City Council - Regular Meeting

Under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Good evening, honorable city council members, Madam Treasurer, Chief of Staff, to our city attorney, to our administrative staff that's in the audience, and then our guests that are with us this evening, and also to those who are viewing tonight's broadcast via YouTube Live. Welcome to the City of Romulus City Council regular meeting. Today's date is Tuesday, May 26th. 2026. Members of the public wishing to participate in this evening's meeting may do so under, we have two opportunities, under two public comment portions of the agenda. Please fill out a request to speak public comment card, which you can find on the table in the back, and hand it to me before those agenda items come up. And at this time, we will have roll call. Councilwoman Abdo. Here. I see that Councilman Bullitt's not here with us. Let me excuse him. Okay. So note it. Councilman Jones. Here. Councilwoman Roscoe. Here. Councilwoman Talley. Here. Councilman Wadsworth. Here. And Councilman Wilhite. Here. Madam Chair, we have a quorum.

Thank you.

Tonight's regular council meeting agenda reads as follows. Number one, agenda. Number two, public comment. Three, approval of consent agenda or discussion of the items removed from consent agenda. Five, petitioner. Six, chairperson's report. Seven, mayor's report. Eight, corp's report. Nine, treasurer's report. Ten, public comment. Eleven, unfinished report. Number 12, new business. 13, warrant. 14, communication. And number 15 is adjournment. And a motion will be in order to accept the regular council meeting agenda that has been presented.

Madam Chairman, I'm going to move that we accept the regular council meeting agenda.

Support. It's been motioned by Mr. Wasburg, seconded by Ms. Roscoe for the approval of the agenda for tonight's meeting. Mr. Wasburg? Yes. Ms. Roscoe? Yes. Mr. Wilhite? Yes. Ms. Abdo? Yes. Mr. Jones? Yes. Chair votes yes, motion approved.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Number two is public comment. This is a portion of the agenda for those who are in the audience who would like to address the City Council regarding the agenda items Only you will have three minutes to speak. You can find the rules on the back of your meeting agenda. Madam Chair, I do not have any request to speak under this agenda item.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Is there anyone that wants to speak under this portion of this? Okay, I'll come. It's just for the agenda items that's on the agenda for this evening. You can give it to the clerk. You have it all written.

She's only requesting to speak under agenda item number 10.

Okay.

So it appears that there's no one that's requesting to speak. For this section. Okay.

Okay. We're going to close that out then.

All righty. Number three is approval of the consent agenda. All matters listed under the consent agenda are considered routine by the council and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items. If the discussion of an item is required, it will be removed from the consent agenda and considered under the next agenda item. Consent agenda item number one, approval of the minutes from the regular meeting held on Monday, May 11, 2026 at 7.30 p.m. Consent agenda item three B, approval of the minutes from the special meeting public hearing held on Monday, May 11, 2026 at 6.30 p.m. to hear comments or objections to To the proposed 2026-27 fiscal year budget for the City of Romulus as set forth in Chapter 9, Section 9.3 of the Romulus City Charter. Consent Agenda Item 3C. Approval of a study session request for Monday, June 8, 2026 at 6 o'clock p.m. to discuss the quarterly investment report. And... Consent agenda item 3D, approval of a study session request for Monday, June 22nd, 2026 at 6.30 p.m. to present information about the Five Points Roundabout project. Motion will be in order.

Madam Chair, I'll make a motion for the approval of the consent agenda as read by the clerk.

support it's been mentioned by mrs roscoe seconded by mr jones for the approval of the consent agenda items as presented miss roscoe yes mr jones yes mr wilhite yes mr bullock yes mr wasworth yes miss abdo yes chair votes yes motion approved thank you madam chair council number four would have been items removed from the consent agenda and there were no items uh

that were requested for under discussion. Number five would be petitioners, and we have no petitioners this evening. It takes us to number six, the chairperson's report. Thank you, Madam Clerk.

First, I hope everybody had a great Memorial Day. I tell you, our treasurer's team kicked it off in the city of Robins yesterday. Thank you for that. It was a great event. So well attended. And it was just, the atmosphere in the air was just so great. So thank you for all the work. I know it was a long time coming. But man, this is what happens when you put all that work in because this was a fantastic event. So thank you and your team for all the work. And just a shout out to the veterans. You know, we are living today in the freedom we're given because these men and women put their lives on the line and risk their lives for us to have our freedom so we can never repay that debt. And so I just thank the team for putting that on for them. It was great. Just a token of appreciation for all that they've sacrificed and risked. and their families, even to the day, for people that have lost their life, that their families are dealing with to this day because of the loss, all for us to have our freedom. So thank you. Thank you, thank you, and thank you to everybody, and I hope everybody enjoyed the Memorial Day. I love the keynote speaker. He was really amazing. Just some great points he touched on regarding Memorial Day. Just about barbecue and cooking and eating, we really need to remember those people that put their lives on the line for our freedom. So thank you. Thank you. And so with that, before I get more into mine, I would like to go to the report. I'm skipping stuff. Let's go to the council report. Can you do some report for the police, fire, and safety commission?

Sure. We had a meeting last week, and the fire department, The grant that came through for all the equipment for the fire trucks, they finally got the check through. So they got to put the equipment on, all the new life packs and everything. So all the equipment's going on the trucks. So that's a good thing. Engine 1 passed its DOT test. So it's back in service. The department is putting on different classes as they go on. Pump operator, fire officer one, they've been putting those classes on. They got a fire officer two in August. There's a new hire that started last Thursday. Was he sworn in? Yes, he was sworn in here Thursday, right? Correct. Yeah, I was out of time. I'm sorry. And so there are two people short without the retirees that are coming up. And as far as the police department goes, oh, and the thermal imagers, they have thermal imaging on every air pack now. So a thermal imager is a camera that you can see heat signatures. So if you go into a structure that is very hot, a person's body will be at a lower temp, so they're easier to see. Or if they go in and it's just smoke-filled, you can see the heat from the... person that's in there so it makes rescue operations a lot safer and and better as far as the police department goes I didn't get a chance to go over all the stuff there but I just wanted to say that a lot of people are against the flock cameras but they are working to Curb the crime and that to catch the bad guys. So that's all I have.

Thank you.

Thank you for that Yes, I do Many of you know the friends of the library are an integral part of the library and And they are having their book sale this week. The 28th and the 29th is from 9 to 7. Oh, wait. Let me get this right. The 28th is from 9 to 7.45. The 29th is from 9 to 5.45. And then on Saturday, it's 9.30 to 4.45. And if you've ever been there, you know there's an abundance of books to be had, trinkets, and all this goes back into the library to try to build some more things.

Awesome. Thank you. That's Friday, Saturday? Friday.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Jones.

I'm sorry, real quick. When is you guys' next cemetery meeting?

So we had that today, as a matter of fact. Our cemetery board met today, and they are just discussing issues around the cemetery. So if you have any concerns about anything in the cemetery, just call the clerk's office and ask for Sean.

Okay.

Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Jones. Yes.

Madam Chair, the Pension Report, the Executive Summary Plan, Stats, Romans 1 to 401 . We have a We have a report of the total excess. I'm going to give you the first quarter of 2026. Total planned excess was $18,345,223, whereas total participation with a balance, same quarter, $156,000. Average balance, $156,000. Average account balance, 117,596. Medium account balance, 58,481. Outstanding balance, number of outstanding loans, 35. Active contributions, 16. Total contributions amounts, 232,902. Total term participation with a balance, 28. Total distribution withdrawal amounts, 1,200,588. And number of distributions withdrawals, 21. So that's a summary of the first quarter, 2026. Okay. And you mean quarterly, correct?

You mean quarterly, right? Yes. Okay. Thank you.

WELL, THE PLANNING COMMISSION ACTUALLY HAD ONE OF THEIR SHORTEST MEETINGS EVER, WHICH WAS KIND OF NICE. BUT WE DIDN'T REALLY HAVE ANYTHING MUCH GOING ON. WE HAD A COUPLE POSTPONEMENTS, AND ONE WASN'T QUITE READY TO come to the commission. So we look for a lot more on the agenda next month. And the report that I passed out last month, nothing really changed there. So we'll keep you updated next month.

Thank you, Ms. Roscoe. And welcome back. Thank you.

Mr. Weiss, I think you guys don't meet until August.

Yeah, we had a meeting this past week. It was a very positive meeting as far as investments go. It was a good meeting because we didn't have to report anybody passed away, but we, yeah, Gary's right there. But there was two retirements, Mrs. Lambert and Mrs. Aswedan retired. And we don't meet now until the end of August.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Wasworth. And thank you, everybody, for your reports. Thank you so much for that. So the public can know what's going on. We are a part of these committees and know what's going on. Thank you. Just a couple of quick things before I wrap up my report. Our Wayne County Commissioner had a coffee hour Saturday 5-16, his first one. He's going to be doing them quarterly, so if you guys hear about it, I want to support our Commissioner. uh... our rep miller was that i got to see her again we know she's not running again so it was really good to see her again uh... she came out in the last person to come here come away with the uh... support as well so uh... that will be a point of the thing with us Wayne County Commissioner Allen Wilson. He had a coffee hour on 516. We had a horribly, horrible movie night at the Hook and Ladder called The Tourist Trap. And this was not as horrible as it, it wasn't that horrible. It was really good. It was some people in there I knew and was familiar with. If anybody knows The Rifleman, Chuck Connors, he was in this movie. It was really good. I love Chuck Connors. And then there was Tanya Roberts was in there. She was in this movie. And it was a really decent Horribly Horror movie. So remember to support Hook and Ladder. They have another Horribly Horror movie night on Friday, June 20th. start at 8 p.m., and then they do have a production coming up the first two weeks in June. So if you want to get those dates, you have to go on their website. They're going to be June 5th, 6th, 12th, 13th, starting at 7 p.m., and June 7th and 14th, starting at 2 p.m. But you can go to the website and get tickets at Hook and Ladder, H-O-O-K-A-N-D-L-A-D-D-E-R, hookandladder.ludus.com. So let's support our... Um, I see they, they, the eight are out here, um, right here on the corner of Gardner. So thank you, uh, Captain Fee for all the great work you're doing that hook and ladder. And they got a lot of great things coming down the chain for the summer and going into the fall. So thank them for that. And then I'm going to end with our schools. We had a great prom toast this past Thursday at the high school. Most of our council people were there. Ms. Abdo was manning our table. Thank you for that, doing that every year. I get to see a lot of my former students. I got to see a lot of my father's shoes. Yeah, she always had me at that table. Thank you for that. And Mr. Jones was there, and Mr. Wadsworth popped in, and Mr. Bullock was there. And I know Mark and Celeste were out of town. But thank you for everybody coming out and supporting our kids. It was just amazing. I truly enjoyed it. So many kids out, so many parents, so many people in the community out there supporting our kids and our schools. So thank you for a great job. Karina Coleman at the high school for what she did in pulling that together, along with the team. They worked together. So great job with the prom toast and more good things to come. And on that note, I think there's a graduation this Saturday at the high school, if I'm not mistaken. So do you know if the graduation is this Saturday? I don't know. Okay. But I think it was, if I'm not mistaken. But anyway, on that note, that'll close my report.

Madam Chair, I'll make a motion to accept the report.

Support. Thank you. It's been motioned by Ms. Roscoe, supported by Mr. Jones for the approval of the chairperson's report. Ms. Roscoe? Yes. Mr. Jones? Yes. Mr. Bullock? Yes. Ms. Abdo? Yes. Mr. Wilhite? Yes. Mr. Wadsworth? Yes. Chair votes yes. Motion approved.

Thank you, council. Number seven is the mayor's report, and presenting the report this evening is our chief of staff, Ms. Julie Waitoko.

Thank you, Madam Clerk, and good evening, city council. To our city treasurer and to our staff in the audience and guests in the audience, as well as those listening at home, please present the mayor's report for you this evening. Before we get started, we'd like to let you know about some of our upcoming events, and that's going to be presented this evening by our own 25-26 School Year Youth Council.

Hello.

I'm Heather McFarland from the Bay Area Youth Council, and here are some events happening in Romulus. My name is Alexis. The next one, Romulus, meeting will take place on Tuesday, June 2nd at Romulus Elementary School. The meeting will be held at 6 p.m.

I'm Daniel Kennedy from the Mayor's Youth Council. Applications are now available on longleasgo.com to apply for the Mayor's Youth Council.

Thanks, everyone. Remember to like and share us on Facebook or YouTube.

Or visit our website for more info.

Have a great night. Bye.

They have been an absolute pleasure to work with this year. And as Danielle mentioned, we are taking applications now for the 26-27 school year. So for the listening audience and for those of you up here, if you know some students that will be entering 9th grade through 12th grade, please encourage them to participate. The main requirement is they have to be a resident of Romulus. So we're looking to grow that program. But it was very near and dear to my heart this year. And Heaven McFarland is graduating. So we'll be losing her. But I don't think she's going to go too far. She's a marvelous girl at heart. So we'll keep her involved. So anyhow, it was just a great opportunity. The next thing I'd like to do is call up Jerry Frayer, our DDA director. And he's got some news to share with you.

all right thank you chief of staff and good evening council clerk treasurer and i appreciate it but i just want to let you guys know that our district is looking beautiful thanks to our amazing volunteers a big thank you to block standing greenhouse for the plant donations i delivered fred block his certificate today he's always so happy he got off the highland gave me a hug and you know we just appreciate the relationship with them and shout out to the following garden Gardeners for their beautification efforts the southern wing county regional chamber of volunteers So we applied for a thriving communities this year and we actually got picked as one of the downriver communities So they provided us with six volunteers So we want to make sure we thank them and the volunteers that showed up and it was a great event I actually went to the after event, too that they had down in Brownstone. It was actually great. The Romulus Department of Public Works, DPW is always helping out. Senior Center Garden Beds Team that Lynn provided with the Romulus Garden Club with Christine Knight. They did a great job with the new garden beds down there and they look great if you haven't seen them yet. The Historical Park Gazebo and Kingsley House. The Norman family and Steve Dudak helped out with that. Got it looking beautiful. The downtown pots by Tony Heimberger always does a great job downtown and it looks beautiful. And the Romulus Public Library, they did a great job over there. The adopt-a-pot team here at City Hall, if you haven't seen around City Hall, they got their little adopt-a-pot name tags out there and they plant them and take care of them. And then I got to give a shout out to my wife, Jennifer Frayer, who took time out of on a Sunday to go down to Eagle Alley with a few extra flowers that we had. And we decorated the front of Eagle Alley and her mom donated a flower pot. So she did a great job down here. It looks nice now, that entrance and the DPW put in some brick pavers. So there are people crossing the street. If you're not using a crosswalk, there's pavers there so you don't have to go through the mulch. It looks good. And anyone else who was involved, just great work and thank you from the DEA and the bottom of my heart. Thank you, guys, and I appreciate it.

Thank you, Jerry. Great work, great work, great work.

Thank you, Jerry. And if I could just add to that, you know, you heard so many names from the community and employees that were listed, and we can't do anything. But, you know, when we work together in the support of our volunteers and our staff, We just get great things done in this community, and that really kind of leads into some of the comments that Councilwoman Talley has already shared about yesterday's event. Hats off to our treasurer, Stacey Page, and her team, and just all the folks behind the scenes that lent their talent and their support. THIS WAS A LONG PROCESS TO GET THAT MONUMENT RESTORED AND BACK OUT FRONT, AND I THINK IT LOOKS BEAUTIFUL. AND JUST, YOU KNOW, IT WAS AN HONOR FOR ME YESTERDAY, MY FATHER, MY FATHER-IN-LAW, AND ONE OF OUR VERY CLOSE FRIENDS WHO ARE ALL MILITARY VETS, YOU KNOW, TO HAVE THEM RECOGNIZED, AND JUST THOSE BRICKS ARE THERE FOREVER, AND I'M JUST REALLY PROUD OF IT, AND I JUST WANT TO THANK YOU. IT WAS JUST DONE SO NICELY, AND YOU KNOW, IT WAS WHAT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT. YEAH. AND I THANK YOU, STACY, FOR THAT, BECAUSE IT WAS JUST, YOU KNOW, IT WAS A GREAT EVENT FOR OUR COMMUNITY. We'll let you talk more about it. But at any rate, I'll go ahead and get into it. I'm sorry. I got into it. I don't know.

Who came in with the helicopter thing?

Oh, my goodness. That was amazing. That was amazing.

And Stan was in there. And who else? Two other veterans. Two other veterans.

I don't think they were from the Romulus, but the Down River community. It was great. It was great.

It was fantastic.

It was. So, like you said, I'm going to let Stacey talk about it. But, yeah, there's so many good points that you just can't miss. Yeah.

And I think it's important, too. The mayor did mention yesterday about our Romulus VFW. And what an outstanding job and what a great organization they are. And they need our support. They do a lot of activities and events and everything. We try to do our best to get the word out, but get out and support them when they do their different fundraisers and fun things that they do because they need our support throughout the year. So with that said, I'll get into the mayor's first action item this evening. First one is item five. I'm sorry, 7A. I'm used to that being a 5, Ellen. 7A, the first one is the General and Special Appropriations Act and Tax Levy Authorization for Fiscal Year 26-27. And with Council's concurrence, it would be to adopt the General and Special Appropriations Act and Tax Levy Authorization for the City of Romulus and 34th District Court Fiscal Year 2026-2027 as submitted by Mayor McRaven.

Madam Chair.

Mr. Wilhite.

With that in mind, and looking at the letters that we have sent to the courts, I still have an uneasy feeling with them not giving us information that we request. So I'd like to make a motion to concur with the administration and adopt the General and Special Appropriations Act and tax levy authorization for the city of Rameos for the fiscal year 2026 through 2027, provided, however, that the appropriation for the 34th District Court shall be in the amount of $3,979,970 rather than the amount proposed in the submitted budget.

Okay. It's been motioned by Mr. Wilhite, seconded by Mr. Walsworth to concur with administration and adopt the General Special Appropriations Act and tax levy authorization for the city of Ramos and the 34th District Court with an amendment. provided for the amount of $3,979,970 less than what was submitted.

$3,979,970. What did I say? $9 million. Oh. Let's say that again. $3,979,970.

Oh, my God. Okay. Any discussion?

Hearing none, Mr. Wilhite?

Yes. Mr. Wadsworth? Yes. Ms. Abdo? Yes. Ms. Roscoe? Yes. Mr. Bullock? Yes. Mr. Jones? Yes. Chair votes yes. Motion approved.

Thank you, Council. The next item, item 7B, is disposal of obsolete, worn, or surplus property policy. With Council's concurrence, it would be to authorize the DPW auction equipment on govdeals.com with the buyer to pay a 12.5% fee to GovDeals per vehicle with all other proceeds going to the appropriate city fund. And as you can see, there's multiple vehicles that are listed there that are you know, past their usable life. And quite honestly, it's a savings to the city because we can get these off our books and off the insurance. So we're asking for your concurrence.

Madam Chair, I'd like to make the motion. to concur with the administration and authorize the DPW to auction the following equipment on govdeals.com with the buyer to pay a 12.50% fee to GovDeals per vehicle with all other proceeds going to the appropriate city fund.

Support. Thank you. It's been motioned by Mr. Wellhide, seconded by Ms. Abdo to concur with the administration and authorize the DPW to offer the following equipment on govdeal.com with the buyer to pay a 12.5% fee to GovDeals per vehicle with all other proceeds going to the appropriate city fund. Any discussion? Hearing none, Mr. Wilhite? Yes. Ms. Abdo? Yes. Mr. Bullock? Yes. Ms. Roscoe? Yes. Mr. Jones? Yes. Mr. Wasworth? Yes. Chair votes yes. Motion approved.

Thank you, Council. Item 7C is a request to piggyback on the My Deal contract to purchase a 2025 Chevrolet Traverse all-wheel drive light utility vehicle in the amount of $39,718 from Todd Wenzel Chevrolet.

Madam Chair, I'll make that motion to concur with administration and consent to the piggyback on the My Deal contract number 240000001207 for the purchase of one 2025 Chevrolet Traverse AWD LT utility vehicle in the amount of $39,718 from Todd Wenzel Chevrolet. Support.

It's been motioned by Ms. Roscoe, seconded by Mr. Wadsworth, for the approval to concur with the administration's consent to the piggyback on the my deal contract, number 240000001207, for the purchase of one 2025 Chevrolet Traverse all-wheel drive LT utility vehicle in the amount of $39,718. From Kyle Winslow Chevrolet, any discussion? Hearing none, Ms. Roscoe?

Yes. Mr. Weisberg? Yes. Mr. Jones?

Yes. Ms. Abdo? Yes. Mr. Wilhite? Yes. Mr. Bullock? Yes. Chair votes yes. Motion approved.

Thank you, Council. And the last item, item 7D, is a request to piggyback on TIPS Periscope Holdings contract. It's a three-year contract, and this would be for the solicitation, development, electronic evaluation, and contract management services at a total cost of $23,643.75. The funds for this are available in the general fund and it is also noted that it is requested for continued use and renewal of this agreement beyond the initial term provided funds are budgeted annually and or the platform remains operational and supported by the vendor end of life. And as you know, this will be for our purchasing department to continue to do the amazing work that she does and will result in additional savings for the city, giving her a larger platform to work with.

We got that motion.

Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Jones. I move to concur with the administration and consent to piggyback from the TIFAS special scope holdings contract 230105 and enter into a three-year contract for bids, solicitation, development, electronic evaluation, and contract management service at a total of... $23,643.75 and authorized to continue use and renewal of disagreement beyond the initial terms provided funds are budgeted annually and or the platform remains operational and supported by the vendors end of life.

I'll second it.

Okay. It's been a motion by Mr. Jones, seconded by Mr. Wilhite, to concur with the administration and consent to piggyback on the TIPS Periscope Holdings, contract number 230105, and enter into a three-year contract for bid solicitation development, electronic evaluation, and contract management services at a total cost of $23,643.75 and authorized continued use and renewal of this agreement beyond the initial term provided funds are budgeted annually and or the platform remains operational and supported by the vendor end of life. Any discussion? Hearing none, quick word. Ms. Parker, keep us abreast of this. I'm excited about this, because after our discussion today about it, it just sounds like a really more efficient way to do these bids. So I am really curious to see how it works out for you. I'm sure it'll work out well. But keep us posted. Thank you. Mr. Jones? Yes. Mr. Wilhite? Yes. Mr. Wadsworth? Yes. Mr. Bullock? Yes. Ms. Abdo? Yes. Ms. Roscoe? Yes. Chair votes yes. Motion approved.

Thank you, council, and that will conclude the mayor's report this evening.

Number eight is the clerk's report. I have one action item, and that's a resolution establishing a temporary polling location for the August 4th, 2026 primary election. A parking lot reconstruction, repaving project by the Roundless Community School District. Roundless Elementary will be inaccessible for the August 4th, 2026 primary election. Roundless Elementary School is currently the polling location for precincts 8 and 9. Therefore... Because of it being inaccessible, we had to establish temporary polling locations. And again, this is just for the August primary election. We met with the Elections Commission on Friday, May the 15th, for their approval first and then to make the recommendation to Council to approve these polling locations. Therefore, we're requesting that council concur with the recommendation of the Romulus Elections Commission and adopt the tax resolution establishing Mount Olive Baptist Church, which is located at 35-556 Beverly Road as a temporary polling location for Precinct 8, and the Thomas J. Coleman Community Center located at... 35351 Beverly Road as a temporary polling location for Precinct 9 for the August 4th, 2026 primary election. And this is pursuant to MCL 168.662, Section 6 of the Michigan Election Law.

Madam Chair. Ms. Roscoe. I'll make that motion to... establishing the temporary polling location for the August 4th, 2026 primary, located at Mount Olive Baptist Church and at the Thomas J. Coleman Center. And just one comment. You're going to be sending out letters or something to these precinct holders?

Yes, and I can comment after it's been seconded and under discussion. I'll comment. I'm sorry. Yes. I'll second. Okay.

It's been motioned by Ms. Roscoe, seconded by Mr. Wilhite, to concur with the Romney's Election Commission and adopt the text resolution establishing Mount Olive Baptist Church, located at 35565 Beverly Road, as a temporary polling station for Precinct 8 and the Thomas J. Coleman Community Center, located at 35565. 351 Beverly Road as a temporary polling location for precinct nine for the August 4th, 2026 primary election pursuant to MCL 168.662 subsection six of the Michigan election law. Any discussion?

Yes. Yes. I'm sorry. I jumped the gun there. My question was, how are you going to contact those precincts? Voters.

So to Councilwoman Roscoe's question, so we're required by election law to notify every voter in those precincts so they'll receive a notice. that's explaining the temporary polling location and then we will follow up actually with another notice as a reminder so but we are required to do that by law so I want to thank the Mount Olive Baptist Church and also the Coleman Center APA for opening the doors to us we did search we were trying to find a location where we could Both precincts together, we tried the charter school. There was another larger church in the area, but we don't want the voter staff to travel too far, so it's like within a mile. They can just go straight down the street. But because of the size of both locations, so we had to split them up in order to accommodate the number of voters. Because that's probably one of our busiest polling locations. So, again, it's temporary. It is allowed, again, by Michigan election law. Every voter will receive a notice, every registered voter in those two precincts. And then, again, we will do additional follow-up. When these situations happen, I don't know if you recall, it could have been, I think it was January, YEAR BEFORE LAST, WE HAD TO, BECAUSE OF CONSTRUCTION AT THE MIDDLE SCHOOL, SO WE HAD TO MOVE OVER TO THE HIGH SCHOOL, WHICH WE NOTIFIED. AND THEN A COUPLE YEARS AGO WHEN THERE WAS CONSTRUCTION AT THE MIDDLE SCHOOL. SO WE TRIED TO ENCOURAGE, YOU KNOW, RESIDENTS TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF EARLY VOTING. Take advantage of the mail-in ballots for AV ballots. So those will be some things, the cards, postcards, to meet the requirement. And then we will just kind of keep driving it home, encouraging people to take advantage of those other opportunities. And we're sorry for the inconvenience, but that's the best that we could do under the circumstances. So again, thank you, Mount Olive Baptist Church and to the Coleman Center for opening their doors to us.

Thank you. All righty. Any other discussion? Hearing none, Ms. Roscoe? Yes. Mr. Wilhite? Yes. Ms. Abdo? Yes. Mr. Wadsworth? Yes. Mr. Bullock? Yes. Mr. Jones? Yes. Chair Volchek? Motion approved.

Thank you, City Council. That concludes my report, and it takes us to number nine, the Treasurer's Report.

Thank you, and good evening, Chief of Staff, Council, our City Clerk, Attorney, and listening audience. As some of you have already mentioned yesterday was a wonderful day That was a project. We've been working on for a long time, and it was a beautiful day. It was well attended so many people helped in the planning of that event and Simply too many people to think so I don't want to start naming people off, but you know who you are and MADE MY HEART HAPPY. AND I THINK EVERYBODY THAT CAME OUT TO ENJOY THAT. WE'VE GOTTEN EMAILS AND TEXTS AND FACEBOOK. people calling other people and they were super pleased with that and it wasn't about us it was about our veterans it was about their families it was about those that have given the ultimate sacrifice and that's what yesterday was about and that's what the focus was about it wasn't about me it wasn't about my department wasn't about any of us and as you know I intentionally left out titles AND I KEPT THE ORDER OF EVENTS MOSTLY TO OUR VETERANS, GIVING THEM THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK, THOSE IN THE COMMUNITY TO NAME THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS THAT HAVE SERVED. AND I PROMISED TO KEEP IT WITHIN THAT HOUR, AND THAT TOOK PLACE AS WELL. REGARDING THE Huey flyover. I had a conversation with Mr. Williams and I said, it would be fantastic if we could get a flyover. And he said, you know, young lady, let me do what I do and we'll see if we can make it happen. And then he came back and I will tell you this, we all need to attend the fundraiser because it wasn't free. So we need to support and attend that fundraiser. But he came back and he said, and we can allow three veterans as long as they're able to get on and off. And so I know... Mayor McCrae had someone from the Foundation 14. I know that Bob Williams had asked one of the veterans, I believe, from the VFW or associated with the VFW. And then, of course, Mr. Bragg came to. I thought about him, and I loved making that phone call. Because... YOU KNOW, I KNOW HE'S HAD SOME HEALTH CHALLENGES, AND THEY HAD TO BE ABLE TO GET ON AND OFF, AND SO WE HAD THAT PHONE CALL, AND AT FIRST HE SAID HE COULDN'T, HE DIDN'T THINK HE COULD DO IT, BUT I WANT TO SAY WITHIN minutes we connected again and he's like I'm gonna make it happen he had flown on those Huey's multiple times many many years ago so he was just tickled pink and gosh it just made my heart so happy so it was wonderful and everybody that was there played a role in it and made it wonderful and I'm just so happy that that monument is up and I'm so grateful that the attendance was what it was and even this morning I had somebody come in this morning and they they brought a perennial for the landscaping because we had even talked about that and thought maybe that could go in the landscaping so fantastic so so thank you to everybody that helped with this and that attended and I'm just so grateful and really appreciate it. I do want to remind everybody we still have three pages of names and these are names of those that have bricks that the original bricks and we were unable to make contact to these families to let them know that we have their original brick and they are more than welcome to pick it up because obviously all the bricks out there now are new bricks with the same information so we have that and then we also had uh, many people ask about purchasing our bricks. So we have four by eight, we have eight by eight. Um, and we have those forms in the treasurer's office. You are more than more than welcome to come to the treasurer's office. We have those forms for you. Um, and of course, um, thank you again. And, um, if you have any questions, please contact my office. Um, I can tell you that I have some, um, plans going forward to, um, create a Facebook page that is going to be strictly about the Veterans Memorial. I want a list of all the names, branches and ranks on there. I want pictures and events with the VFW. We want to make sure we're supporting our veterans and the events that they have. And so that's going to take a little time as well, but we're going to get that up and AND ROLLING AND SOMETHING ELSE THAT EVERYBODY CAN LOOK FORWARD TO. SO AGAIN, THANK YOU SO MUCH, AND THANK YOU FOR BEING THERE. AND FOR THOSE THAT COULDN'T BE THERE, THAT WANTED TO BE THERE, I KNOW THAT, AND I APPRECIATE THAT AS WELL. BUT THANKS TO MIKE LASKASKA AND HIS TEAM, THEY WERE ABLE TO CAPTURE THAT WHOLE And it is out there on Facebook. So thank you so very much.

Madam Chairman, if I can, to the Treasurer, as a veteran, your efforts were really appreciated. Really appreciated. But one thing could have made it better. If we could have got Stan the parachute...

And I got one comment. I know it wasn't about your team or anything like that. It was about the veterans strictly. But y'all quarterbacked that thing. And that's all I got to say. Because it wouldn't happen. If y'all hadn't quarterbacked it, how would it have got done? So I'm just saying.

What did you think about those cool military vehicles out there? Ooh. Yes? Yes? Very cool. Yes. You didn't see them. They were pretty big. It wasn't the only thing you missed. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And that is it under my report. Thank you.

Madam Chair, before we go to public comment again, can we just give, I know Stacey said, you know, the treasurer said it's not about her and her department, but her passion, obviously, is very evident. And the way it all came out was because of her leadership, her passion, her whole team. So can we just give

Absolutely.

I don't think anybody honors our veterans the way we do here in Romulus. I think we do a phenomenal job the way that we honor our veterans here in our community. So, Stacy, Madam Treasurer, congratulations. Thank you. Job well done. All right, let's move on here. It's very emotional here, right? Yeah, I guess I would have liked to see Stan parachute into that. I love it. But thank you. That really made his day, and this is something he did on a regular basis when he was active duty serving, riding the Hueys and being in protective service with the generals and things. So this brought back great memories, and it just gave him, I think, just an extra... You know, so thank you for recommending him. All right. It takes us to public comment number ten. And this is the portion of our agenda for those who are in the audience and who would like to address city council. You can find the rules on the back of your agenda. To address City Council, if you have not turned in a public comment request to speak card, you can raise your hand and wait for the acknowledgement of the chairperson in order to speak. Members of the public who have submitted a public comment card will be called upon first. You will have three minutes to speak. Any additional time will be upon the consent of the chairperson. And Madam Chair, I do have three minutes cards here. The first one is from Shannon Wotis, and I'm not sure if I pronounced that... Pardon? Sure, that's fine.

Okay.

Melody Simmons, you said? Okay. So are you going to come up all at one time, or are you going to...

When we were just waiting for our names to be called, we had a...

FIGURED OUT HOW WE WERE GOING TO SPEAK. SO YOU'RE MELODY SIMONS? I'M MELODY SIMONS. AND CAN YOU SPELL YOUR LAST NAME FOR THE RECORD?

S-I-M-M-O-N-S. NOW, I DO HAVE A COUPLE DOCUMENTS HERE TO SHARE. IS IT OKAY IF I APPROACH AND SHARE MY DOCUMENTATION WITH YOU GUYS?

NO.

OKAY. IT'S UP TO YOU, MADAM CHAIR. YEAH, THAT'S FINE.

PERFECT. I DON'T HAVE IT FOR EVERYBODY, SO I'M GOING TO GO AHEAD AND GIVE IT TO THE CHIEF STAFF HERE. And then we heard you.

Thank you. And then the treasurer will get you one right after us. all right hello city council thank you for so much for letting me speak my name is melody simmons and i am the chair of the coalition to shut the camps and we are here in regards of the coxwell concentration camp or ice tension center we refer to call it exactly what it is a concentration camp to give you an update on what's going on with the filings first and foremost thank you thank you thank you for being a part of that filing Thank you for standing up for your citizens and the people around your city who also could be affected if that center opens up and steals our neighbors. So we want to keep you updated. So first we're going to talk about what appears to be happening in the lawsuit. The state of Michigan lawsuit slowed DHS and exposed serious flaws in the federal process used to acquire and advance the proposed detention facility at Cogswell Street. That litigation matters. It forced the issue into court and created time for public pressure, local organizing, and agency accountability. But the immediate concern is the direction the case may now be taking. Based on May 20th hearing, the case appears to be moving towards a stipulated agreement that could allow DHS to conduct a short environmental review while continuing limited so-called security only work at the site, such as cameras, fiber, fencing, and office build-out. If DHS then issues itself, because DHS is conducting its own environmental review, a clean record of environmental consideration, full conversion work could begin quickly. That is the danger. A legal delay could become a managed pathway to opening the camp unless local and state agencies use every lawful authority they have. There is another simulation hearing on May 20th that could... of do the agreement and then starting their own environmental review. So that's at 10 a.m. tomorrow. New urgent issue on site contamination never reviewed. A critical issue now needs to be front and center. The Romulus site is not an ordinary warehouse. The available part 201 baseline environmental assessment record shows that the property has a brownfield environmental history. That record must be reviewed publicly before any agency treats this site as suitable for human detention. The prior environmental review was not prepared to evaluate the site as a prison camp or a long-term detention facility. It was completed after the structure was already built, and available information indicates that soil testing focused on accessible areas around the property rather than identifying the testing potential contamination hotspots beneath the building itself. Why stipulation without accountability is dangerous. Oh wait, I wanted to say this real quick. No agency should deem this site suitable for detention or human occupation without full contamination disclosure. A vapor intrusion review, soil and groundwater review, public EGLE involvement and enforcement mitigation designed for the actual proposed use. Why is stipulation without accountability is dangerous. A simulation can preserve a pause, but it can also let DHS cure its paperwork problem without any court ever making a clear finding that DHS acted lawfully. That matters for Romulus because a clean procedural exit for DHS could leave the community facing the same camp with less leverage and less time. The coalition to shut the camps cannot treat an environmental review as a guarantee of protection. A committed federal actor often uses an environmental review to narrow the issue, issue a favorable finding, and proceed. The question is whether the process produces accountability, public scrutiny, and enforced limits, or simply gives DHS a new document to keep moving. Our key concern is that the lawsuit bought time. It does not automatically stop water, sewage, drainage, electricity, grass, environmental, or public safety decisions from moving forward unless those agencies are forced to act transparently and lawfully.

Melanie, I'm sorry. Okay, because it's over the three minutes. How much more do you have?

Well, that's why we're teaming it.

Okay.

So thank you so much for allowing me to speak.

Thank you. Thank you.

Can you state your name for the record, please? Shannon Whitus.

Okay.

Hi. I'm just continuing and wanted to state that this lawsuit is really just buying us time. The key thing is the infrastructure decisions are what is actually going to decide whether or not this camp can open. The DHS themselves have said that they cannot open without the cooperation of all these different agencies. Federal authority alone isn't going to allow them to open. It needs the water, the sewer, the drainage, the storm water management, electricity, gas, environmental permits, road access, emergency response capacity, and all sorts of other local and regional infrastructure. That means the Great Lakes Water Authority, the Wayne County Sewer, Drain, and Public Service Authorities, the City of Romulus departments, the local records, the safety, building, fire, road, emergency response, DTE, Michigan Eagle, Wayne County, everybody has to approve these things in order for DHS to open this facility. There's no law saying that they have to give in. So we need to put pressure on these agencies to say, no, do not let this happen. There's no reason this needs to happen. We do not have to let that go. If we do not provide this infrastructure, then these camps cannot open. They should not be allowed to quietly push this stuff through without the public knowing what's happening. There's been court hearings. There's been motions. There's been decisions made behind closed doors. For Pete's sake, the government is doing an environmental review for itself on a purchase that it has already made. They're doing a review retroactively. They're approving themselves. That's not something that should be allowed for anybody. Other states have shown that we're not powerless. The governors, the attorney generals, county executives in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, they've all been able to take steps to withhold or delay approvals for these infrastructure upgrades. We haven't done this. We haven't evaluated things. We haven't checked into things. Michigan has been silent, and that's their political choice. It's not something that we need to do. So we're asking the Michigan Attorney General, the ACL, and the aligned legal advocates to provide clear public guidance to explain the lawful authority that the local and the regional agencies all have. We want them to say, you can do this. You have the power to do this. You have the power to do that. Instead of everybody sitting around and saying, oh, that's not my problem. That's not my responsibility. That's someone else's. No. We want someone to step in and say exactly what everybody's responsibility is so that we can hold them accountable to it and so that the public knows what is happening. Doing all this behind closed doors is not appropriate. Thank you.

You have one more? We do have one more request to speak, Madam Chair. Okay.

Please state your name for the record. My name is Yvonne LaSalle. And I did have the pressure of meeting Ms. Page yesterday. And it was a really beautiful event. And if you were the motor behind it, it was a great activity. And it was very nice to be able to be here. So I want to end our presentation by establishing and reminding us of a very clear fact. While the initial application for the warehouse presents the occupation, the number of people who will be detained at any moment, it puts it at 500, that under oath, DHS has said it can be up to 2,000. And in fact, when you look at the square footage of the facility, the 2,000 number is very feasible. We know that DHS as a pattern does not necessarily keep itself to these numbers that it initially makes applications for. What is that, if you're asking yourself what difference does that make? Well, it makes a big difference when it comes to sewage. It makes a big difference when it comes to water. It makes a huge difference when it comes to the amount of activity that will be happening around that facility. In case you are not aware, currently right now there is a very dangerous situation happening in a facility like the one that is slated for Cogswell Road in New Jersey. Basically you have civilians blocking the exit of the facility Delaney in New Jersey because there's hunger strikers inside, because they're complaining about the conditions of the facility, and then there was a decision to move people out to kind of bring down the level of activity and protest. And so it's become a very dangerous situation. You have tanks, you have other armored vehicles, you have military personnel or paramilitary personnel with pepper bullets. You don't want that here. So it really, behooves all of us, and I'm not from Romulus, but I don't want it for you, nor do I want it in this area of Michigan. So what's going to be really important, I'm just going to summarize right now, is we need to demand the legal clarity that Shannon was pointing about. You need to be very clear and ask for advisement from the AG, from the ACLU, from whoever will give it to you. I'll be really fast. Demand agencies support your town. GLWA, Eagle, really ask them, you know, we are going to need your support. We are, you know, just a small city and DHS is a massive agency. We will need full disclosure from DHS and we will need public hearings in Romulus. You really need to invite the representatives from the agencies, from the AG's office, perhaps even the governor, to say how can we protect our citizens. You want to protect those middle schoolers that are right around the corner. You want to protect anybody who's around there, and there's many, as we know, there's many homes around there. If they're digging in the ground to do any kind of sewer or even fiber optic work, they're getting to that brownfield, you know, contamination. So it's going to be very dangerous.

No, thank you, Ms. Yvonne. I think we got the gist of all what you guys are trying to present today.

Thank you very much, and I appreciate you giving me a little extra time. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay.

I have a moving email . Oh, okay. Council members. Sounds good. We have e-mails for some people. Okay. Thank you.

Do we have any more written requests? Nope. No more written requests. Okay. And I think we're clear on the... Did anybody else want to speak? Did you want to speak? Okay.

I'm joining.

Huh?

I just bought a house around us.

I'm joining. Okay. Thank you. Okay.

I'm sorry. I forgot to put in... Like, I wanted to actually...

Yeah.

No. No.

We're going to put that on the unfinished business.

Can we move it there?

I would say we, you know, we're still in public comment. And I would think that.

We want to respect the city business time. So, you know. Maybe after the meeting. Yeah.

You can present something.

Okay.

Thank you. Let's close that out. Thank you. So number 11 is unfinished business. All right, number 12 is new business. Number 13 for approval is warrant 26-10. Through the chair.

I'd like to make a motion we pay Warrant 26-10 in the following amounts. General Fund, $280,561.53. Major Street Fund, $107,469.10. Local Street Fund, $88,536.74. Public Safety Fund, $36,798.16. Cable TV, $40.83. Merriman-Rose Special Assessment, $1,256.96. Garbage and Rubbish Collection Fund, $116,740.13. Oakwood SAD, $282.42. Tax Increment Finance Authority, $79,498.68. Downtown Development Authority, $2,205.85. CDBG, $37,422.90. Michigan Indigent Defense Fund, $5,323.50. 911 Service Fund, $721.75. Drug Law Enforcement Fund, $490.33. Law Enforcement Federal, $1,000. Library Fund, $6,182.33. Water and Sewer Fund, $442,928.54. Motor Vehicle, $15,053.47 Technology Services, $1,931.93 Retiree Insurance Benefits, $145,088.55 Revolving Fund, $1,470.00 Impressed payroll fund, $303,721.45. Delinquent personal property fund, $4,042.48. Totaling all funds, $1,678,767.63.

Support.

Thank you. It's been motioned by Ms. Abdo, seconded by Mr. Wadsworth, for the approval of Warrant Number 26-10, with checks presented in the amount of $1,678,767.63. Any discussion? Hearing none, Ms. Abdo? Yes. Mr. Wadsworth? Yes. Mr. Wilhite? Yes. Mr. Bullock? Yes. Mr. Jones? Yes. Ms. Roscoe? Yes. Chair votes yes. Motion approved.

Fourteen is communication.

Real quick before we, I want to shout out to Julie. Thank you for what you did with the prom toast. You do that every year. You never get no accolades. And just thank you for all you do behind the scenes. That's it.

If there's no more communication, number 15 is adjourned.

So moved. No, we're going to adjourn. Okay, if you want to talk after the meeting, we can do that, because you guys had like nine minutes or so to get that question on there. So we've got to move on. Go ahead.

15 is adjourned. The time is 8.38. So moved.

Support. It's been motioned by Mr. Wasworth, seconded by Mr. Jones for the adjournment of this meeting. Mr. Wasworth. Yes. Mr. Jones. Yes. Ms. Roscoe. Yes. Mr. Wilhite. Yes. Ms. Abdo.

Yes.

Mr. Bullock.

Yes. Chair votes yes.