Council - Regular Meeting

Hi there, sorry. I'd love to see everybody talking and love to see the room filled, but unfortunately we do have to get started. So it is six o'clock and I'm gonna call to order the regular council meeting of the Village of Franklin on July 13th, 2026. Could we do the Pledge of Allegiance please?

of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I will have a roll call. Please.

Councilmember Talley?

Here. Councilmember Gates? Councilmember Hector-Papyrus?

Councilmember Henson? Councilmember Salaca? Here. Councilmember King? Here. President Goldberg?

Present, so trustees Gates and Ferris have advised us that they were gonna be absent and I still think we're gonna expect Pam to come in at some point. She might be looking for parking. Next on the agenda is adoption of the agenda. Does anybody have any comments or consideration to the agenda for discussion?

Can we move council reports earlier?

council reports earlier than.

Yeah, I made the recommendation that we move it up so that it's not in between. new business and us leaving, because oftentimes we just kind of rush through it. But at the same time, we have a lot of people in the audience that are here for the presentation, so I don't want to hold them up. So I think that's it.

The presentation precedes that.

Right, and that's what I'm saying. I like where we have it seated currently.

Yeah, and this is where it used to be, and actually it was earlier. I like this, and this is a good spot for it instead of behind new business, because I agree it was getting lost. Okay, any other comments? Hi, Pam.

Hi, David. Sorry I'm late.

No problem. All right, hearing no comments, if I can get a motion to approve the agenda as presented.

Motion to approve the agenda as presented.

Second.

Motion by Sally, second by Salaka. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Okay, we have minutes, three sets of minutes. The first is from our regular meeting of June 8th. Anybody have discussion or comment? I'm sorry, Jeff, did you have something? Sorry, no comments. Oh, okay.

I don't either, so.

All right, hearing no comments, we can get a motion to approve the regular minutes of June 8th. So moved.

Second.

Motion by Hanson, second by Sulak, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Special village council meeting of June 30th. Fairly simple minutes from that meeting. Any comments? We can get a motion to approve, please. So moved. Motion by Hanson, second by King. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. And then we had a closed session also of June 30th. Some pretty simple minutes. Any comments? Motion to approve, please.

Motion to approve. Closed session minutes on June 30th.

Motion by King, second by Hanson. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. All right, we have public comments. So if anybody is here that would like to address council on anything that is not on the agenda, you're limited to three minutes.

Hello. For the last time, well, one last time before the next election, I'm here in support of our incredible police and I am here to support our millage and I hope those looking in will ignore the noise and negativity and misinformation and commit to getting the facts and resolving this millage because it's necessary and it's in the public interest. Secondly I draw your attention to the website irresponsible Franklin for factual information regarding this and upcoming election information and Endorsements that I will make to fill the four critical seats on the council in this November I will put my money and and my efforts and my reputation into this next critical election to support experienced entrepreneurs, business people, philanthropists who have lived in this village for decades and understand Franklin. And lastly, I must question the Huda School in that this village has extended outreach and support in the hopes of a continuing positive relationship with a school where most of their students come from outside our community of Franklin. Their recent decision to post a political sign on their property while supporting First Amendment rights and freedom of speech, I question why a school would place a political sign on its property. This sign represents a candidate who has knowingly stated his disdain for Israel and its right to protect itself. It's insensitive and inflammatory, no different than the Palestinian signs that were on Orchard Lake Road a couple of miles away from Temple Israel, which came down very quickly. If I were on this council, I would advise they remove this political statement and present neutrality out of respect for those who live here and do not share their candidates beliefs. Thank you.

Thanks, Mike. Anybody else? Sir.

Hi, this is my first time coming to a meeting. Took some notes. I apologize.

I'm not really good at public speaking, but if you want to give us your name, at least we can at least get a record of your being here.

Yes. My name is Howie Siegel. I am a taxpaying resident of the village of Franklin. I have three kids, a wife, and I'm an audit partner at a public accounting firm. I'm standing here before you tonight because I received an email last week, or mail last week that took me to the website irresponsiblefranklin.com. AND I WAS PRETTY UPSET WITH JUST KIND OF THE FUNCTIONING OF THIS CURRENT COMMITTEE AND THE VILLAGE ITSELF, AND THAT'S WHY I FELT THE NEED TO COME HERE AND JUST VOICE SOME THOUGHTS AND CONCERNS THAT I HAVE. You know, I guess first and foremost, I think it's highly disrespectful to post anything that slanders individuals that give up time away from their family, that are only working to serve the best interest of the village. Even if there's conflicting views of what's right and what's not right, I just think it's highly offensive. And also outwardly, it shows to the rest of the community outside of Franklin that we don't have our shit together, and that's just not appropriate. The site's complaints are that newer board members haven't lived in Franklin for five years, lack institutional experience, and can't be trusted. I've lived in Franklin for seven years. I'm not an attorney. I've served on multiple nonprofit boards, and I'm not married to anybody on the council. So by the website's own words, I should be somebody that should be listened to. As an audit professional, somebody that's been in public accounting for over 23 years, internal controls, corporate governance is paramount to all organizations, whether they're nonprofits or for-profit entities. The millage, which, for the record, I will absolutely be voting for. I'm 100% for supporting our police department. As much as I support that, I do not support keeping the existing governance and control structures of the village without making changes. We obviously need to and will continue to support our police department, but that does not mean that we just ignore any issues with the governance around the wire transfer issues that obviously came up in the last year, other long time budgetary issues. I think one of the things that was mentioned, can I have my wife's time as well? She's not here.

Can you wrap it up pretty quickly? Sure. I got you. Within the next minute?

Next minute, sure. It's your first time here. One of the arguments was made that there was a lot of groupthink for some of these newer board members. And I can think of nothing more indicative of groupthink than voting 7-0 for budget approvals for 30 years. I don't view that as a sign of strength. I view that as a sign of weakness. Things should be challenged. People should be allowed to discuss things that are important to them. And there's a lot of outside... publications around good fiscal management good governance that we should be looking at and Trying to see how we can make things better before we just start increasing taxes across the board And again, I am still voting for the millage. This is not a representation of the police This is a representation of the general fund and everything else that's that's going on there.

All right. Thank you Anybody else All right, we did receive.

Oh, I think we have one more. Oh, yeah.

Oh, Mr. Wooders. Stuart Wooders, 25301 Franklin Park Drive. Though you'll hear from me later tonight, I'm actually speaking as a member of the public right now. Over the last six months or so, I've heard people and villagers come up and disparage some of the trustees because they put their name forward to help our village. Trustee Farris and Trustee King have both been the brunt of some of these comments, which has nothing to do with them stepping forward and saying, I'm here, let me serve, even though we may not agree on the way that they were appointed. But we don't stipulations on elected officials having certain criteria or experience to run to be village officials. As soon as we start doing that, then maybe we should have something to say about how they're appointed. But at the same time, when you have people that are willing to step up, that are willing to think, really put in the hours to actually think and consider the challenges of our village, and then vilify them, for being willing to actually think and serve the village. I don't appreciate that. Just all the years I've served this village on the planning commission, I joined because I like to think, and I like to solve problems, and I like serving my neighbors. That's what they did, too. They signed up. And I may not agree with the way that they were appointed. I may not agree with the justifications for their appointment. But we also don't get to choose that until we vote who we elect. And that same criteria, the council, like I said during Trustee King's appointment, It's a hard job for them to choose who's going to be appointed a position on council. It's not easy because the electorate actually get to choose. They're taking that responsibility away from electorates to appoint someone temporarily until we can vote on them. That's just the way it is. And I really think that we should consider the thoughtfulness that they've already given to council and the time they've spent and not continue to try and push them away from the service that they're trying to do. And that's the only things I really want to say.

Thanks, Stuart. Thanks, Stuart. Anybody else? Okay, we received one written communication from Sydney and Barbara Stutz. They wrote regarding the deer management program that we're looking into. Their letter was essentially writing to say that they strongly opposed using killing as a means of any deer management that we pursue. All right, having no one else to speak, I'm gonna go ahead and close public comments and we'll start with reports of our village officers. Chief Lawson.

I'll keep this brief. As far as the monthly report, I just want to point out that the officers did 292 house checks last month and 465 business checks. So I just want to highlight that. I think that's pretty amazing.

Are those checks the form that people fill out when they're away?

Yes.

Do you have data on how many are Bingham and Harmony or Franklin?

I can see if Stephanie can break that out for us in the future.

But is it probably 50-50?

I'm not sure about that.

Okay.

Any questions related to the report?

I had one.

Sure.

One, I love seeing how much training continues. Appreciate that. I was curious about the schedule. So some are like, it seems like some are like the... full staff and some maybe individuals. Is that related to certification updates or like how often are you going to do a fatal force police training? Is that something that's for newer officers? I'm just curious.

So some of this training that you're seeing on here is online training. We subscribe to police one and they do a great job where the officers can sit down for one to two hours and review the videos. And that counts towards what the state mandates that we that we have to train on. Got it. We're somewhat short staffed, so we've been very careful about sending people outside the department right now for a full day, but if it's needed, it's needed.

Yeah, okay, cool. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Thanks, Chief. Chief Aberbach. Good evening. Good evening.

You have my written report, obviously, right in front of you. Hopefully you've had a moment to take a look at it. There are two things that I wanted to include beyond the written report for the month. The first is just a, and I wasn't prepared to provide this. So this is, I'll just come up with this. But on the more serious note, the budget year started July 1st. The fire department is very appreciative of working with the village, however, this budget year is the second year in a row that Franklin was unable to meet the request of the fire department due to the limitations set forth within the two millages. The charter millage as well as the millage, the .5 mills that was passed in 2011. for a 20-year bond. So with that said, and with timing being what it is, we are looking forward to having the fire department working with the village towards getting language approved such that it can be voted on to restore the original charter millage. So that way the fire department can meet its obligations at present. This is year number two. Last year we were unable to fund our reserve fund, which covers the replacement cost of fire apparatus and capital expenses. taking this into the future and considering the cost of fire apparatus and what it's done in the last six years, this is going to potentially put the fire department at a very unique stance in its inability to cover its costs. So I'll end it with that, just saying we are looking forward to having the fire department working with the village to meet these needs. On another note, hence the smile, I wanted to let you know that after 32-ish years with the fire department and after 27 years as the fire chief, I have tendered my retirement notice to the fire commission last Monday. Per my contract, I will remain in place with my last day in the office being August 28th. I have been provided an outstanding opportunity to work at a different location, not in the fire service directly, but utilizing my experience and my skill set towards helping out another group. This is a very unique opportunity and an opportunity that will not be presenting itself any time in the near future. With that said, and in the hopes of having a smooth transition, I have provided the fire department four and a half pages of what it is I do. I have offered up time such that when the fire commission determines a strategy to move forward, that we'll be able to pass on that knowledge. I have worked towards completing a number of projects at the fire department so that whoever takes over will have the ability, pending unforeseen emergencies, but they'll have the ability to start working on things from day one and not be inundated with last minute requests. With that said, I'm also working on this week's article for Evan and for the village, but I will be back next month with a formal statement. But I wanted to let everyone know in the village of my appreciation towards the opportunity that was presented to me back in 1991. to volunteer for the fire department where I worked under Chief Tice to learn the position that I took over in 1999 and the opportunity to work with all of the councils from both villages as well as Southfield Township for the last 27 years. So my goal in this transition is to have a smooth transition where we can have good communication, not only within the fire department, but with the villages to better understand the needs and the processes that we're using now. So pending your questions, that'll conclude my second to last report.

Tony, that is sad information for us, although exciting for you, and we're real happy for you to... step into the next chapter of your life, the last one being an extended one. So that was a long chapter and we're real excited for you. Greatly appreciative of you willing to stay on over seven weeks to see that there is a smooth transition and as well as giving us an opportunity to have time to reflect on and honor you at our next meeting so uh for your second to last meeting uh thank you and congratulations and i'll leave it up to anyone else wants to thank you comment but we'll we'll definitely have something for you next month okay

I have a question. Congratulations. We're proud of you. And I'm excited about your new gig. Thank you. My question is this. This transition is going to be really important. It's a big deal. What do you need from us and from the village staff to support a smooth transition where, from the villager's standpoint, it's seamless?

It's an easy question to answer and it's a difficult question to answer. Open communication is the primary need, but having a good appreciation within the fire department and for the fire commission for their efforts towards this end. So the last year or so has been instrumental in determining the future. of the Fire Department. There is a committee that will be meeting at the end of this month that'll be made up of representatives from Franklin, Bingham Farms, and the Fire Department towards a five-year plan. The Fire Department has made numerous advances in the last four or five years towards our capabilities with staffing, with EMS capabilities with a new piece of apparatus to transport and an upgrade of our license. So in terms of understanding the need, I would just say let's keep going with what we're doing, with meeting, with discussing, with asking questions, with having an understanding of even the fire department and how it is placed within the village. We are not a municipal agency. We are a contract agency. But looking at it bigger, because there is no fire department in the country, with the exception of maybe New York City and LA City, or LA County, that can handle things on their own. We rely on mutual aid, we rely on working with our partners, within Oakland County and outside, and just having an appreciation for what it is we do. And if there are questions, I'm here Monday through Friday. Most of you have my cell phone number anyway, so you can feel free and call me anytime. So I think knowledge is key. We have the capabilities, but having an understanding of what are we doing today, what do we need tomorrow, and looking around. So I'll stop with that.

So I take it that this joint committee that you talked about that's going to develop the five-year strategic plan, will that be your working group to... to manage this transition on behalf of the village? Kind of looking at who's talking to who.

Indirectly, it will be because the five-year plan is just that. We provide a service based on the expectations of the customer, being Franklin and Bingham Farms. So understanding what the expectations are, that will lead us into what level of service is needed. Within the fire department, we have a treasurer, we have a personnel officer, we have president, vice president, we have other members with decades of experience within and outside of the village. So as a business, that will lead towards their decision as to how this transition progresses. But I can tell you I've already been working with members of the fire department internally to understand the things that I'm doing. so that way we can pass it on and there hopefully will be very little speed bumps along the way, but we will continue to move forward And the expectation is, whether I'm here or not, the fire department will still receive 911 requests, we'll still respond, the doors will still go up, and we will still have personnel. We have an excellent opportunity. Even today, we had a medical call over in Franklin, and not only did I have, and this was in the middle of the day, on a weekday, on a Monday, I had two people in the rescue, two people on the engine. We had two additional people show up in their own vehicles, plus me. So we are really well qualified and we're really well placed. And any transition doesn't happen overnight. Seven weeks is, yes, I gave them seven weeks. We've been working on this for years. We increase our levels of training. We increase our levels of capabilities. We've been doing things in Franklin that have been made known as well as those that have not over the decades.

so that way we can be prepared and preparedness doesn't stop with one person it's a team so thank you Tony you're welcome sorry um thank you I have a couple of questions first one you'd mentioned to essentially to the first point that you're raising are we looking to propose a Headlee rollback is is that the proposal

I think that's an internal discussion that you have to have at the village level. But I would say the original charter millage was 1.5 mills. It's been reduced to I think 0.8 something over the course of the years. I am told back in 2011 we faced the same issue when the economy had a little bit of a downfall. from 2008 to 2010, where the villages were not able to meet the requirements. And it's not about money in reserves or anything like that. Within Franklin, we are funded specifically from dedicated millages. Our millage then and in 2011, there was a 0.5 mil 20-year term that was passed. We've hit that point, I would say around 2022, 2023, something like that, where the revenues brought forth from property values we're not meeting the need of the department. At the same time with COVID, with supply chain issues, equipment costs and changes within the fire apparatus industry we started seeing as an example our ladder truck purchased in 2014 at 920 000 to replace that today would be close to 2 million and we can explain tariffs and cost of metals is one thing but industry is a little different

And then to your second point, sorry to hear you go, when I hear that, my blood pressure immediately goes up for a lot of different reasons. It's just like logistically.

I got a rescue over there, and I got people back there. Yeah, I appreciate that.

I guess we're in good company for the events. So just is the, I think a couple of questions that I have is.

Yes.

How quickly are we looking to kick off a hiring process or are we looking to do an internal search? How are we trying to manage that?

I can't answer that question because that's up to the board.

Okay. And you haven't had discussions on that transit?

They've had some internal discussions amongst some of the board members, but I haven't seen a path forward.

Are there minutes from those meetings?

No. Okay. There's just from a couple of the board members. It's not, we have minutes from the board meetings. The next board meeting will be next Monday, but there'll be minutes from that, but I've seen nothing.

Yeah, and then who from the Village of Franklin is going to be represented on the five? Or sorry, the committee, whoever. Okay.

Well, I'm the liaison, so I'm technically on the commission.

And Tony will be there as well.

Okay. Perfect.

Yeah.

All right. Okay. Thank you.

I assume it will be a topic of discussion in the board meeting upcoming.

I would hope. I would hope.

So we'll get our update then. Obviously, thank you for your service. Sure. Certainly. We really appreciate it. And as David said, it's like, okay. But we will be... deal with it as it comes. As far as open communication, I guess are there examples of things that you'd like to see or recommend or just transparency and communication just as like a best practice?

I would say this and I'll give you an analogy. When you all decided to move into Franklin if you had younger kids, one of the first questions you had is what's the school system like? I would say the next time you move or if you're living here now, what's your fire department like? What do we do? What do we offer? How do we do the jobs that we do? What are our goals? Anyone can look at today, but we need to look 10 years from today. Where are we going? And starting to understand that leads off to a discussion, which is here's what you want, how do we do it, but how do we make it so that it can be affordable? And so the fire service in general is facing some really tough times, not in Franklin, but across the country, the cost of things, the cost to people, the taxes and all of that. So how do we do what we do? For years and years and years. We had been a purely volunteer fire department My position in 1999 was the third paid employee Not at the same time. I was the third paid person as a fire chief Now we have eight full paid people and part of that is because of the economics of the locale We have two income households. We don't have people who have the time and to spend volunteering and with the state requirements for certification and licensure. You know, there's a lot that's involved in it now that we have to do. So just having an understanding I think really helps out. And I guess there was one thing I did want to mention separate from this. We are, my EMS coordinator John Buck is standing behind me here, but On Wednesday, we are going to be having an in-service for a new piece of equipment. It's a Zoll Xenex Model Cardiac Monitor Defibrillator. Although we are not a paramedic agency, there are a number of features within that device that can be used. This was a $60,000 investment between the item, the ancillary supplies, and the maintenance plan. This will allow us to not only seamlessly communicate between the monitor and our report system, but we can actually take echocardiograms and send them directly to the hospital for interpretation. So that's just one advantage that we have. We also in the last month enhanced our capabilities with what we call a BPAC. So it provides additional medications that can be provided to patients on scene. So we're doing everything we can and just those simple things of just understanding what's going on. It hopefully will lead to more questions. What can you do for me? What can I do for myself? That sort of thing.

One last thing, Tony. We have a finance committee meeting coming up. We proposed it. I think it's on the schedule on August 4th. Sorry? August 6th. August 6th. What did I say? August 4th. I thought it was the 4th. No? It's the 6th. Okay. Sorry, the 6th. Could we add... a deep dive on the fire department finances and what we need to look at from a funding standpoint, including Henley Rollback at that meeting? Okay, thank you. And if you need somebody from the fire department to come, please ask them. Thank you.

And we haven't sent out the financial report for this month yet. I know that it's due. This being the end of the fiscal year, we're working on last-minute adjustments towards the end of the year numbers. So as soon as I get it, you will have it.

Okay, I do have a follow-up from a question that I asked at the last meeting so that our council is aware to of Is there an updated status on billing insurance?

For you the fire department to have for EMS runs and such should be a billing should So the the update I have right now is about two weeks ago we're contracting out the billing to star EMS and star is in the process of finalizing our status with Medicare and in order to bill i haven't heard anything since but this is a process that started back mid-september of 2025 and i was told at the beginning that this is going to take a while especially with the shutdowns and the staffing levels i'm hoping we can start soon enough

Has that been estimated of the revenues that that will generate annually?

We're looking tentatively at about $100,000 to $50,000 per village if we cut it in half. So we have approximately 250 to 300 transports per year. And if we're looking at whatever the Medicare rate is minus the 10% with associated taxes, that's what we're hoping to get out of this.

And then I assume we would get an updated budget with revenue sourcing on there as well?

Yeah, and the idea is that rather than paying money back or anything like that, we would reduce the operational cost of the fire department based on the receivables. So that way there's no icing, there is no cake. This is literally helping to fund the services provided.

Sorry, this is billing for transport?

Correct. Yes.

We don't do that today?

Correct.

We're in the process of trying to get that status through Medicare.

Okay, that is a licensing agreement to make sure that we can bill Medicare and you have to do some sort of... You have to sign away your firstborn, give a blood sample. I mean, I can understand how working with the federal government would be laborious.

It's a very intensive process which involves many steps.

Yeah, I mean, obviously they're worried about fraud and all these.

Right. Once the Medicare step is completed, then the private insurers usually are pretty easy to work with. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Yes. If I get any more information over the next weeks, I will certainly pass it on.

Okay.

Thank you.

Of course.

Okay. Thanks, Chief.

Thank you.

Thank you all. Jody, do you have anything?

For the Treasurer's Report? So I'll give you a quick, I think I did give you a quicker synopsis here. When I did the treasurer's report last month also, it was just a basic carryover of what was provided before in my Electronic files of what the treasurer's report is and so I was I only had duplicated We're we're at year-end June Typically, we don't even provide reports in June because it all comes out with the audit and with all of the year-end adjustments and entries that are done That number is constantly changing up until the audit point typically and then Now that we are in the new fiscal year, you'll see I'll do a completely different treasurer's report than this where you'll get more information of, you know, to just have balances of the bank accounts isn't, REALLY SUFFICIENT INFORMATION, AT LEAST A COMPARABLE FROM THE PREVIOUS MONTH AND A COMPARISON TO A GENERAL LEDGER BECAUSE WHAT'S IN THE BANK, YOU KNOW, SAME AS AT HOME, ISN'T NECESSARILY WHAT YOUR GENERAL LEDGER IS SHOWING FOR YOUR BALANCES, TOO, FOR OUTSTANDING CHECKS AND SUCH. AND THEN I WILL ALSO INCLUDE A REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE REPORT FOR EACH OF THE FUNDS AND ACTIVITIES SO YOU CAN SEE THAT MONTHLY, TOO, ON A BASIS. But for the final month of our 25, 26 year, um, this is that report.

Um, do you know, will we see next month in August how much we carried over from this year's budget?

I don't understand that question.

Sorry. The new budget year started July 1st. So as of June 30th, do we know how, compared to what we budgeted, compared to what we spent, how much was left over?

Or did we exceed our budget? Yeah, we got that. We did. Yeah, because we had to do the budget amendment.

It's well, and it's, it's a, um, like we don't have that yet, but you'll have full financial reports that will include a comparative, like how close we were to what there's always a comparative statement and financial reports every year.

Okay.

Thank you. Thanks, Jody. I'm going to make a quick flip on the agenda. I should have noticed this earlier. I'm going to move presentations ahead of the consent agenda. because we have people waiting. So this is one of our... All right, so I'm going to go ahead and make a motion to amend the agenda to flip-flop items eight and nine. Second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Evan, thank you. So this is the... One of the couple times a year where we truly enjoy having you guys up here and witnessing this. This is the time of year where we get the pleasure of recognizing the men and women both as officers as well as civilians that help run our police department and provide us with the amazing high quality law enforcement services that we've come so readily to get used to around here. And I am going to turn it over to you, Chief, to recognize the fine men and women of the department.

Well, first of all, thank you to the council and the village administrator for giving us the time to do this today. It shouldn't take too, too long. But I think it's very important that we honor a few individuals for specific acts of exceptional service. And I want to emphasize that really every member of our department has been doing an outstanding job. And I sincerely thank each and every one of them for what they've done.