion uh to do all kinds of different things to try to restrict and um uh hampered the ability of Planned Parenthood to do its work. And I'm proud to have a 100% pro-choice voting record in the legislature, having voted no on all those bills and stood with Planned Parenthood at every step of the way. I'm very proud of that record. And even on bills that were difficult, You know, some Democrats ended up supporting. I stood with Planned Parenthood every step of the way, even when the Republicans tried to make it hard. And I'm very proud of the organization that you are because you are resilient in the face of those attacks. And then there have been, you know, better times when we've had better presidents and worse times, Trump one, now Trump two, where funding has been a major issue. And you have been resilient and steadfast in your desire to care for the people of our community who need your care the most. the people who are not able to access care, but also the work that you do is not just about the people that walk through the doors of your health centers to get care. It is about your advocacy for health care access outside of the clinics as well and access in our communities to abortion. That's why I was so proud to support Proposal 3, which is, I think, one of the most transformational pieces of citizen-initiated legislation that the state has ever seen. As I said at our last meeting, my family, my wife and I had some tragic circumstances prior to having our first child, who is now eight months old and is a beautiful little baby. And if we did not have access to abortion, very similar outcomes to what some of the folks that testified here today would have happened to my family as well. And so I am passionate about ensuring that everyone in our community and everyone in our state has access to abortion now and into the forever future. We cannot allow our state to regress and we have to make sure that the funding is there for the people of our community to access the care that they need. This $500,000 is a first step and it should not be a last step. This is one year of bridge funding but there will be more need to come and this board needs to be able to step up. And frankly, all units of government across our county need to step up, across our state need to step up. This is a statewide organization and we have more access in Washtenaw County than in many other parts of the state. We need to make sure that you are funded and that you have the access and care that you can provide the access and care to our residents from Houghton all the way down to Luna Pier and beyond. So thank you for being here, for advocating for the work that you do. Paula, thank you for your leadership. Proud to support you.

Thank you. Any other commissioner follow-up? The public participation. Okay, let me just note, it seems like we're going into the holiday weekend and it's this big 4th of July and we're supposed to be thinking about 250 years of our country. And I'm thinking about like when I was listening to the public comment just about that when we talk about this country, we talk about the freedoms, but those freedoms are still so much unrealized in this country. We are still constantly striving for that. what happened at woodlawn is a reflection of that that is freedoms and systemic racism that allowed the cemetery just to be ignored for years um we're talking about planned parenthood and the freedom of women to have bodily autonomy over themselves And then we're talking about the elections also. And this is a very freedom of going to a free and fair election that's at stake. So while we're celebrating this freedom this weekend, I'll be celebrating it from work, but while everybody else, and then cursing people lighting off fireworks when I have to get up at 5.30 the next day. But while we're celebrating it, I think I'm gonna, what I wanna think about is how we're also always constantly striving to that more perfect union. It's what motivates me to get up and do this work every day to think about that. That's why I was so happy to see the sea of pink come into this room. It's amazing. And Commissioner Hodge referenced some of the comments that we got online from people who were opposed to this funding. There were more comments in favor of it than in opposition. And so that also makes me feel fantastic. I was thinking about, I'd said this before, I trained right before COVID as a clinic escort and then COVID happened and I had to stop. I really want to get back to that though. But then when Dirk came to talk to us, I thought maybe we should also have voting escorts because you know what? Somebody at a poll with a gun... come on, I'm walking you into the poll. So that's one idea. But I also think that your idea of making sure that we have somebody on call to talk about that legalness is a great idea. I was talking to my parents this week about it and about how concerned they are to make sure that they get their absentee ballots in on time to make sure that they are counted because of the threats to mail-in and absentee ballots as well. Finally, I'm just going to say like a little nerdy thing here as we're talking about freedoms and what we think we do at this table and in government. We did hear about Milton Friedman tonight. And as an economist, as a North Star, that doesn't work for me. To think about that when we're talking about TIFs and if you know who Milton Friedman was, he was part of the Chicago school. He really believed in free markets and school vouchers and deregulation and lower taxes in a very limited role of government. Obviously, I don't like that particular position. People who followed his economic policies, most notably in the last century, were Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. And they disenfranchised thousands of people with those economic policies. And I'm not interested in following them he wanted to limit government welfare programs and he assumed free markets could solve the problems that many believe require democratic institutions and public investment and collective action can do. So if you're talking to me about why we shouldn't support a TIF and society Milton Friedman's economic policies as the reason for that, every nerd inside of me is screaming no. um so um that's the end of my uh uh comments there so we'll move on to liaison reports are there any liaison reports no uh report from the county administrator thank you chair uh back to my earlier comment uh i

want to apologize to our partners at the courts. I left them out of my remarks. Please charge that to my head and not my heart. That partnership is central to our organization and community moving forward. And I'm excited, happy to live in a community that values the judicial system in the way that we do. So I just wanted to say my apologies to our judges and the staff at the courts. Again, it charged it to my head and not my heart. Just a couple of items this evening under my report. I want to begin with Catherine Jones, author, giving us an update on the impacts of bonding for the Eastside Rec Center. As she makes her way to the podium, I want to say publicly congratulations to Catherine. She is our new CFO. I want to thank you. Well, I thank this selection committee for the work that they did. It was a difficult choice, but certainly, Catherine, you rose to the top. I've had the great pleasure of working with you for a few years now. And I'm excited. I'm excited about where you can help take the organization. So take it away. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Yeah, so quick update on the Eastern Washtenaw Community Recreation Center. Just a reminder of all the funding that has been allocated. So we have pretty great news. We're finally moving along for bonding. So back in June 5th, we did receive our AAA bond ratings from both S&P and Moody's. So we've continued that. So great work. A lot of the work we've done around our reserves really helped us get that. And so it's good news there. On July 16th, we will be selling our general obligation bonds for $18 million. 17th, we get our draft official statement and should get our final closing documents July 22nd. We should get the money by August 6th. So we're in progress. We're getting everything in place. And so it's moving along. It's been a good process. So I'm going to turn it over to you. Thank you.

I just thought I'd take an opportunity to give you a quick update on what's happening.

So good to see you all.

Greg, also thank you for your leadership and assistance on this project throughout this last year. I appreciate it. So our team has been working on reviewing design development drawings. At that time, you also usually do a construction estimate. So we've been doing that and then making any necessary design refinement changes to make sure that we're staying within our budget for this building. We are working in the next week to get geothermal well testing underway that helps us understand how many geothermal wells we'll need. And that can be anywhere from 60 to 100 different wells for the system. But again, we're looking at really sustainable methods for this building. So I'll know more in August and be able to share with you at that time. um the construction timelines and next steps that are in front of you we have our earthwork and structural bid package i think i spoke about that at our last meeting um that will be yeah this summer um then we'll be doing site fencing and mobilization so i know you've already seen signs that are coming soon and we're starting to see activity there well you're going to see it even more because you'll see the test wells being dug you're going to see fencing go up you'll start to see uh earth working basically at the beginning of the fall. So I know we talked about having a groundbreaking, don't have a date for you yet on that, but stay tuned. And then we will be working on a construction bid package and then starting construction at the end of the year, beginning of next year. So moving forward, things are looking good.

I didn't know if you were going to add something, Catherine. Thank you both. Just one other item. I think most of you know, this certainly is bittersweet for me. I think most of you know that Brady Peck is leaving us to move on to... quite frankly, a higher calling. He is going to be the city manager of the city of Belleville. As he makes his way to the podium, I just want to say again to you all, we are truly a family in administration. In some ways, I think about the team in administration as my sons and daughters. I have watched Brady from day one. I still, Brady, remember our conversation in the corridor when I asked you to consider applying for the position in administration. And I've watched you grow and develop ever since. So pleased to see you moving on to better things. Maybe. We'll see how things go. I understand you have a little bit of a deficit to address. But I just want to say to the board and to the organization, been a pleasure working with you. The passion that you bring to this work is certainly notable and laudable. So I hope that you know that whatever you need from your county family, you certainly will get. I have you on speed dial and you have me on speed dial. And I expect that we will continue to have late night and weekend conversations as needed. So with that, I'll turn it over to Brady and Brady, whatever you...

whatever you'd like.

Oh, thank you. Administrator deal. Uh, thank you for everything over the last three years and administration. And thank you to Catherine and Tina and Kelly for the three years that I spent in finance. Uh, before that, you know, it's a great atmosphere, great folks here at the County. Um, you know, I was fortunate to spend some time as a seasonal in both parks and rec and the sheriff's office about a decade ago as well. So, um, Great experience here at the county that I'm looking forward to taking to the city of Belleville. And like Greg said, I've got a little bit of a deficit, so I will be maybe calling Catherine too for some ideas if I need them. Maybe she's taught me well enough that I won't need to make that call. So just a heartfelt thank you to all of you. I'll keep it short with the brevity and business in mind. So thank you again.

Great, thank you.

And Chair, that will conclude my report.

Thanks, Brady. I think that we got the news that you were leaving before we all went to press. So I'm hoping that you'll be able to come back to us in August for a visit where we can also have something to honor you from this board table as well. Next item on the agenda is the report from the Chair of the board. Dr. Kelly was the first part of my report. The second part I'm going to hand over to Ashley Hall, who's just going to do a little recap about the rodeo that we had this past week. Yeehaw is right. I literally did the boots on the ground dance. from start to finish and snap that fan. I also want to just say thank you to Commissioner Light for bringing this idea to us and that we were able to have it as part of our bicentennial. Everybody had a great time. And so Commissioner Light, thank you. And to the team that made it happen. Oh my God, Ashley.

Thank you, Chair. Business in brevity. So I want to keep it short, but I just want to say thank you to specifically Commissioner Light. You brought this idea to us last year and we brought it to life. And there were over 600 members of our community who came to this event, which is just absolutely incredible. And if you looked at the crowd, there were people from every corner. of our community, which is incredibly important, and that is what the Bicentennial is all about. It's about celebrating the county, celebrating everyone who lives here, and our rich history, specifically our agricultural and rural history. I do have a brief video. It is not long, I promise. I'm going to talk over it. I wish that I could have done a voiceover before, but I'm not that cool. So... I think it's coming up.

You are that cool.

I think it's coming up here. Amazing. So this footage is from the rodeo. Our friends at Russell Video put it together. So I mean, this is just a really good view of how many people were actually there. There were a lot of families there as well. So not only did we have the rodeo, which was the main attraction, we also had food vendors, some of which were provided for free for our community. We had blow-up carnival games. We had line dancing. We had our county staff there with a table. We had a petting zoo, courtesy of MSU Extension. I believe that llama's name was Jack, and he was very friendly. But overall, the event was very well received, and I'm just so proud of the work that the team did. I especially want to thank Tabitha Reynolds. There she is. And Tammy Karami for... for making the event happen, because without you two, it absolutely would not have happened. That's all I wanted to share, Chair, but I just wanted to make sure everyone knew what a great success it was, and we are on to the Legacy Gala, so you'll be receiving an update from me on that soon.

Fantastic, thank you. Commissioner Hodge?

Thank you, Chair. Let me see what I got down here for this comment. It's the rodeo hat. Well, I wanted to thank the team for putting together such a fantastic event and Commissioner Light for having the idea that we would do it. A tremendous amount of time and effort went into it. A special shout out to Tabitha and Cami and to you too, Ashley, for making it happen. I think given the budget for the event, it was particularly tremendous. I believe the budget was about $40,000 and it served more than 600 people in our community. Being able to provide free food to And all of the attractions were free. So to be able to say you're going to come to this event and ask people who are checking in and say, and everything over there is free. Now, there were a couple of things you had to buy. like the big back macaroni and cheese that Chair Scott and I both had. And regretted for days. With bacon and pulled pork, barbecue pulled pork on top of it. So that other food was free. And that's fantastic. And the events were good. And people really did have a fantastic time. So thank you to the team for making that a reality. And we'll see you next year. Bigger rodeo next year. I'll get some boots. It's on the ground. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Light.

I just want to thank the team for bringing the rodeo and taking me back to my childhood roots. You all are fantastic. I enjoy myself. My family and friends enjoy their selves. And I believe from the looks at the rodeo that the community definitely enjoyed. So kudos to you. I appreciate you. Even with all of my hissy fits, I just, I had a lot of them, but I am so happy that everything turned out the way that it did, which was excellent. Thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Sanders.

I just wanted to, we had a couple of other, we're always going to. Brady, as he always does, was out there telling people where to park over here, move that car. Terrence looked like he lived on a cowboy farm somewhere. Yes. so and Victoria the MSSI was there she was there I just thought that it was a wonderful event I took my grandson he wanted to take a straight beeline to the cows and he wouldn't have anything other than being able to go over there and see what those bulls look like so I just I want to say thank you to Commissioner Light for having the vision she wanted to do this last year we talked her out of it just delaying it to wrap it into the bicentennial. And I think because we are, were, are a farming county, it was apropos that we do a rodeo for our 200th birthday. So thank you to the staff. for all the work. I hope you had some Epsom salt that you were able to bathe in that night or the next day. I think we might've even had workman's comp situation. I'm not naming any names, but you know, if I get the paperwork, Greg, do not deny it. But it was wonderful. Couldn't have asked for a more diverse conversation. group of constituents showing up and they all really enjoy themselves. And I hope we can find a way to do this.

I hope so too. And I sent commissioner Sanders a picture of my feet. in the Epsom salts that night. So yes, yes, ma'am. Commissioner Beeman?

Thank you. I'll keep it brief. I just also want to thank the staff and Commissioner Light for bringing this forward. Having the most rural land in my district, it's so important to highlight our history and also our youth. And the children had so much fun. I mean, I didn't see a tear from any child. from the gentleman and lady who walked us out, who were the junior bull riders, all the way to the kids just playing the games and doing the dance and painting the faces and all of the things. So thank you so much, and thank you for highlighting our rural life as we're unfortunately still fighting for it. Thank you.

Okay, the only other thing I'll say that we'll say probably more about too is that this is the last meeting for Administrator Dill, and I just want to tell you thank you so much for your leadership and care. Getting elected was what I wanted, but it was... Gary AF, as the kids would say. And I remember coming in and meeting you and you made me feel at ease and like I could do this. And your confidence in me and all of us sitting at this table has meant the world to us. And so I want to thank you so much. I know you said no resolutions, but honestly, that's just not going to happen. You should expect more laudatory things coming up as well. So thank you. All right. No special orders of business. Appointments. Would anybody like to move the appointments?

So move support.

Okay. Moved by LaVar supported by Hodge. Any discussion? Commissioner LaVar.

Yeah, I don't know if Conan's still here or not, but I just wanted to thank him for stepping up to serve on this and wanted to thank Alma Willer-Smith for her service as well. That family has been so impactful in public service and so glad that that's continuing with the RTA. Thanks.

Thank you. Okay, we'll do a roll call vote. Oh, sorry, I didn't see you. Commissioner Robby.

I just want to thank Alma for her work as well. I was proud to appoint her to the RTA. And I do think a chair that it would be appropriate to do something honoring her service on the RTA at some point.

Absolutely. Um, and thrilled, um, that Conan and I have a great relationship and that we could, um, get this and I know he's going to be fantastic. We've talked a lot about it now. Let's do a roll call vote, please.

Commissioner Beaman.

Yes.

Commissioner Hodge? Yes. Commissioner LaBar? Yes. Commissioner Light?

Yes.

Commissioner Maciejewski? Yes. Commissioner Robby? Commissioner Sanders?

Yes.

Commissioner Scott?

Yes.

Commissioner Somerville?

Yes.

Motions carry.

Fantastic. Next item is the consent agenda.

Move approval.

Moved by LaBar, supported by Hodge. Any discussion? That's the voice vote. All those in favor. Aye. Any opposed? Great. All right. We'll move on to the first reading. We have a supplemental resolution to submit to the electorate, a millage question, authorizing funding for healthcare access on the November 3rd, 2026 ballot and certifying ballot language. Anybody like to move this item?

So move support.

Moved by LaBar, supported by Hodge. Now is discussion. I will note before we discuss that this would be a two reading item. And one of the things that I personally would like to do is spend the next month thinking about how we can make this a neutral millage coming up. So looking at the different millage rates and thinking about where we might even things out. So we're not actually asking people to, tax themselves more. Commissioner Hodge, then Somerville.

Thank you, Chair. Well, you read my mind. I was thinking we need to do the same thing, and I wanted to put a whereas clause, or therefore be a resolved clause in there.

Oh, you're making an amendment.

I'm making an amendment. I haven't even said it yet, but thank you. Proactive support from Commissioner Somerville. We love to see it. We love to see it. So I want to move that we add Michelle, you paying attention?

Yeah.

All right. Thanks. She got her pen out. Got the pen out. Okay. I want to move that we add under the now therefore be resolved clauses, a section that would say the board directs county administration to provide recommendations on how to reduce any other millages and put S in parentheses by 0.2 mils.

to make it neutral.

So this is a 0.2 mil millage. And I'm saying that we would add something in here, directing administration to come back with recommendations on other millages to reduce by 0.2. So it's- For a total of 0.2. For a total of 0.2. To make this budget neutral, I mean, make this neutral for the taxpayer.

Let's get this moved and supported. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

Support.

Okay. Now we'll have discussion on that amendment.

And then, so I've just, I'll speak to it. I mean, the purpose here is to, we've talked about doing this and we've talked about making this not an increase overall for taxpayers if we were to put this on the ballot and for it to pass. And to do that, the way we would do it is to reduce the amount that we're levying on other millages. That could be taken like 0.1 from one of the other ones and another 0.1 from something else or some combination of that.

But it would just have to be reducing currently levied millage by 0.2 mills.

Okay, I've got Somerville Labar, Robbie Sanders.

Okay, I will speak to just the amendment because I have other comments after this. So specifically to the amendment, I'm really excited about this because my general concerns prior would be an increase on residents. And so I appreciate this. I would like this millage to be on the ballot and I would like it to be a neutral millage for folks in our community. Thank you.

Thanks. Again, speaking to this amendment right now. Commissioner LaVar.

Yeah, I'd support this amendment. I think what we're really asking for here is authorization given the circumstances, and this makes the tax impacts neutral. I think we can't roll back any other millages without thoughtful discussion and consideration that many of them, if not all, are voter approved. But I think given the circumstances and the work that folks have put in here in terms of trying to get to this table on this issue, be fully supportive. Thanks.

Thank you. Commissioner Robby?

Thank you, Chair. Just wanted to ask for some clarity from corporate counsel. We can't reduce the millages because they're already voted on, right? But we can choose to not levy the amount that have been approved by the voters?

That's correct, Commissioner.

And that would be an annual vote of the board?

That's correct.

So every year we'd have to re-up our commitment. So there's basically what I'm driving at is there's no way of guaranteeing that the money would be not levied. It depends on every board's decision-making authority in that year.

Yes.

Okay. So just to clarify the motion, it doesn't really do anything other than sort of asking for a plan to be developed that would not really bind us to anything, but would be sort of a commitment that we would have, but would not bind future boards because we can't.

Can I respond to that?

Let's this, if you respond, we're going to do talking over the table. So can you hold and we'll move around the table? I don't know.

I mean, I think the, I think I know the answer. I guess I don't mean to ask rhetorically. I know the answer, and we just need to commit ourselves to it. But noting that future boards are not committing themselves because they're not here.

It's a point of order that the Corporation Council is going to look into whether or not we have to do that yearly or not.

Yeah, we'll confirm. We have a month to do it. Okay, Commissioner Sanders.

So I guess I had two questions, and I'm not sure if they're both appropriate for this timing, but I'll ask them anyway.

Okay.

One was that my original understanding about the request for this millage was absolutely tied to the political environment that's going on in D.C. because I asked what happens if in two years this situation is right-sided, but we're still, and we don't need this much, but we're still taxing our residents. So I'm wondering if that has changed. Because that was, I asked very specific questions and I was told that that is why we had this urgency to do this millage. So that's my first question. The other question is, if, well, you may have already, this has been discussed. I don't know how we explain If we make this exception in terms of trying to zero out the cost of this two-pointment, then what's to say that we're not going to be asking? I mean, this would be precedent setting. So are we going down a rabbit hole doing this this way for all other millages that come up, which... at the risk of pontificating is why I said earlier, we need a process. We don't have a process for how villages come to us. They always come to us as the sky is falling and there's no thoughtful process that's put into it for all of us to be able to ask questions and understand. It's always like, oh, my God, if we don't do this now and put it on the ballot, the sky is going to fall and we've got to find a better way to do it because this this just isn't working. especially because we are quasi six mills away from hitting the ceiling. So I still have the same concerns and I just wanted to air that. I think it could be a real slippery slope. And what is the justification for this particular ask being so much more important than others that now we're looking at trying to change the entire playing field for the other already existing millages and I actually concur with Commissioner Robbie that we've got two years left on our term we don't know what and so does that put this millage in another precarious spot that there may be people replacing us that are like nope we're not doing that So, okay. I just think that there's going to be an uproar about trying to shave off.

Commissioner Hodge.

Thank you. So, I mean, it's not a direct response. I'm just going to respond or I'm going to articulate my vision for what we're trying to do here. And is that we would have, if this amendment passes, we would get from administration some recommendations on how to not levy collectively 0.2 mils. So this is, not going to ultimately be a tax increase for the taxpayers. And then we'd have it on the ballot. If it passes in November, then after its passage, then we would take a vote to do one of the recommended reductions to reduce the 0.2. And then in a hypothetical situation in which the federal landscape changes significantly, we could always choose to stop levying this millage early.

Also the millage initially, when we talked about this was eight years, I think recognizing the hope that things might change, it was, we talked about changing it to three years, which was sort of like, we've got the two years of this, I don't even know, I can't call, we've got the two years of this administration left and then a year to try to get over the residual there's a word I want to say that begins with S and ends with T that's left over from him. So Commissioner LaVar.

Chair, I think you were hitting on it. Part of what I think we should consider here is there isn't a precedent in terms of shaving off any other millages, but there's no precedent in terms of any of the millages that we have responding entirely to something that's been thrust upon us by the federal government. The timeline on this, the three-year collection, that's not by mistake either. If for some reason we do take back Congress and eventually the White House, that is a minimum period of time to actually get that legislative process even started. None of this is truly ideal, but all of us have coalesced around this notion that we're trying to minimize the tax burden as much we can. Costs are up, cost of living is up. This is an accommodation to that reality, just as the millage itself is an accommodation to the reality that none of the nine of us planned to raid Medicaid at the federal level. So we're doing the best we can in real time, trying to keep it tax neutral. So that's part of why I'm supporting it, Chair, and I appreciate the amendment.

The amendment, the amendment. Remember, we're on the amendment. Any more discussion on the amendment, Commissioner Light?

I believe so. This is the right time. Okay. Stop me if it's not. Yeah. what is going to be the exact number the amount extra from shaving off trying to keep but what is the number that taxpayers are going to have to pay for this millage because my mom is 73 going on 74 in august and she she's on a fixed income as a senior and i want to know the exact amount of dollars Because I need to know.

I think the purpose of the amendment is to make it so it's no more tax dollars.

But that's not a guarantee. Because, you know, Brandy and her son say almost doesn't count. So I need to know what we're looking at for the number. If we can't. Yeah. pull from all of the other millages. And because I just don't believe that there's not going to be additional tax dollars for our additional, I just don't see it being zero. So I want an exact number.

I'm clarifying. A .2 mil on every thousand is $20. Is that right? Anybody? No. Andrew's shaking his head. He's looking it up. Nobody's sure. It's not just me. Ha, ha, ha.

Ha, ha, ha.

It's true. We do make that levy determination annually too. So we did like at the last meeting when we took the, we set the millage rate and we actually lowered it because of Hedley. So it's like to tell you the exact, number, but the intention of the amendment. So that's a good question. The intention of the amendment, which we'll get a clear answer to next month when we do a final reading is to make it budget neutral. So people aren't actually paying more and we'll have an answer at the next meeting on whether that has to be a yearly vote or we can vote for those purposes for the length of this millage.

Yeah.

Which is why it's great we're doing it in two readings.

Yeah, we have to because I need exact numbers because I need to go tell all the old lady gang and all of them and my constituents and even some of my peers that said, you know, y'all better quit asking us for more and more money and figure out ways. They're saying we're being poor budgeters because we're not as I was on a bandwagon last week. We have other options. We have other options.

Okay. Commissioner Beaman? 20 cents per thousand.

On the amendment, I'm just nervous because I'm looking here at our countywide millages and I can't think of a single one where I want to draw money. away from parks or older persons or roads or emergency communication system or veterans or conservation like I can't think of anything and I'm not saying I could very well be wrong but I cannot think of a thing that is throwing their hands up saying I got too much money it's okay take it so I understand that it could be a tiny shave off the top. But when we're looking at things like mental health, that I don't, I don't like this. I understand the purpose and I appreciate that. I just don't see a surplus of which we could shave.

Commissioner Hodge.

Thank you, chair. Catherine, question for you and CFO duty here. So I feel like what I'm requesting with this amendment is a fairly minuscule change, and it could be a minuscule change across multiple millages to make this work. So it is not an increase in tax payers. Are you able to speak to that in any way to confirm that my impression is correct or that maybe there's a millage that's collecting more than it needs at this time?

I'm not, I mean, I think we need to go back and look at it and give you guys a full research recommendation on that part. For the 0.2 mils, we're talking 20 cents per thousand dollars of taxable value. So it is a small dollar amount per thousand dollars of taxable value on both sides of the equation. But given our taxable value, that will raise over $5 million. So it adds up and it is small at the same time. So. I think that's really where we're at, but I'm not going to speculate on millages without a lot of reason.

But if I were to speculate, I believe I'm correct. So I support the amendment, just to be clear.

I think this is the best way for us to get it to a point where it's not an increase in taxpayers.

I mean, that's the whole point in how we've talked about the millage up until this point. It looks like the administrator might be coming to affirm that my interpretation is correct.

As your administrator. I just would like for the space for us to do the work around this. And if you guys would give us just a little bit of grace, we'll dig into this. And I want to make sure that you guys have the appropriate answer so that you can communicate effectively to the residents of this community. Just give us a little bit of time. We'll get on this. We'll start. We'll get on this first thing in the morning.

Which is the intent of the amendment. Because without that language, there's no direction to you all to do that work.

Understood.

And commissioner Somerville supports the amendment.

Yes. Any other discussion on this amendment?

Mr. Robbie, I had to do this, but, um, just want to point out that the amendment that you've made is to a first reading resolution. So in theory, it won't be directing County staff to do anything until later. Yeah.

but i think that the intent is there and it sounds like staff are already on it but i just want to point that out thank you commissioner robbie for pointing that out any other discussion items on this amendment all right let's do a roll call on this amendment we want to reinforce the amendment you want to read Michelle, can you read the amendment again before we roll call vote on that to us?

amend the resolution to include a section that would direct county administration to provide recommendations on how to remove point two mills from other villages to make the tax impact neutral.

Great. Okay. Roll call vote on that, please.

Commissioner Hodge. Yes. Commissioner LaVar. Yes. Commissioner Light.

I guess.

Commissioner Maciejewski.

No.

Commissioner Robbie. Commissioner Sanders.

No.

Commissioner Scott.

Yes.

Commissioner Somerville.

Yes.

Commissioner Beeman.

No.

Motion carries.

Okay. Now we're back to the original resolution discussion on the original resolution. Oh, commissioner Somerville.

Thank you. So such as the full resolution, I guess I'll just start because the first time we discussed this, I was a hard no, because I didn't want to see a tax increase after we just put up another millage in 2024. So I'm really grateful that there's the opportunity to consider how to make this neutral for our residents. Additionally, I was a little concerned about the length of the original proposal. And so, I advocated for three years that way the board can reassess how things are in about two or three years to see if we need to put it back up on the ballot to meet this need. Because I think it gets to the point of this is like a temporary fix for a problem that we did not create. And also I'll just take a moment to highlight that I also had concerns that this would be for only one entity and I wanted to see some funding to help our our health department specifically some funding for our Community health workers who do really great work. and provide a lot of bridges for folks who have a hard time navigating systems and so there's kind of buckets 50 for washington health plan 25 for our actual health department and then 25 set aside for reproductive and sexual health and so i think it in the way that it's now proposed actually meets a lot of the need and a lot of the gaps that we're seeing as a result of the federal government and so i'm more comfortable with the broadened language and the shortened um period of time for the millage and if i'm still here in three years i would be happy to reconsider it then but i felt like it was appropriate for residents for us to reduce it to three years and those are my comments thank you thank you wish for light

I have a question about that this would provide funding for our healthcare workers as well. However, wouldn't that come with negotiations with the union and we wouldn't, we've had some shenanigans already with community mental health and unions as far as with positions and they believe that we have too much power or in there's positions being taken away from community mental health. And as far as I know, the temporary and part time positions with our access team, they don't even have them. They have one person that was brought back for eight hours per week. They're over there working like when I say slaves around the clock. And so I don't we won't have as much say, um, on on how that would go. So it would be great if this could do that to assist more positions. But I don't see things like I don't see this as going to be able to utilize this millage to fund more of our health care access workers. Then I also want to say with the questions that I had just asked about what is the exact dollar amount, what are from which meals, it's just too many more questions. And I would like to make a motion that we table this to the next meeting so that we can get all of those answers and we know exactly how we are going to vote on what we're voting for, how those meals are going to be moved from other meals. And so I would like for us to table that. And in place of this reading, that we add the emergency 911 surcharge and do that because that's something that should have went today. And then when we got more questions and answers for this millage, then that should have been at our next go round. So I would like to make a motion to table this until we get all of the answers. I want exact numbers. I want to know how this is going to move. I want to know what millages we're going to pull from, how they're going to operate, how that funding is going to sustain. I want to know all of those answers because we don't have them. And that goes back to Commissioner Sanders saying we don't have a process and it just gets rolled out and everybody just has to accept it. I provided several options for us to fill this gap without even having to proceed with the millage. We have funds that will be coming from the closure of the DDA inside a township like 1.2 million. Why can't we utilize 700,000 to close the gap for 2027? And then we figure out if we need to utilize the millage thereafter. We have other options. We don't need to do this today. Even though it's the first reading, this could have been done differently. So I would like to make a motion to table.

Commissioner, are you motioning to table or to postpone?

Postpone table to the next. We need to postpone.

To adjourn to a time certain?

To the next meeting so that we can get all of the information that has been asked at the table today.

Sarah support. Okay. So now we're talking about a journey to a time. Certain next meeting. Commissioner LaBar. I forgot. LaBar period menopause. Oh, is the estrogen patch still there? Okay. It is LaBar and then Hodge.

Quite a preamble chair. Thank you. Um, I appreciate the effort. I think in order to comply with the ballot language requirements, we do have to keep this moving for an August 5th meeting. Corporation counsel, can you clarify if that's even a technical possibility to be able to do it in one night? I'm not saying I would support that, but is that even a legal option?

It is possible, yes.

I would vote no on the motion to table, knowing that this is a motion tonight for first reading. And so we're not precluded from getting any of that data. And that's how I'm going to vote. Thanks, Chair.

Commissioner Hodge.

Thank you, Chair. All right, another question for you then, Michelle. Since it would be legally possible to do it in one reading, but if the motion to postpone to or adjourn to a time certain passes and then we're at the August meeting, wouldn't we then need to make a motion to approve it in a single reading and then that would require two thirds of the board to approve it?

I believe the rules say that the chair in consultation with the county administrator can, hold on.

Because it's in our rules that if we want to change something from a two read to a, or the other way around, you can make a single read a two read with a vote, and I think it has to be a two-thirds vote. So I would think that the inverse would be true, too.

The inverse is not always true, though.

It's not always true. We've got to kill some time while she looks it up.

My point with this is every rectangle is a square, but not every square is a rectangle.

Remember from geometry. Basically, the point would be that if what I just said is not accurate, then or there's no other way to do it in a single reading in August. And it just can't be done this year, given the timeline, unless we did like a special meeting or, or multiple special meetings. So that's the, that's the rub there.

Okay. The rules pertaining to multiple readings, uh, do say that such items as a millage may be approved with a single reading through dispensation as recommended by the County administrator and approved by the chair. Any commissioner may make a motion to revoke the dispensation and require two readings.

Okay.

Well, there you go. Okay. That is a sufficient answer. Thank you, Michelle.

Any other discussion on adjourning this to a time certain? Okay. Let's do a roll call vote on that.

Commissioner Labar. No. Commissioner Light.

Yes.

No. Commissioner Robbie.