City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Good evening. Monday, June 15th, 2026, Inkster City Council meeting is now called to order. Everyone please stand for the prayer. Pastor Logwood, could you lead us?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Let us pray. Dear gracious and eternal Father God, we thank you for who you are. God, we pause right now in this moment to thank you for everything, that you've been faithful, you've been better to us than we've been to ourselves. So God, we invite you into this present moment to have thine own way. God, I pray that your will shall be done in this moment. So God, we lift the city of Inkster before you, and we pray that you will have your way. God, from the top down to the bottom, we pray that will shall be done. God, I pray, oh God, as we galvanize our hearts, our minds, and our spirits to come together to move this city forward. I pray for sound wisdom, understanding. But God, I pray that you unite us for things to take place that will give you glory. So God, I pray now, oh God, as you help us move this city forward, I pray now. that you shatter everything that's not like you. And I pray now, God, that the purpose and the plan that you have for our city will come to fruition and come to light. But God, I pray now that no weapon formed against us shall be able to prosper in the mighty name of Jesus the Christ. So, God, I pray that you give us dominion. Pray, God, that you give us favor. God, I pray that you give us divine strategic plans to move us forward. In Jesus' name we pray. Thank God. Amen.

Thank you. Remain standing for the pledge.

Madam Clerk, roll call.

Mayor Byron Noland.

Present.

Mayor Pro Tem Stephen Chisholm. Present. Councilwoman Felicia Rutledge. Present. Councilman Freddie Bishop.

Present.

Councilwoman Lindsay Scott. Present. Councilwoman Kim Howard, absent. Councilwoman DeArchis Richardson. Present. Mayor, you do have a quorum.

Great. Everybody had a chance to look at the agenda. We only have two presentations tonight, so we can take off the Safer Cities presentation. All right. Any other changes, additions, deletions? Okay. Do we have a motion to approve the agenda?

So moved.

Second. We'll probably move in a second. Any discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those say nay. It passes. All right. First presentation, Congresswoman Tlaib.

Okay. Okay.

So I fight for every single community in my district gets money from the federal government through earmarks But the city of Inkster is the one who requests is those earmarks as you all know in fiscal year 2026 harvest River Square project came from the city of Detroit city of Inkster to request funding to be used to design construct a multi-purpose outdoor community space and market pavilion The it was signed into law and so we were able to get the $500,000 which is half a million dollars for that space before that in fiscal year 2024 we got the replacement of the fire apparatus that's what the previous city administration I came to a console found out. that Inkster was using Dearborn Heights fire truck, and I was very concerned. So we were able to get a million dollars, and we got a new fire engine and one new fire ambulance. And as you can see in the federal budget of 2024, that million dollars came directly from the 12th Congressional District member office, which was mine. The next in 2022, one of the first things that we got was the $2 million for the Inkster Senior Wellness Center, which I'm hoping to see open soon to help our many of our seasoned residents in our community. And then the new request that came from the current administration, which I appreciate the partnership is $3.5 million for new firehouse and fire station, which was put in and was already approved through the subcommittee appropriation. So it's one step closer to coming to the House floor. So again, congratulations on this incredible work in getting federal resources. But with that, I don't know if folks want to take a picture with it or anything like that. And with that, this is Elena Burke. She's our community representative. So if you see her here, she's going to come and do presentations and things of that nature.

Updates.

Do you want to come on this side? That would be your job. You want to?

It's okay. It's okay. Thanks, Elena. You got it? Fire station. Fire station's next, definitely.

Well, they have to put the request in. It has to come from the city. All right, there you go.

Thank you. This one stays here. Congratulations.

Thank you, Congresswoman.

Thank you.

Thank you so much. Again, we'll be able to give you guys an update next time around. Just know that we're working on DTE Pay Act, which forces DTE, if they get a Clean Air Act violation, which they did recently from a federal judge, about $100 million they have to pay. They're repealing it. But if they get a Clean Air Act violation two years prior to that and two years after, they are not allowed to get a rate increase. So this Make DTE Pay Act has a number of sponsors. It's great because my colleagues are like, who's DTE? Because their companies are called something different in each state. But I think it's important to know that many of our residents are really tired of the rate hikes. And this is a hook where they can't claim it's unconstitutional for me. to force them to pay more. But again, we shouldn't be stuck with the bill. I'm not saying that's what they're trying to do with this. But in the same week they got the $100 million judgment, they got $240 million rate increase, which is already applied to all of our rates. So anyways, anything I can do to make sure we make life affordable. But thank you again for the partnership. Amazing team, Mayor. They are very responsive. They get me the information they need. I need all the time and make sure that we meet those deadlines, and that's why we'll be able to be successful to get all those grant money. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right. That's a good presentation. Now we have Councilman Bishop. His first presentation, I think. I just want to see them top 500,000. Great. Here's a suit.

All right, pictures on.

Wow.

You want to introduce yourself? Okay.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, viewing audience, residents. My name is Freddie Bishop. I'm the city councilman representing District 2. And tonight I'm here to introduce the District 2 Clean Blocks Initiative. This is a community-centered pilot focused on improving visible neighborhood conditions, supporting residents, and strengthening accountability around recurring property concerns. This initiative is not intended to replace code enforcement. but it's designed to build on the city's existing code enforcement and service systems by adding a resident engagement, partner support, and a clear communication around follow-up. So I'm asking for your feedback to help connect with partners and endorse the 90-day launch of this program.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, residents. I'm A.C. Williams. I am on the Planning Commission. I also live in District 2, and I'm supporting Councilman Bishop in presenting the Clean Box Initiative and hoping you support the implementation.

And so...

Tonight, we're going to be talking about what it is, why we're promoting or presenting CleanBox, what the residents have asked for. We've collected data in District 2, and we're going to tell you what that looks like, the model, which is a two-track approach and why it works, the activation piece, how we're going to get residents and partners involved in the roadmap or essentially the timeline of what this could look like in the next 90 days.

So the proposed community activation plan. How we aim to move forward is we're looking to host monthly meetings, hopefully with a council representative that would be myself and any of my other colleagues who would like to join, members of code enforcement, residents, partner organization, and community stakeholders. The purpose of these meetings will be to listen, identify, connect, and to coordinate and act. In my time on council, I've had several residents reach out to me in efforts of bringing the block clubs back to my district. So without having much expertise in this area, I reached out to AC Williams to get her help and to see if it was a way we can not only bring these block clubs back, but use them in a way to ensure a clear purpose, path, and a way to track the visual improvements made in our city. Empowering residents and use it in a way that we could tackle everyday issues we hear about in council meetings in reference to

blight and other minor code enforcement on issues So if you guys have seen me up here before, you know I'm a data person and I want to share what some of this data for cities who have implemented a similar model How what does look like for them and how it's made a meaningful impact in real time So for example in Flint uh they had a bite reduction program that used the land bank coordination demolition funding vacant lot maintenance volunteer support and resident informed prioritization in 2022 they recruited volunteers to maintain 971 vacant lots and removed 155 tons of garbage and debris their clean and green program was used to maintain 3,500 vacant properties every three weeks in mowing, and they had a certain strategy for that. So their strategies used those groups that visited nearly 6,000 vacant lots every mow cycle, engaged over 1,300 residents, including nearly 600 youth, in improving their neighborhoods, and that contributed to eliminating blight in and around Flint, valued at more than $1.5 million. So the data supports that volunteer support, resident engagement can have a meaningful impact on cities like ours.

So supporting the state what these block club meetings will be about. These meetings are gonna be a space where residents can be heard, can work in coordination and connection and get feedback. Residents can raise concerns about common violations and connect with the right city staff partners. What we will not be is in a code enforcement hearing, a place to target individuals. So y'all can't give y'all neighbors citations when y'all think their ass is too high. That's not what we doing.

Go ahead. OK. And so just to reinforce what he said, we want to make it a safe space for residents to come to and communicate their concerns and be heard. But we also want to make it clear we're not enabling anyone to replace code enforcement or to issue violations. Just communicate what they see, and then we'll provide a process for that to be documented and forwarded to the appropriate place. And so this slide is about how do we go from reactive to proactive, why now, what changes, how it works, and what our ask is. What I'll highlight on this slide is the current process addresses individual property concerns, but there is opportunity to better connect the enforcement outreach resources and follow-up. And we actually have the next slide that's kind of going to explain that in a little bit more detail. And so what's going to change is we're going to have a neighborhood-centered process where residents, city staff, and partners identify priorities, and then we'll have a track, a two-track process that helps those who maybe want to do it but need the resources and the support versus those who are consistent violators and what that escalation process looks like. And then of course, we're asking council and community to support this pilot and participate and to help us identify those partners. And we have another side that will explain that a little bit further too.

Yeah, so okay, so back in April, we went around and documented some of the cases of blight that we've seen around just my district in particular. So we observed baseline around 50 violations across all types, and that's what you see here. You see things from overgrown grass and weeds, blight, exterior blight in regards to downed fences, peeling paint, things of that nature, all the way over to unfinished repairs that actively promote an unsafe public appeal. So these are just examples of how we are going to collect data used from the meetings and prioritize them and address them as needed.

And so, yes, this is a data-informed process, and then documenting these cases and whatever cases the residents bring gives us that baseline that we can work from so that we can hopefully see that progress over time, and it's not abstract. We're just like, oh, we're seeing this and we're seeing that, but we're not necessarily sure if we're doing something about it. And so our initiative or our goals are to reduce visible blight, as we just said, debris, storage, unsafe structures. What are our easy wins? What are some of the things that might be easy to address like weeds and grass? Activate community involvement. So create regular opportunities for residents to share their concerns, which is where the block meetings come in. Support residents, create resources and support tracks for residents who may need time. information and physical assistance or referrals to comply, hold owners accountable, and this is the fix it, pay it, transfer it model. When you have repeat offenders or non-responsive properties, we want to encourage the city to, of course, use our existing resources or our systems, but perhaps consider adding a little bit more teeth to what we have and having a clear path for if you just essentially don't want to do anything with it, maybe give it back. Or if the city has paid for the maintenance part of it, how do we get reimbursed? Build code basics, reminding everyone that we do have ordinances in place that say that these are violations. uh take neighborhood pride in what our city looks like working together in order to address those violations and then forward it to the proper processes and who should they contact and what does the right type of follow-up look like and then build a repeatable model as you mentioned we did collect data for district 2. the idea is that you know we're going to start small so that we can see where we may need to fix things and work out the issues, but also sometimes when you go too big, it may get away from you. When you start smaller and people actually see progress, they get excited by that progress and then want to get more involved and then hopefully when we have something tight, we can share it with other districts and other council and they can implement it in their districts.

Okay, so how are we going to use this data? We're going to use a two-track compliance model. What this will be is a balanced approach that connects residents to support while creating a clear escalation plan for chronic, unsafe, or non- non-responsive cases. It's just basically recognizing that every property concern isn't going to be handled the same way. So track one, what we would be mainly looking at is our seniors, disabled residents, low-income owners, and owner-occupied households. So with these, we will connect them on the way to by showing them education, reasonable timelines, referrables, offering volunteer support, and follow-up. Track two is going to be more so reserved for the repeat offenders, absentee owners, corporate owners, commercial properties, vacant properties, negligent landlords, and unsafe structures. Things of this nature will be forwarded over to track two and where we will follow up with code enforcement and the other systems that we have in place already in the city. So, MOU partnership. It's the thing we're most excited about. So our Clean Box program, basically what we want to do is build on the city's existing systems by adding a resident and partner engagement layer, local businesses, churches, youth groups, organizations, and stakeholders to help share information, support cleanups, and connect with resources and build community trust. What a MOU is, it's a memorandum of understanding. What it does is it helps clarify those partnerships. They help define who is helping and what are they helping with, who the contact person is, and what boundaries need to be respected. I feel like this is how we move from people saying what they want to help having an organized, clear, organized and clear roles that support this pilot. That's it.

And so, as we had, he just described a two-track model, for example, an MOU partnership could be activating youth groups and organizations to help a senior citizen who may not have the support to do it themselves. So, like I said, have that track for those residents who maybe are not just trying to be in violation just simply because they don't care, but because they actually need the support. And so if we have a MOU with a lawn service, they can come out and get that property taken care of. Or if we need someone who needs help getting their house painted, maybe a youth group like Top Teens of America who does public service and community work can come and help paint their house. So that's what MOU partner activation looks like. The vacant property strategy is adapted or encouraged by the Center for Community Progress. They have a whole extensive workbook that explains what this is, and I'll just simply say that we're encouraging it for us to look into it deeper. Like I said, fix it, so notify the owner, provide an opportunity to correct the violation, pay it when issues remain unresolved, and the city may have to address the nuisance were legally authorized, pursue the cost recovery, and then transfer it for chronic vacant problem properties the city may explore legal pathways to return the property responsible ownership to the city. And so if we're implementing this 90-day plan, hopefully starting this month, take advantage of the warm weather, have our first block club meeting, that will include setup and organization, beginning with orientation, clarifying roles, preparing resident education materials, and even giving them like a little sound bites or talking points that they can use and how they can communicate with their neighbors. then we'll shift to those quick wins those visible things that we all see that we know will make a difference once we clean them up including brush debris exterior storage right-of-way concerns the mou and accountability piece start building our resource list connecting with the different partners as you guys know we've mentioned at a few meetings that we're also trying to create a central list for the city where we figure out what our nonprofit organizations or people in the community were trying to help and what those services look like. So we can also use that resource as well. And then evaluating learning. So when we come to the end of the summer, see where the pain points were, how we can refine them and get better at it and progress moving forward. And then, like I said, hopefully come up with something that we can implement citywide. And so I'll give it to you about the meeting.

Yeah, so we have confirmed the first meeting will be next Thursday at the rec center at 6 o'clock. And moving forward, we'd like to do every last Thursday at 6 o'clock at the rec center.

and i did pass out this fire this fire also is the code enforcement common violations and tips fire um it also went on to the water bills i believe i want to say it was the march one it was on the back if you didn't open your water bill because you use it electronically or you pay electronically go ahead and open it up it should be there this is the friendly reminder one of the tools we were referring to about how we will you know let the residents know hey this is These are common violations. We do have code that says you need to cut your grass after it gets certain height. Dogs at large I know are concerned. Fix your fences, things like that. Who they can contact if they do have concerns. because the city code enforcement information is on there. And I know that there's been an update with our emails, but I do believe, and I can double check, but that the blight email has also been updated to themichigan.gov. so if you're someone who's been using that resource um and you've been getting kickbacks or you haven't been getting any responses um make sure you're using the right one and then there's also the actual number that you can call too the hotline anything you want to add to that chief i hate to call you out but just in case i was missing anything on that piece okay so questions

Any questions? You guys determined, I know you have the Middle Manor Block Club in District 2. Do you have any other block clubs that are actually functioning right now? Meeting? Not to my knowledge.

So, Mayor, I know Ms. Burney started having meetings with different block clubs. I don't have all the information, but I'll make sure that she reaches out to you to give you that, okay? All right.

Well, thank you, guys. We appreciate you. That's an example of our council people actually jumping in and getting their hands dirty. I really appreciate it, doing work in the community. Okay, we'll move on to consent agenda. Okay, we'll probably move to second. Any discussion? it contains uh approval of regular joint and special city council meeting minutes from june 1st 2026 and june 3rd 2026 and june 8th 2026 and then meeting minutes from oh that's all three those three okay all right um all those in favor say aye aye all say nay i passed boards and commissions we got somebody we're supposed to look at some board district five okay she's still okay she's not here tonight all right anybody else any um i guess i'll wait till council communication for this okay all right we'll move on no ordinance readings tonight new business

Consider approval for street closure block party, date June 26, 2026, event hours 12 noon to 9 p.m., street to be closed, Notre Dame, and cross streets Princess and Sylvia. Contact person is Nazari Gregory. So moved. Second.

We're probably moving to second discussion. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Passes.

Consider resolution to approve funding for asbestos abatement at the New Culture Center, former city library, 2005 Inkster Road. So moved.

Second. I'll be moved to second. Discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. Passes.

Consider approval of implementation of Safe Cities Program.

Move the table. Move the table. Second.

Do you have a second? Second. Any discussion? As far as the table, were you looking at a specific date?

To the next meeting, yes.

So what I'll do is, in the meanwhile, we'll get you any other information we did not already give you. I'm going to make follow-up with some of the cities who left block so we can get some information on that. Anything else that we need to do in between now and then?

with some of the citizens they raised concerns about.

And Councilwoman raised questions about, I think, updating the language on the contract. Just making sure that we're not stuck in the contract.

Let's take another look at it just to make sure we're covered all the way around. I think we covered most of it. Let's take another look at it. And then we'll all take a look at it, too.

I was going to ask, too, as far as that tenure portion, I know that was a concerned with other things like the franchise agreements with Comcast and AT&T. There's a set on an auto renewal if you don't choose to opt out or whatever like the hybrid estates I forgot because next thing we know it was auto renewed.

Yeah.

And then who else? Oh, one, two, three, and that. When we first engaged in that process, one of the things was supposed to be we would own our fiber optics after the 10 years. But some things apparently got changed in between when council voted versus the contract that was signed with the company. And we are not at that particular point. So when the 10 years ends, we won't own our fiber. We'll still be leasing it.

I think the contract changed.

exactly that's what i'm saying the council approved one thing and then we actually signed something slightly different yeah so i was just going to talk about that even if it's options for maybe not 10 years maybe you know a lot of people feel comfortable sometimes three to five i know three is real short for this type of thing but maybe five and what those cost comparisons look like a five-year versus a 10-year we can do that i mean but it'd be cost a lot more if we do five so you're talking about doubling just to satisfy my

We got to lay the police chief off if we do that. Uh-oh.

You're going to get some emails tonight.

It's not happening.

Yeah, we can't do that.

But I also would like to see some information from the Michigan ACLU regarding this.

Okay, yeah, we can do that. We can send it to a master review, right? Once we solidify the language we want, we can certainly ask, see if they'll review. I'm sure they will.

Other cities, yeah. I'm just curious.

It can't hurt.

One question I forgot to ask. With this system, as far as the internet service provider goes, how is that? Is that through the local municipality? Is that through satellite? Is that cellular?

We never talked about that. Internet.

I can answer that. So there's a couple of different components there. So on the camera systems, those are all cellular LTE based. That's included in the pricing. So we handle the connectivity, all of that kind of stuff. With the drones, same thing. So it's radio frequency. So that's done that way. But you do need an internet connection. connection up on the rooftop where you have the docking station. As far as the power of that internet, it's nothing crazy. So you don't have to go out and get 10 gigabit redundant systems to run that. It's just an internet connection that's specific to the dock.

Thank you. Anybody else? All right, great. Okay, so all those in favor? Aye.

This is for the motion of the table. Quiet. I'm like, wait a minute, don't leave me out there.

Y'all thought y'all was getting tricked. We just bought it.

I mean, your energy changed.

All those opposed. Okay, the table still passes. All right.

Consider approval of the planning and development fee schedule.

Move for approval.

Second.

We're probably moving to second. Any discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. Passes.

Consider approval of 4th of July, Block Party Street to be closed, Colgate, Cross Streets, John Daly, and Princess. Date, Saturday, July 4th, 2026, time 3 to 10 p.m. And the contact person is Walter Cooper.

Second. We're probably moving to second. Any discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. Passes.

Consider approval of the fiscal year 2026-2027 budget. So moved. Second.

Probably moved and seconded. Discussion? Discussion?

Yeah. Oh, we're good. Oh, that's good. We're good.

Somebody wants to discuss it. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. It passes. Public participation. All right. James Skrill Eberhardt, Jr.

All right, good evening, Council, Mayor, and constituents. I just wanted to come and kind of do a report out. Last time I was up here, I was talking about a CVI Advocacy Day, which was a success going up to Lansing to CVI Advocacy Day on June 10th and 11th. Community members and youth organizers and activists from all over the state went up to Lansing to advocate for House Bill 4605 and 4606. I JUST WANT TO BRING SOME BALLPARK NUMBERS. I WANT TO THANK CITY COUNCILWOMAN LINDSEY SCOTT FOR YOUR COLLABORATION AND ADVOCACY TO GET RESIDENTS INVOLVED AS WELL. AND I WANT TO THANK COUNCILWOMAN DIETRICE RICHARDSON AS WELL AND HER HUSBAND FOR ACTUALLY COMING UP TO LANSING AND PARTICIPATING AS AN ELECTED OFFICIAL AND CONSTITUENT OF THE CITY OF INGSTER. I talked to the main organization that organized it, Force Detroit, and asked them for some numbers in regards to our participation. Out of 190 people, there were 27 Inkster residents that participated in CVI Day. So clap it up for yourself for Inkster residents coming out. And that is just those individuals that has a Inkster address. We did have other corresponding residents from like Remlis and Ecorse and Wayne and Garden City that we noticed that was there that were previous Inkster citizens or residents as well. I want to also give a shout out to our community organizer, Tangela Ward, for bringing a lot of our Inkster youth. As well. I was privileged to do and organize a youth symposium up at the Capitol where The youth stepped up to do panel stepped up as panelists and moderators our councilwoman Richardson was was in attendance to that our Inkster youth has have some brilliant ideas and minds and and their experience in his gun violence firsthand and I hope that we could have them come up and start speaking to city council because what they showed and what they talked about was so resilient and brilliant. And there were a lot of you from all over the state of Michigan, Flint, Kalamazoo, Detroit. But those Inkster youth actually stood out in stepping up as leaders as well. SO I JUST WANT TO GIVE A BIG SHOUT OUT AGAIN TO OUR COUNCIL FOR STEPPING UP AND OUR RESIDENTS FOR STEPPING UP IN THIS ACTIVITY FOR ADVOCACY, BUT ALSO MAKE SURE THAT YOU REACH OUT TO YOUR STATE REP AND YOUR SENATE AS WELL TO ADVOCATE FOR CONTINUOUS FUNDING TO THIS PROGRAM SO WE CAN RECEIVE SOME OF THAT FUNDING HERE IN THE CITY OF INKSTER. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU.

BARBARA COOPER.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Good evening.

First off, I want to thank Brother McDaniels, Clint, the fire department and all that. For those that don't know, please take it seriously when it's hot outside and make sure that you are hydrated. That's the first time I've ever collapsed or whatever. The ambulance was dead lickety split. I'm just so thankful. Blood pressure has shot up, but I'm here and I'm okay. And I didn't want to go to the hospital. So we working on getting this blood pressure down. First thing, It's two no left turn signs right there on Middlebelt, not that far from Michigan Avenue. Now, I think you all just need to get a sign that reads no left turn. Because people are making a left turn, man. Almost slammed me in the back. I was so happy that he didn't.

Yes, yes.

I mean, it's on both sides of the street. So we need the words, no left turn, because they're not paying any attention to the sign, no left turn.

I thought the symbols were easier to read.

I thought so, too, but they're not. You can't ignore what you read. You can ignore that, oh, I didn't see the sign, but you can't do that with that. I don't know what's happening, because they just turn and have traffic all blocking the Middlebelt and people coming down Michigan Avenue got to stop because people are stopped in the middle of the street. That's going to be ugly one day, and we don't want that to happen. Thirdly, what is it? What am I? Goodfellas. The ain'ts the goodfellas. I just do it. What's happening? August 22nd, we are doing Paint with a Twist. Tickets are $40. Please come out and support the Inkster Goodfellas from 5 to 9. We're trying to do everything we can so there's no child without a Christmas. And I just want to... Thank everybody, the city of Inkster, for all the love that you have shown me since my husband passed. Thank you so much, I love you all. Thank you.

August 22nd.

It's a Friday.

Saturday, I'm sorry. Saturday, the 22nd. Five to nine.

All right. And food will be served. Food will be served. While you're painting, you can.

I have a quick question. Yes. As far as I know in the past, you all spoke about it just because of the extreme cold and hot, of course. Were there going to be any summer fundraisers, kind of like how the surrounding communities do?

We're working on it.

Okay.

But I do want us to come out earlier as well as late. Okay. because everybody's used to having the papers in December, but I would like for us to get out with our cans and all that and donate. People just donate. Come on, donate. We need some money. We need some money. We've never been this low. We need some money to help our children. Thank you.

Thank you. Elizabeth Barnes. Elizabeth Barnes.

Oh.

I'm looking around. Yeah, sure you don't know how to get in. You say grandma, honey.

Pocahontas.

Pocahontas. Pocahontas.

You know your mama and I'm friends. I know. OK, I have a concern.

OK.

I got a water bill today. My water bill, $206. The sewage is three times the amount of my water bill. We have two buildings on, they call water retention, or whatever they're called, Middlebelt and on Inkster Road. Now, my thing is, who is using that besides Inkster? Because with our bills being as high as it is, Inkster should not have to pay for what other communities are doing. So I would like to know, who are using that besides Inkster?

Nobody.

Nobody. Nobody. Nobody's using those outside.

I mean, it's inked. Nothing is coming in from anywhere else.

Let me explain to you, to the mayor and council, to the viewers and you. Those are our TB's retention ponds. They clean the river. So all the debris that comes in from the Rouge River goes into those basins, gets cleaned, and goes back down the river. That's what they are for.

Okay, so we had to have two.

Well, they wanted us to have more than two. We stopped at two.

You've got to be kidding. I mean, if you run down Michigan Avenue, if you close your eyes, you'll be in another city. Because we're so small, and I don't understand why we have to have all of that, and we have to pay things out of our pocket. I just turned 87 years old. I want to fix income now. And I mean, all of this, I don't understand it. So that's why I need somebody to tell me why. And why do we have to pay as much money as we are paying now?

I will talk to you after the meeting. I'll explain it to you. Well, it's an environmental issue. It's a clean environmental issue that comes down from the EPA. That's why we have those bases in place to clean the river so the river has its natural resources. So if you ride down, if you follow the Rouge River, every community has bases in their community because of the environment and everybody wants clean water now. It wants the river to be clean.

And there's another thing I'd like to know. When was the last time our city was audited?

Every year? Oh. We get audited every year, financially.

Is it audited every year?

We have to.

Okay, yeah, because, I mean, I need to know these things because I'm 87, but I'm going to start coming to council meetings, and I want to do whatever they need. I don't care if we have to get petitions. I have to walk on and walk them. But I'll tell you one thing. I'll walk the city to get them signed, and I will bug my councilwoman because she know I have to.

I DO IT NOW.

I MEAN, AND THE COUNCILMAN I HAD BEFORE, HE LIVED NEAR ME. AND HE'LL TELL YOU. OKAY. AMEN. LOOK FOR A CALL FROM ME.

YOU CALL ALL THE TIME. I'M THERE.

THANK YOU. APRIL GARRETT.

GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. I'd just like to say thank you to Mayor Nolan and the Council for approving the Westland A. Bennett Foundation's Juneteenth Parade and Celebration. This happened this past Saturday. And I want to say special thanks to Chief Jenkins and her team, the auxiliaries for their support with the float and their presence at the celebration. I want to thank Mr. Bivens and his team. Special thanks to Fidel Morris, the Department of Public Service. They made the area safe and beautiful. And Mr. Bivens even walked in the parade right in front of the band. He was out there. THE FIRE DEPARTMENT, THEY PARTICIPATED IN THE PARADE, WHICH WAS A SPECIAL SURPRISE. AND I GIVE A SPECIAL THANKS TO COUNCILWOMAN D'ARCHERIS RICHARDSON, ONE OF MY GRANDMOTHER'S KINDERGARTEN STUDENTS, WHO RODE OUR FLOAT WITH OUR MR. AND MS. JUNE TEAM. SHE KEPT THE LITTLE ONES IN LINE. WE WERE ABLE TO PROVIDE KONA ICE TREATS, FULL MEAL CATERED BY FAMOUS DAVES FOR ALL IN ATTENDANCE. And little Sophia Alvarez won a special raffle basket from Famous Dave's. AIA Sonic Storm Band, the Harmonia String Ensemble and their gospel choir performed in our ceremonial program along with a Juneteenth poem read by my nephew, Ryan Peterson, gotta do that. And we had special music from Lenny Price, class of 1979, Eastern High School, my class. So we just appreciate the residents that brought their children and grandchildren to help us celebrate Juneteenth, because we are rooted in freedom, and we are blooming with hope. So we were the first, I think, to kick it off, but we've got some other celebrations coming up. But thank you, thank you, thank you.

All right.

Craig Coppola.

Hey, North River Park Drive.

Unfortunately, again, I'm here to talk about our street. First off, I think your plan to do the light and everything that you're talking about, you should be happy that our neighborhood has done exactly what you've wanted us to do for 35 years. We've controlled it, taken care of it. We take care of everything you want to do on there. That's what we've been doing. Now, what we're suffering with, the end of a three-year project of our street being repaired, all the trees were ripped out. Some of us neighbors concerned about it have done what we've done for 35 years, replanted trees that were destroyed or whatever. I got a notice of violation from the DPS department saying that I never received permission to replant any of the trees. When I called up to see if there was anything I could do, I was denied permission to plant the trees and given a violation notice to remove the trees or they'd be removed and I'd be charged for it. So, I don't understand the sense in ripping out 30 or 40 trees, 1,000 years worth of tree growth, and then denying the neighbors the ability to replant trees and do things that we've done in our neighborhood for the last 35 years. As a Teamster member, we used to call that past practice precedent. The city's allowed our neighbors to... prune, clean, remove, replace damaged trees and everything that's going on in our neighborhood over the last 35 years. The end of this project, all the trees are gone. We're trying to replace them and we're being denied permission from the DPS department. So I gave a little packet explaining what was going on to everybody and hoping that there could be a resolution made. And as a side note, It's unbelievable how many things were gone wrong with this project, allegedly. What's the latest one? I've lived there 36 years. Our street is 30 foot above floodplain. Drains down into the park. And after this million dollar, hundred thousand dollar road project, our street floods now. Something that's never happened for 36 years. So after the engineering project to relieve the flooding on our street, now our street floods. And three and a half years to do one road in the city, this is starting to wear on me and my neighbors. There's a couple of them that said they were going to come here. A couple of them talked to the DPS director and said they're not going to speak to you now. But the neighbors are getting tired of it. Although I will say this, Three of the people I talked to today said that, thank God, the flooding that happened in front of their house between the sidewalk and the street is now gone. And they laughed about it because it moved into the street and down the street. So, I don't know what's going on here. I don't know who's doing it. But the bottom line is, why can't we have trees in our neighborhood? We used to have the best neighborhood. I would have put my neighborhood up against any neighborhood. In Inkster, Dearborn, Dearborn Heights. Workmen that came to my house to do work said, I have a million-dollar house if I lived in Rochester Hills, the way it is. And now we live in a neighborhood where a brand-new street floods and all the trees are ripped out. I don't get it.

I truly don't get it. All right, thank you.

Leshawn Hardy.

Oh, no. Leshawn Hardy. I'm sorry.

Yes?

Am I still going to have to answer to this violation?

Or are we going to be able to settle this problem? Or are they going to just rip the trees out again that a few of us have planted?

Yeah, just look at it. It's a required corrective action. You're required to remove the trees or shrubs by July 3rd, 2026.

Or get written permission from DPS that we're allowed to have the trees. Didn't he ask for permission already? Yeah. Yeah, okay. Didn't ask permission.

Not the first time, but you asked for permission.

Never knew that we were in violation. Okay. Until we got that. Called up and asked permission and was denied.

Okay, that's what I thought. He was denied. Okay. Because the trees are on top of our water main. Okay. That's why he just denied. Okay. Yeah, time off.

And I have a question. Why did you hire a company to bore and drill and pull the water main all along Blackstone, underneath all the existing trees were there? If you're going to say that I can't plant a tree in front of my house, but you'll take and hire a company that pulls and bores a new water main underneath the existing trees. And the better question I have is, like my 87-year-old neighbor, not her, but my other one, said... Not once, not ever have we had a problem with a tree root attacking a water main in our neighborhood. And I question how many water mains have been affected by tree roots in this city to create this kind of a situation.

It's been a lot. And major repairs.

Okay.

Are we? Oh, okay. LaShawn Hardy. Yeah.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is LaShawn Hardy and I'm here to request a memorial bench in honor of my late husband, Anthony Hardy, at Limon Park. He passed away February 5th of this year. Anthony and I spent many years enjoying our local parks. We would walk, have lunch, barbecue, spend time with our children, and meet friends and family there. Some of our favorite memories with him were made in the park. What makes this request especially meaningful to me is something I did not fully appreciate until years later. Whenever I was feeling sad, stressed, or discouraged, Anthony would ask me if I wanted to go to the park. At the time, I thought we were simply going for a walk or to spend time together. Later, I realized that he was helping me. We knew that being outdoors, talking, walking, and enjoying the park would lift our spirits and help me feel better. By the time we left the park, my mood had often changed completely. I felt lighter, happier, and more connected to the people around me. That was one of the many ways he cared for others. A memorial bench would allow me to honor those memories while also providing something useful for the community. It would be a place where families, friends, seniors and visitors could sit, rest and reflect and enjoy the park just as we did. For me, it would be a reminder of the kindness Anthony showed me every day. For the community, it would be a lasting addition to a park that brings people together. And the Limon Park is also the park he played basketball at as a kid, and it's also located across the street from his mother's house. Thank you.

I'm sorry for your loss. Are you just looking for permission to do it yourself?

Yes. I have a quote from a company called Woodruff Down River Stone Designs. And they would do everything. I would pay for everything as well as maintenance for the park and I would also like to put one in Inkster Park when I get the funds. but I would pay in maintenance.

Okay, Inkster Park is a county park, but we will get your decision on this one. It'll come from Clint McDaniel, Parks and Rec's director, but we'll make sure, we'll talk about it tomorrow. Let's make sure there's no barriers to that happening and where it could go, maybe where it shouldn't go. We can figure all that out. Okay.

Thank you.

Can I say one thing?

Mm-hmm. Ms. Hardy, I did get all your information and I did send it to council. Yeah, we got it. I don't want you to feel like I didn't forward it, but I did. No, I will.

We appreciate you. Gabe Henderson.

Hello, family. How y'all doing? I just want to make mention of beautification, Nixon beautification, coming up June the 27th. And, of course, we know the location is Lamone Park. That's on Pine Street. Wheatley Park, that's on Penn Street. Westwood Park, that's on Strollman and Dozier Rick. Okay, so that Saturday we're going to have the dumpsters out. And I try to be there this time myself to help out, you know, at the Dozier. And, you know, I have a confession, you know, to make. You know, over the years I've become a hoarder. All the things that I think I can use in all the different programs I'm involved with. And I got to clean up my act. i'm surprised i'm somebody i'm so no i'm surprised people i got one of the greatest neighbor uh you know i've been living in that house for 50 some years and you know he haven't complained but i'm in a process you know and i and i and i'm gonna you know you know not all stuff but all stuff is not good stuff i don't care what you think you can use or you know and i always say i'm going to do some of the blacksmithing my father was a blacksmith i mean collecting metal and steel and all that is a mess but i'm gonna clean up i'm glad you know and you Okay, now okay, the meeting is gonna be this Thursday or next? Next Thursday. Next Thursday, okay. Middle Park Mountain Block Club, we have been a very active block club, mainly over there in the park and all that. But like I say, something been heavy on my heart about trying to get my mess cleaned up. Since my wife had passed away and all that, I let things go around and all that. But I'm gonna do better. I am gonna do better, like I say. And I'm gonna own it up that I... And I'm out here in beautification. It was a shame. No, seriously, you know, I got award for the nice, I told you way back in the day, I said, if you would have came to my bank, yeah, y'all would have took that award away. Seriously, but I collect things, you know, for different programs and all that, bike parts for kids and bikes and wood for, you know, to build things and all that. You know what I'm saying? This stuff got out of hand. But y'all be patient with me. I'm going to clean it up. I'm starting to trash it. I'm going to clean it up. I'm going to start getting stuff out tonight, you know. Old implements, you know, for, you know, rototillers and stuff for the gardens and stuff. But, you know, I want to thank y'all for being patient with this old man and all that, you know. I'm going to do better, you know. Especially, you know, these programs, you know. And Brother Bishop, you know, I think that time you came and got that old van out, you know, you saw some of that stuff, didn't you? That was one of the big improvements. That was one of the big improvements. But anyway, I did say, okay, the 27th of June. Okay, all right. And location.

Yeah. It's heavy on my heart.

I got to do better. I love y'all.

Love you.

Police Worthington.

So good evening I want to say thank you to April for all the things that she does for the city of Inkster I'm a longtime Inkster resident second time coming to a council meeting And one of the reasons I'm coming is because of the flooding that goes on on my street and in my neighborhood. As of year before last, they put in a new road, new approaches, which were fabulous, I thought, until my street started flooding. I was told that the street was not properly done and had to have some things redone. So now, not only does my street flood in front of my house, the side streets are flooding, half of the neighborhood is flooding. And just wanted to know what was the reasoning of redoing the approaches when they had just done them the prior year? Also, I noticed that people are burning trash

in the area.

So I can't sleep at night with my windows open because of the burning of the trash. Also, the park which sits, Inkster Park which sits directly in front of my house, it's not being kept. So I get out, I clean up in front of my house, my neighbor's house, and the other neighbor's house. I've been complaining for a few years, but nothing is being done. At least a sign, that says there's no dumping allowed because people come and they dump. And I say something, they come back, they dump again. They leave trash just, I don't know if North River Park is just a dumping street, but something needs to be done. And I'm not sure who to talk to, where to go, because The people I've been talking to, nothing has been done. So those are the concerns.

We've got that complaint from your neighbors also. We're going to do something. Yeah, we'll do something. Thank you. Thank you.

Zay.

Yes.

Hi, my name is Isaiah.

Can you put the mic closer to you? Thank you.

Hi, my name is Isaiah. I'm 18, and I'm going to speak in about the guns down, pants up celebration we have.

Okay.

So peace and love, community. I'm Zay, part of Community Up Project, Guns Down, Pants Up Project. We are hosting our 9th Juneteenth celebration for the community, everything free for the youth. Please come out and join us. We need your help and donations. Youth Against Gun Violence, Guns Down, Pants Up.

What time on Friday?

CUP 9th ANNUAL JUNE TEAM CELEBRATION JUNE 19, 2026, 12 P.M. TO 5 P.M. EVERYTHING FREE FOR USE. well thank you anybody have any questions for him all right we'll see you on friday shirley hankerson

Good evening, council, mayor, and the viewing audience. I just want to tell my council person, Freddie Bishop, thank you so much. I've been waiting for you to finally step up for our district. And I will be at your meeting on time. And that's it for me.

You're going to stop talking about it now? Oh, yeah.

I got it now. Hey, I got it. We need that badly. So I can't wait. Thank you.

Thank you. Ira Macklin.

Good evening, Council and Mayor. I have an issue about cutting the field on the north side of my house. They cut it last year, thanks to you, Mayor, that you reported, and it got done immediately. But it's growing up now, back into, you know, But it's ready to get cut. Everything is smoothed out. You know, no rocks or whatever. But I'm appreciated if I can get that cut soon. It makes the whole Inkster side look so much better. It's a big lot, too. Yeah. Well, it's been there for a while. It's got no ball playing and no BB gun shooting. But... that and I needed a animal control person for the last week and it had kittens like in my egress but now they just hanging around the house they're at home I don't feed them I didn't shoot them I don't want to you know shoot them or nothing but I

Those are your cats.

That's what I looked at. The cat comes and look at me and sits in the driveway. And I said, I don't need no cat. I guess he picked me as his owner, but I need to get rid of the cats.

And I would appreciate the animal control person to come and see me. Okay, we'll send them over there.

Okay. 500 Beach Daily.

Okay, we got you on the- Thank you very much. Thank you. We know the house. Yep. Keith Macklin. You got the sharpest beard in the room.

Even Mr. Mayor and council. My name is Keith McLean and I'm just calling, coming up here for a concerning Carlisle street. As y'all know, it's under construction. Crazy. So my thing is, is it any estimated time of completion for the road? For the road or the work, the pump station? No, I want the road. The pump station, cool. Road is bad. Oh, good.

Yes.

That's the estimated time for completion. Now, I'm going to see what you tell me because I know what they told me. Put me on the spot.

Yep. Wow. Towards the end of July.

Towards the end of July. Okay. I'm more hopeful than now. Cause they told me that they had, I don't know if it's true. This is what they told. They told me they had till December, but they will be done around like October.

That's what the project, that's what the whole project.

That's what the whole project. So you saying July? Because I can't even get a car wash right now, man. I can't go. I can't get a car wash. I can't go home. I just have to stay out. I can't get a room or something, man. I can't go back home. I'm going to use that one. The next question is, do you know, is it going to be asphalt or concrete?

Kyle Allen's song.

Now, crossings the road, they use concrete, but I don't know. You know, we go back and forth.

It's concrete.

It's going to be concrete? Okay, cool. Final question. Are y'all putting speed bumps? No? No? Okay.

I've been riding through Detroit, and they have the permanent speed bump.

Yeah, because you had them plastic rubber ones or whatever. That didn't work so well.

But I don't – I'd rather none. Go ahead. So if we place on the speed bumps, we have traffic control signs, digital signs that will be going up in the next couple of weeks. Okay. So you will see them on Colorado. Okay.

Well, usually it's a – A while ago, there used to be a police present often. And that was good, because they loved going. Ever since I lived, I grew up on the corner. Ever since I grew up, they love speeding through John Daly. I don't know why, they just love speeding through John Daly, but luckily I don't have no kids, but for anybody who do have kids, that's a danger, you know?

But thank you. Like you see in other communities, there's your traffic control side. That's what we gotta be putting up. They just come in, so we getting ready to put them up. Okay, so about it, I'm gonna get you to the end of July.

We have one more that was sent in by email on Friday from Mr. Charles Blackwell. It says, hello, pursuant to the Michigan Court of Appeals disability ruling, I want the following public comment read at the June 15th city council meeting. Good evening. The price of gas is high as hell these days. There is no reason Mayor Byron Nolan needs to have a taxpayer-funded Ford SUV, which is a gas guzzler. Inkster is a very small city, and Nolan doesn't need a taxpayer-funded SUV, which uses up taxpayer-funded gas at the DPW yard. That's the end of the comment. All right. City Clerk.

Just a couple of things, Mayor, the clerk's office is accepting applications for election inspector. If you would like to be election inspector, you can go on the city website or stop at the clerk's office to pick up an application. If you are a returning worker, you still have to do a new application. So just feel free to go on the website or stop at the clerk's office to pick it up. Um, the clerk will be the clerk's office will be having our public accuracy testing of all our tabulators on July the 9th at four p.m. It will be posted in the newspaper next week and it is open to the public at four p.m. Our early voting will begin on July 25th and end on August the 2nd. And we only have one location for early voting and that's here. And that's all I have questions to man.

Madam Clerk, did any other poll locations move or merge? I know like in District 4, it used to be David Hicks and AIA, and then it just went down to AIA, I believe, on Avondale?

Yes. Notification was sent out and it was merged. 4-1 and 4-2 is now at AIA.

That's the only one?

That's the only one.

Okay. Thank you.

Are you still doing absentee ballots?

Still doing that. What day do you anticipate absentee is going to?

As soon as I get my ballots, my office will start mailing them out. They've already been ordered. They're getting printed, so I should receive them by the end of this week, early next week, and we'll be in the process of sending them out.

I think the first day was June 25th. Yeah, June 25th. I think the first day can go out.

Okay.

All right. Anybody else?

Oh, one more thing. And I will also be setting appointments to go to the different high rises like I did last time to sign up the seniors and to make sure that they either get their absentee ballots signed up for the ones that can't get out. And at that time of early voting, I will set up transportation to pick them up and to take them back to their destinations.

okay mayor and council councilwoman richardson oh i'm first huh yes

Okay, just a couple of things. I want to thank James Everhart Jr. for the invitation. I really enjoyed the trip. I enjoyed hearing the young people. We have some very smart young people, and they are aware of what the surrounding is and what's happening, and they are impacted by the violence. And it was good just to hear their solutions to the problem. And I really just commend you for doing that with them. And just give me another call. I'll go back up there. Also, April, thank you so much for the invitation. Miss Bennett was my favorite teacher. She was back in the day. And that was my kindergarten teacher. She was, had an impact. It was a beautiful event that you had. Very beautiful. I mean, she had great food out there. Man, you missed it.

I know.

Days, famous days. You missed it.

I missed it.

But James did eat your portion.

I'm sure.

I also would like to, I had a question for Jerome when he was talking about replacing the trees. Can they plant trees elsewhere?

But they can buy trees on their property.

On their property.

This is just in the right of way.

I got it. Okay, so I just wanted to know. Also, Mr. Bivens, the road work. My street's still flooding also. And the neighbors do want to know when they will be replacing the lawns where they had did the work. And tree trimming.

All that work is forthcoming now. They're doing, they're beginning the restoration work now. As you notice, your street was poor. Your street, Riverview, and Spring Hill, so they will begin starting restoration work in the next couple of weeks.

It was pouring for the end of the street as you're turning off Michigan, but the middle of the street is is messed up. It's still Okay, and the trees need to be trimmed there because the ladies of the day and night are still there, and I need to keep an eye on that.

You say ladies of the day and night. Yes. They hiding behind the trees.

I said it's the truth. But I just want to say that we will have an event. We got the Summerfest coming and we are going to be doing a free breakfast. Free breakfast. And you all are welcome to attend. We're going to make it really festive because I think it is important that we come together as a family. We're going backwards. We got to move forward. We're going backwards. It's just time out for that. It's just time for us to get together with our family, our friends, and we can still get along. We don't have to agree for everything. We can still get along. He loves chitlins. I hate chitlins, but he's still my husband, and I'm still with him. But I'm just saying, you know, we all have to work together to make Inkster a better place. Because before you know it, just like they did the schools, they're going to dissect you. And we don't want that. Because we have a really unique history. And that's all I have, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Rutledge.

Nope, I think she gave mine outfit. You should have told me, girl. I bet you told me. Tell me about the breakfast.

Councilman Bishop. June 25th at 6 o'clock at the rec center. The two clean blocks initiative meeting will be held. Refreshments will be available.

Councilwoman Scott.

Just want to piggyback off of Councilman Richardson, just thanking SCRIL for helping us organize CVI Day. Even though I was dealing with the rodeo stuff at the time I wasn't able to attend, I appreciate my fellow Councilwoman and our other residents for attending. the cvi day and just kind of helping put insta on the map um and thanks to skrill we're receiving a lot of resources that our community doesn't normally receive um and we're you know just starting to kind of get our name out there um for good things as well so i appreciate you

Yes, thank you. Um, 1st, foremost, I wanted to express my continued gratitude to our public safety personnel and here's why. As you all recently been probably seeing on the TV about team takeovers and. Those types of instances occurring in different cities. Well, because I was bored and I'm a geek and I have nothing else to do all night, but listen to a police scanner app. I heard Dearborn Heights going underwater, if you will. And when they began asking for cities by name, they said, can you send Inkster for help? Can we get Detroit? I heard the dispatcher saying, you know, state police. Then all of a sudden out the blue, I heard some familiar voices from Inkster. And I said, wow, not to fear, Inkster is here. they went running and I had messaged the chief and I said it's funny how that and I'm paraphrasing what I said but how that works because Inkster nine out of ten times always responds when I see these different news stories and on the TV or excuse me if the newspapers have put it up some way shape or form our cars or our police are always right there up front when the camera snapped that pic and it's not even in our city And so it's not on purpose, it's just they're there, they're present and they're helping out in any way, shape or form that they can and in the fire department as well. But I was listening to that and it was those officers, they sounded like they were under siege in the city because they literally said, we are outnumbered, we need help. And the dispatcher said, any available mutual aid, you know, please respond. DPD jumped on and was asking for permission to leave Detroit to come out to Dearborn Heights. Now, we didn't get an actual thank you or whatever by name in the articles that were published, but they did thank the surrounding agencies for all the assistance that was provided because literally they were running up and down Beach Daily, going out into Ford Road, coming back down to Cherry Hill, and it was just chaotic. They were really outnumbered and... I'm just thankful for our personnel who were able to engage at that particular time, because I know that can be quite scary. And then additionally to that, the domain update with what we talked about with the emails, I believe AC Williams had talked about the email address for Blight, you know, being at cityofinkstreetmi.gov. With the recent changes, I have been reaching out to different entities, letting them know, and asking them to update our email addresses in their database for the entire city of Inkster. I've CC'd the IT director on that. Because I was undergoing the same thing with different groups no longer sending correspondences. And so I wanted to make sure that we are trying to continue being active in making sure that everybody is updated. I started creating a spreadsheet, working with the city clerk and IT director and the media director with sharing the information of who I've reached out to. If I haven't gotten a response, we will follow up to ensure that we continue a conversation seamless process in this. And I just wanted to add to my colleagues, if there were any entities that you think we need to contact, please let me know. That way, you don't necessarily have to, but I will reach out directly in the same capacity that I have been doing. And yeah, we go from there. And then the second part is, Working alongside with the city clerk for records purposes, and just updating bylaws for the boards and commissions. Same thing reached out to I think we have 27 boards and commissions. Not all of them are active, but I did send a correspondence to the chair person of which I have an email address for, or maybe a board member on that particular group. because we want to make sure we have the current bylaws that you all have on file, saved in a centralized location. And then something that Madam Clerk suggested is if it hasn't been revised in 10 years or more, it might be time to take a look at those and update it. just because that's part of the process, and we need to make sure that going forward that we have all of that stuff, especially when anybody, a resident or a board member, asks for that information, we have it readily available. So I just ask for your continued support, and anybody that is here that is on a board or commission, please ask your chairperson if they did receive an email. I did not get an email back from everybody, which is okay, but we would like 100% compliancy in that so we can make sure this is all where it needs to be moving forward. Thank you. All right.

For those who didn't understand what he was talking about, Denver Heights had their yearly festival Saturday, this weekend, I guess. And I guess a whole bunch of teams ended up at the festival. I don't know what happened particularly. I know a police officer got injured, but there was a lot of teams there. And then they called out for help, and everybody came running. So there were teams everywhere. I actually, trying to go to Wingstop, give me some wingdings. And 11, 11, 15, pulled up. There was 30 teenagers in the wing stop. There was teenagers outside the Applebee's across the street on Ford Road and John Daly. All over the place. And none of them teens look like they live in Dearborn Heights. I'm going to say that to you. So, you know, this has been happening kind of, often in the surrounding areas. And we have a lot of summer events coming up. So we're really going to have to, you got to keep an eye and know where your teenagers are, your grandkids are. We can't have that. I mean, it's crazy. So I was on the opening day in Detroit when some things happened. And I thought kids were just hanging out and having a good time. I didn't even think about it until I got home and saw the news later on. But we've got to definitely be aware of what's going on, and we've got to do what we can to protect our community and protect our kids from themselves sometimes. We also, let's see, Father's Day. Father's Day this Sunday coming up. If you have plans with your family, I'll have my third annual Father's Day picnic at Colonial Park. Everybody is welcome. Kids are welcome. It's a family-friendly event. You don't have to bring anything. Everything is free. So just come enjoy yourself. Bring your father. Bring your uncle. Bring everybody.

What's the menu? Is it chitlins?

I wish we had some fried chitlins. I like chitlins. I think we have barbecue ribs, turkey burgers, fried fish, something else too.

You can get your cap in. In the side here.

You can get your cap in.

And fry can for a second.

So that's happening. Rodeo, somebody who's being modest up here had a chance to go to Rodeo again, because I hate to miss the Rodeo, Saturday. Rodeo was slapping, y'all. It was slapping. Packed out, perfect weather. I think they're growing to the point they're going to have to get a bigger venue. They can't hold them no more. So that's a good thing. Jerome Bivens sleeping in there because he didn't want to say it. But DPS, you know, we got a little weather a few days ago with tree branches down all over the place. DPS is out cleaning up trees and debris. Just asking for your patience because there was a lot of stuff. You know, some of the streets you couldn't get by. I just sent you something tonight. The whole tree came down and blocked one street. So we got to jump on that.

You got anything else, Mr. Correale?

No, I think that's it. You got two more things. What?

You got two more things. This funeral.

Oh, I forgot. Ron Wilkowitz?

Yes.

Man, oh, man.

Everybody remember Ron Wilkowitz, our Parks and Rec director for a long, long time. He passed away. His funeral was Friday, June 19th. It's memorial visitation, I'm sorry, from 2 to 8 p.m. during the day. And then the evening service is at 7 p.m. So sometimes they do them all in one day. So it's visitation all day. The service is actually at 7, and everything will be over by 8. That's at John Santu and Son on Inkster Road, 1139 Inkster Road in Garden City, Michigan. You guys know where to follow. Okay, it's from 2 to 8 on Friday, June 19th. The service actually starts at 7 p.m. And then until the day after on Saturday. Oh, the day after on Saturday, they're going to have a memorial service in-state. He'll be lying in-state at Divine Child Catholic Church on 1055 North Silverlea Lane in Dearborn, Michigan. It's very close to us, right off Cherry Hill. So he'll be lying to stay there. If you can't make service, you want to go on Saturday. And that's from 930 to 10 a.m. And then he'll have a memorial service there at the church from 10 to 11 a.m. on Saturday. So, yeah, he was a big part of the community for a long time. He was actually our interim city manager for a while when we were under receivership. Yeah. And Parks and Rec's director. Back in my day.

You said something about sewage charges.

From Ms. Buck? Sewage charges?

Yes, that's one of the concerns that people are calling in about. I thought maybe they'll ask why the water levels are so high.

uh council mr wants us to explain why the sewer charges are so high in relation to the water cost we kind of talked about a few minutes ago how most cities don't separate it they just this is what they charge you for the water for years and years and years we've been separating the water actual water costs from the sewer charge sewer charges to have everything in it right the repairing the roads the staff i mean it's

So, sewer is based on water usage. So, if you use 10 units of water, then you bill for 10 units of sewer. There's one-third, two-thirds on the bill. One-third water, two-thirds sewer. That's why you see the escalating costs in sewer. That's why it's higher than the water bill.

So, all the expenses. Tell them the expenses to go on the sewer. The expenses to go on the sewer is...

The eastern outfalls is being built. That's a sewer project. Water mains we put in, that's for water. But we also put in sewer. We have water mains, sanitary sewer, and then we have a storm sewer in front of your house. So all the money that we collect, that's where it goes, into the infrastructure. Well, that's where the prices are disseminated from. And we're going to do, we are in the process of changing our water bill for the upcoming year, right, Mr. Carey? Well, it would be more friendlier to read and understand.

Okay, because I'm getting a lot of calls on that.

You know, we're exploring. Our sewer is not metered.

Yeah.

They don't have a meter on the sewer. That's why it's tied to the water bill.

Well, they're screaming about the sewer charge.

Because it's hot? And we're exploring some other options for those who like to water their grass. I can't afford to water my grass. But for those who do like to do it, some other communities have two separate meters. So they have a meter just for watering the grass because obviously you don't have to pay sewer charges on that because the water seeps into the ground. That will save people a lot of money. But if you wash your car and it goes into the drain, sewer charge. If you use water inside the house, sewer and water charge. So we're looking at that. At least give residents the option. You can get the second meter, and then you won't have to pay, if you're watering your yard, the sewer charge. That will help some. So we're looking into all that.

All right.

Anybody got anything else? We have a motion to adjourn. Second. We'll probably move to second discussion. All those in favor? Aye.