City Council - Regular Meeting

Evening everyone and welcome to the Monday, September 22nd, 2025 regular meeting of the Rochester Hills City Council. Um, for anyone here wishing to make public comment for any item on the agenda or not on the agenda, please make sure you fill out one of the blue public comment cards in the back and hand to Miss Wispin here so that we can call on you at the appropriate time. As always, please remember that public comment is limited to three minutes. Miss Whisperman, if you could please take the role. Good evening. President Deal here. Vice President Carla. He is absent having given prior notice and is excused. Mr. Blair here, Miss Morland here, Miss Mongioli here, Miss Newower here, Mr. Walker

here, President Deal, we have a quorum. Thank you very much. Now, if everyone will uh please rise as our youth council representative uh leads us in the pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Approval of agenda. I've not been made aware of any requests to modify or alter the agenda in any way. We have a motion by Mrs. Newower, seconded by Mrs. Morland to approve. All those in favor say I.

Are there any opposed? Hearing none. Uh the agenda is approved uh unanimously. Moving on to council and youth committee reports. And as always, we will start with our youth council representative. And with us this evening is Yuna Woo. Um, thank you, President Dal. My name is Yuna Woo. I'm a senior on council this year and I'm currently serving as the vice chair. Um, as for updates, last Saturday we went to the vintage bike show at Spencer Park. Um, and we helped run the 50/50 raffle and this past Thursday, um, we helped, um, Mayor Barnett at State of the City where we welcomed people in, took pictures, and counted attendance. Um, and then for upcoming events, we have our monthly October meeting and we're volunteering at the fire department's open house and the community foundation tailgate.

Very nice. Hopefully, we'll be seeing Sparky at the open house. Is that Thank you very much. Uh, next up we have Mrs. Morlin.

Thank you, President Deal. Um, could I please have my screen shared? Beautiful. Thank you. These wonderful people are in the restaurant Arby's. And recently, my husband and I um stopped by there just to have a quick dinner. And as we were walking in um it had to be at least two cross country teams were running the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. And as we got to the door, one of the young men collapsed. And the quick thinking of this staff, they just you guys stay in here and run this. You run some water out. They just organized, ran out, assisted in getting help for this young man, took him some water, um, and then just came back and went right back to work. And it was just a really wonderful thing to see in our community. Um, I give just my my thanks to Aaron and Danielle and Betty Joe and Faith because it was just an example of the amazing people that we have in our city and um, I just was really impressed and pleased to be a part of our community with them. Thank you, President Deal.

Thank you very much. Nice to have a little bit of good news every now and then. Mrs. Newower.

Thank you, President Deal. Can you share my screen as well, please? Thank you. Speaking of good news, I want to start off by saying the youth council was absolutely amazing in helping with the vintage bike show. Here are some pictures. Um, and our parks and wreck staff was phenomenal at Spencer Park. You guys are amazing. It went flawlessly. It was put on to benefit. Um, look how tall, by the way, I look in this picture. Um, took me a minute to get up there and it took my 6'5 husband to get me down, but I think I look fantastic. So, anyway, so um, it was wonderful. It was to benefit Dutton Farms. Um, we were able to raise quite a bit um, for them. I don't have the final numbers, but we also had the Rochester area recruits, which are the baseball team. they um helped serve and um I just love that a lot of our youth are getting engaged in these kind of activities and um working to give back. Um we did actually have somebody require some first aid um at that event and again the park staff was amazing um very quick and I'm just so thankful um for everybody who helped and made it a success. So thank you Thank you very much. Do we have any other council committee reports? Hearing none, we'll move on to public comment for items not on the agenda. This is an opportunity for members of the public to give uh comment on anything that does not appear on our agenda. We do have a couple of uh public comment cards that we received and we'll start with Jennifer Miller. Good evening, council. My name is Jennifer Miller. I'm a newer resident to Rochester Hills. Uh lived in Mcome County for most of my life. I have been appointed to the Oakland County Arts

Authority, which represents um the taxpayer uh authority to make sure that our millillage money on the arts millillage is being used responsibly and wisely. And that is our uh responsibility and goals. I have some materials I'm going to leave here because one of the new projects is a mural project that every city and township in the county is entitled to a free mural by a local resident and artist and that is available through an application process. It's a wonderful um opportunity for this community. It has to be done only by your authority and resolution in a public building and there's some conditions to it. But um I just wanted to speak on it because Oakland County when I came here I was the chair of the Mcome County Arts Authority and when I came here they said in Oakland County murals were tacky and not appropriate. I pushed very much that people would appreciate public murals and art in public spaces. And so we changed the vote in Oakland County and now have the murals project up and running because it was being paid for by our money, our millillage money and we weren't using that in Oakland County. So now we have started year two. Applications are available. It takes a while. Three communities are chosen each year and so I'm just going to leave some information and I hope that you will consider it. You have my information. I'm a voice on the Oakland County Arts Authority for you. If you do decide to apply, please let me know so that I can work with Julie and Salvatore at the DIA to make sure that they know how important art is in this community and how much we would appreciate that. So I'll leave this up here for all of you and I thank you for your time this evening. Thank you very much. Next up, we have Rhonda Yates.

Good evening, council members. My name is Ronda Yates and I'm here to support the OPEIU Local 40 nurses at Henry Ford Rochester Hospital. Uh, Council Member Member Newower, I believe you shared recently how your family relied on that hospital um for an emergency that you had. My own family did too. Uh, several years ago, my father collapsed outside the house uh unconscious and he was hypothermic when he was taken to the hospital. The ICU nurses there cared for him day and night um titrating his propall to keep him in a medically induced coma until they were sure that he could breathe on his own again. Afterward, he did wake up and afterwards he spent several weeks in the rehab there until he regained his strength. Um, so this isn't just a workplace negotiation. It is a community issue for us. Henry Ford Rochester Hospital is an anchor for our city. It's where families turn in their most vulnerable moments. And the quality of care depends on the nurses there who feel supported and valued by not only the administration but also our community. Safe staffing and fair treatment aren't just about wages. They're about patient safety, community health, and often the difference between life and loss for families here in Rochester Hills. I would ask that you please pass a resolution of support so you send a clear message that our city values its caregivers and that we stand with them in making sure that Henry Ford Rochester can continue serving our families with excellence. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Next up, we have I'm sorry, I can't read. Is it Danielle?

Thank you.

Sorry, I was late. I couldn't get my printer to work. Um, hi, city council. My name is Danielle Gulliard. I'm vice president for the nurses at Henry Ford Rochester Hospital. Um, and I am coming to you um, also to ask for a letter of resolution and I brought you a draft copy if you would like a start on your letter. Um, we have been in negotiations for three years. August 10th marked the start of our fourth year. Um, this hospital system came in and merged with Ascension knowing that we had a union there, knowing that we had a we were in the midst of contract negotiations. And I ask them daily, did you read this contract before you agreed to take over this hospital? Because over and over again, they violate it. They um try to find ways around it. They blatantly break it. And knowing that they won't, you know, be held to any type of standard by the NLRB for several years, which has been our experience, they don't care. They're doing it anyway. So, um, Henry Ford Genesis is on strike. They're in week three of their indefinite strike against this employer and they are just dumping money into that hospital to staff the strike with scab nurses instead of bargaining in good faith with their union. They're doing the same here. They will dump any amount of money, waste any amount of time to try to break our union, which we won't be broken, but we have been here asking for resolution. We've been to Rochester Council asking for resolution. We had a picket on Saturday. We are trying everything we can to get them to come to the table and bargain. So my ask of you all is if you would take a serious consideration of a letter of resolution to the hospital. It's not asking will you leverage some type of power to do anything or will you give them all the money. It's will you please return to the table in good faith and please get to a resolution for these nurses. We're tired of fighting. We're in this business to take care of people. We're not in this business to come to city

council and beg for your help. We're not in this business to have railies on the side of the road with a giant inflatable rat. That's not what we do this for. We do this to take care of our community. And last time I was here, I was told this is a private matter and the city council doesn't get involved in private matters. And I can only challenge that with saying this directly impacts your constituents where when they need care, they're coming to Henry Ford Rochester for care and for help and for their family. And while the employer may be a private employer, it directly affects your our your constituents, our community. So, um I will leave these with you to pass down if you'd like and I thank you for your time today.

Thank you very much. Do we have any other public comment this evening for items that are not on the agenda? All right, seeing none, we will go ahead and close public comment for items not on the agenda and move on to the consent agenda. All matters on the consent agenda are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion without discussion. If any member or council member or citizen request discussion of an item, it will be removed from the consent agenda for a separate discussion. I've not been made aware of any request to remove any item from the consent agenda. We have a motion by Mrs. Mrs. Newower, seconded by Mrs. Morland to approve the consent agenda. All those in favor say I. I.

Are there any opposed? Hearing none, the consent agenda passes unanimously. And that moves us on to legislative and administrative comments. Um, I just wanted to take an opportunity to thank the members of the public who came in to speak at public uh comment this evening. Um, you know, it I know I'm sure that maybe um you know, the public arts council maybe council might uh or the administration might take something up on that. I don't know if they how they would uh how they would feel about that. But um uh with respect to uh the two public commenters that came in to speak about uh the the uh the local union dispute, once again, that that's you know, I kind of echo the words of council member Blair uh from the last couple of hearings. That's a private employment dispute between two people. when you are between two organizations, when you're a representative of 75,000 people, there are going to be people on both sides of every issue. And so, generally, the council when it takes up resolutions, it it limits itself to taking up resolutions that are that impact the internal operations of the of the city government. If it doesn't in impact internal operations of city government, it's generally not um within our purview to and you know for seven people to kind of speak on behalf of 75,000 on a private on a private employment issue uh is not really generally as we see our job on council appropriate. So um but next that so that's all the public comments I have but next up uh Mrs. Manioli. Thank you, President Deal. Um, so last week I was on vacation and I missed the state of the city. Uh, I was checking social media to see how the event went

and as usual it was quite a production. Um, but imagine my surprise when I saw a picture of myself with the rest of city council being depicted as flying monkeys. Um, I need this to say I'm not happy. The connotation of a flying monkey is that they are um it's from the Wizard of Oz as you know and where the wicked witch commands winged monkeys to do her work. It is also used to describe the people that a narcissist uses to carry out their wishes. Both of them have a negative connotation. So this weekend when I was at a political event, I asked several elected officials and other political consultants their thought on this characterization as a flying monkey. Um because I thought maybe I was overreacting or taking it the wrong way. Um not one of them thought it was a positive image. So I went looking for the state of the city video to see if I could see if there was an explanation or if it was taken out of context. I could not find the video. uh looked on the city's website, the YouTube channel, it's not there yet. So, I cannot tell you how angry and hurt I am that I was to be pictured in this manner. I have served this city, the residents, and the businesses for over 35 years as an elected official and a community activist. And I've always been an advocate for our city. I thought this was a positive team and that we were all working together for one goal, but maybe I was wrong. But I do want to make it clear. I am no one's flying monkey. Thank you, President Deal.

Thank you very much. Next up, Mr. Blair. Thank you, President Deal. Let me just find my right tab here. All right, there we go. Uh, Christine, would you share my screen, please? By the way, I thought flying monkeys were hilarious, so no worries there. Um, uh, this was in consent agenda and I just wanted to pluck it back out because it's a traffic control order, the product of the advisory traffic and safety board, everybody's favorite community board. Um, this is a example of exactly what the committee does. Um, we have a development and there was a need for a no need for a stop sign, but we thought it might be beneficial to have a stop sign here. um where uh that uh dead end uh exists currently on Edington. And if you have traffic or safety concerns, whether it's a speed limit or a stop sign, that should probably be a yield or if it's lighting related, uh anything traffic and safety related, uh please give the city a call and ask it to be put on the agenda of the advisory traffic and safety board. We meet on the uh second Tuesday of the month as needed. And the information is all on the city's website. You can click on boards and committees and I hope to see you there and help you with all your traffic and safety concerns. Back to you, President Deal.

Thank you very much. And by the way, Mr. Blair, I wanted to say I did I when I saw that I couldn't be more happy when I saw that in the consent agenda because I live in Arcadia Park which and of connects to Edington and often use Edington to get out and that those stop signs 100% necessary and I really want to give a shout out both to your committee and to our DPS who worked with the owner of the daycare center to they did while that is considered a driveway They did not have to put in a stop sign there. They volunteered to put in a stop sign and worked with the city's DPS office for the proper striping for that uh for that uh crosswalk there. So, hats off to everybody. Thank and I just want to thank you for bringing that up because I completely forgot to mention.

Isn't it beautiful when everybody works?

Yes, I I I was but I couldn't be more happy when I saw that in the in the agenda. So, I just hats off to everybody on that. Um Mrs. Newower. Thank you, President Dal. Um, can you share my screen one more time, please? So, this past Saturday, we had the ribbon cutting at the Oakland County Sheriff's Department and my son was left to be photographer. So, I have the pictures and that's why I'm presenting them today. Um, uh, Vice President Carlock, President Deal, um, um, Mr. Walker and I were all there in uh to see the new facilities. We're so thankful. There's some additional safety measures that were put in to protect our officers from the public in the lobby. Um which I think is crucial. The interior's completely re been redone. Um one of the things that I found um really good was that they have a soft interview now room for people who are victims coming in. So they're not in the same kind of atmosphere as maybe a suspect would be interviewed in. Um they they really are in tune with um victims and children in the um community, which I really again was so thankful for. There are some of our puppies um that were also present. But once again, thank you to our Oakland County Sheriff um and sheriff's department for keeping us safe and um for everything they did for our community that day and for Yates and other um that supplied food and beverages and drinks for the community. That's my microphone. I don't know what's happening. I actually don't think it's your mic. I think it's like something coming over the

I don't think it's your mic, but There we go. But um but but yes. Oh, it keeps getting louder. Oh, there we go. Yay. Always leave it to the

um so yeah. Uh but getting back speaking of the Yeah, the sheriff's department that was a that was a wonderful day. uh they opened they opened house in the new facility um over there and you know that was one of the things that council had on on its uh to-do list um was to was to improve the uh sheriff substation there and uh it's a it's a great facility. Hopefully um none of you in the audience will have to see it. Um so let's see with that um we're off to uh Mayor Barnett to see if he has any administrative comments this evening.

Sure that. Thank you uh President D. Good evening, uh, council. If you could share my screen, Mr. Whisper, try to make a couple uh, uh, comments to at least the folks that came to speak. Uh, Miss Miller, thank you for uh, for coming. Um, would love to get more involved with you and your team. Very pro mural, kind of looking at the rest of the council up here, trying to get a few folks with me on the pro mural team. Um, but we have some great spaces for it and so would love to talk with you. In fact, Sarah, if you could raise your hand, kind of leads that angle for us, kind of the art aspect of what we do here, Kenward, as well. So, hopefully you guys can connect before we uh we leave and uh we can figure out how we can uh get more involved with that. Uh to our friends uh representing the nurses, um very much supportive of uh what nurses do uh in our community and around our country. I think that they are um a critical aspect and and certainly support. I have a lot of really good friends that are actually part of your team um uh over at Henry Ford uh and have updated me. Uh I I do share um some of the council's sentiments about the challenges of getting involved. Um we get asked to get involved in a lot of things. Sometimes they're big international conflicts. Sometimes they are employee disputes. Um, and I think our council has done a good job, a very consistent job uh over the last decade of trying to stay focused. I think that tends to be probably um a uh a better scenario than trying to weigh in on matters depending on the issue. We see a lot of other communities do that. I don't think it generally works out well, but I think unequivocally um we support the the great work that nurses do and certainly hope that a resolution uh will be found quickly uh to um the situation there. I don't think there's anyone that uh enjoys uh you know those conflicts and and wants those resolutions to be handled. Obviously, you and your team

are uh uh charting through the process that is uh that is set out for for uh disputes like this and uh we I think certainly hope that um it will resolve itself. But uh hopefully those comments make sense. Um let me go to my screen. I will certainly want to comment on some of the things that were mentioned, but I'll get to that in just a few moments. Uh do want to mention uh a couple things since we've last met. Uh we had a really nice uh semi-dangerous, but thanks to the sheriff's department, maybe not so much. middle of the road ribbon cutting uh at the new Hawk lighting system uh at uh kind of across from the Walmart um over by where we have sort of Mastadon Point. If you really know the city well, you know where Mastadon Point is. Um and want to thank the teams for for going through that. We have late breaking really great Hawk news that we'll be able to bring you maybe at the next meeting um where this might not be the only one we have coming soon. So, uh teaser for more really good information. Our team has done a great job. Uh but this was a nice uh celebration. Friends of the Clinton River Trail were there to talk about the improved safety uh to get to the Clinton River Trail. The LDFA uh obviously a topic of significant con conversation as of late uh funded this for the city. So really great partnership with this and really proud of uh the work that was done there. Uh, I want to thank uh our fire department leadership and fire department team for putting on a really uh appropriate uh tasteful and um uh I think really memorable uh 911 uh remembrance ceremony. Uh it was uh led off by uh young Harper and Sana, Brook's daughter, who led the national anthem, kind of a her break into fame. uh and uh uh really the the fire department does such a good job uh in such a professional way of of recognizing that 20 24 years ago. I mean my remarks mention it's nearly a quarter of a century um since that day and so that was uh uh certainly um I think really a positive recognition uh of that highlighting teams doing things in the

community. Our department of public service was at the Adams Gold Rush and the Falcon Frenzy. Those are sort of the uh big events that the high schools put on where they invite all their feeder elementary schools and middle schools to come and get pumped for the uh for the football game. And then of course we go there to uh to remind them of some cool stuff uh that happens in the city if you want to uh work with big trucks and play on big wheels and make big things happen. Uh uh of course sheriff's department, fire department, and DPS were there at all those events and we certainly appreciate uh their participation and spreading the good word about what uh cities do. Uh here's a a breaking news story. It just happened uh this morning. Uh you might not know the story of this eagle. Uh but this eagle uh was um here and flying on what's known as Eagle's Point just about 100 yards over Councilman Walker's shoulders here. Uh it was kind of originally produced by an Eagle Scout. uh remember the great Ed Leafale uh who worked so tirelessly with so many Eagles uh to uh create projects and the community, the deck behind us here and and all throughout the city, north toss, southeast, west, this was a a a carved situation. Uh it was beginning to rot. It was about to fall over. Uh our team took it in, the Department of Public Services team about a year uh of work to restore this uh from the sort of inside out. uh put the base in and uh put the eagle uh statue up uh this morning. So, Eagle's Point now actually has an eagle uh and I think it's a great recognition of some fantastic folks that uh uh pledged to do some great things in our community. They've uh they stabilized it, restored it, waterproofed it. So, thanks to our team who restored it and of course to the Eagle Scouts who created it. Uh it is now at the corner of Liveroy uh and Avon Road, just a southeast southwest corner and hopefully folks will enjoy It's a great great story and we'll probably talk a little bit more about that. As was mentioned, the state of the city was last Thursday.

It was fantastic. I'm so grateful for our team. Uh we had uh a wonderful opportunity to recognize uh really an I I don't think anybody does this in the country the way we do it. Um the way we're able to tell our story in such a fun way. Uh we recognize, of course, Gifts for All God's Children. Uh Patty Jocks there is a winner of our uh community excellence award. Uh we had uh a great uh support from our directors and council members that were there. We appreciate that. Uh and of course the mayor's office team which starts planning this uh a couple months in advance. Uh we had lots of people donate their time and their talents from the the apostolic church choir to the dance team all donating their time uh for us to tell a great story. And of course, it's been fun to be in the mayor's office uh Friday and today because we've gotten so many great emails and great uh uh text messages uh uh and a lot of folks just who were there who thought it was wonderful, really left really proud of their city, which is what we try to do. The whole goal of this is that people take great pride in in uh in their community and uh we get a chance to to brag on uh some of our incredible team members and some of the success. uh to to Miss Majoli straight up certainly any any decision any creative decision is ultimately uh mine um what you will see when you do watch it and of course we we don't do it live stream so it'll take the team a few days to get it together but what I would encourage you to do is to look at the paragraph in which I recognize the council because what I clearly say just after I recognize my mom uh is that I'm so grateful for the support of the and partnership of the city council that without your dedication, each member bringing diverse perspectives, uh, unique ideas and so forth. Um, and so the meat of that, anyone who is there recognized the incredible partnership and respect that the administration and me in particular have for the relationship that we have with city council. Uh, as you if you had been there, you would have seen that we did a lot of that. Um, the mayor's office team was depicted as Munchkins. Um, it had

nothing to do with their height. Uh it was more a play on um what the production of the Wizard of Oz was. Uh the directors were uh graduates of Shiz University put in silly costumes graduating from a madeup university talking again the meat of it was talking about the words the fact that they're exceptional professionals uh that they've done a tremendous job leading the organization and being a part of the leadership team. So and of course as you see uh many folks get into the theming and costumeuming. one of your colleagues uh dressed up famously uh as a witch. She certainly is nothing but um but took the opportunity to uh to jump in character and extend the brand and extend the message. So, uh, certainly apologize, but I can assure you that there was no, uh, you know, the the the meat of that entire paragraph was an absolute grateful gratefulness for, uh, the friendship that we have, the respect that we have, administration to legislative branch, and the the the recognition that without, uh, the partnership with the city council, we certainly wouldn't have the success that we have. So, hopefully we'll get a chance to to see that. And again, uh, hopefully that was taken. I made, you know, a lot of folks get swept up. I I can't remember all the things that council has been in the past, but you've been uh something unique uh almost every year depending on the theme uh of the of the uh of the uh speech, but thank you for the the city team and all for um for putting on a tremendous uh event. We really appreciate that. A couple events coming up. Uh we have one of our uh uh big ones coming up in October at the museum, which is the pumpkin fest. But before that, we have the scarecrow building workshop. Again, a little bit of in keeping in the theme of the Wizard of Oz. uh September 30th uh 11 to 2. Uh uh this is a lot of fun. A lot of corporate corporate corporations get involved, businesses get involved, uh nonprofits get involved, create scarecrows, put them up at the museum, and uh uh it's a kind of a fun way to celebrate and and uh uh the museum gets a lot of uh love that day. So encourage you to to mark that on your calendar. The Adams Road

corridor, the next uh meeting is October the 1st. That's Wednesday. It'll be at West Middle School. Uh they'll be this group, you know, has been meeting for like almost two years now. uh under uh Sarah Roodiger's team and her leadership uh they'll be coming the road commission Oakland University city and and the consultants will be coming talking about uh the assimilation of the results and comments that the people have heard and a a recommendation of next steps and so we encourage the community to join us on Wednesday October 1st to find out uh uh where Adams Road is headed and to continue to be a part of that process. Uh we had a as mentioned by councilwoman Newower a very successful uh sheriff's department openhouse. We have uh a fire department openhouse on Wednesday, October the 8th uh which council member uh youth council will be there as well. Lots of exciting things. Cider and donuts if you don't like anything else. Uh it's a great time to check out station one and they've got some new things there and it's a really they do such a great job that day. So encourage you to uh uh to come out and uh and take a look and support our firefighters as well. Uh it's busy. There's lots going on. Um but the city is uh doing well and we have some like I said some really exciting grant news that we look forward to sharing with the council here uh maybe at the next meeting. But uh for now uh that's all. President Deal. Thank you.

Thank you very much for that update this evening. I don't think we have any further legislative or administrative comments. We'll turn turn it over for the attorney's report. I have nothing this evening.

Very good. Uh, new business item number 2025-000020 request for acceptance of grant recommendation to accept the updated terms of the US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration Office of Safety Grant Agreement between the city of Rochester Hills and the US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration Office of Safety Grant Agreement for the development of a comprehensive study or I'm sorry, comprehensive safety action plan to and two supplemental planning activities, non-motorized vehicle network or I'm sorry, non-motorized network gaps and safety study in a neighborhood traffic calming program and policy. Mr. Fritz,

thank you and good evening, President. Good evening, members of council, Mayor Barnett and Miss Woo. Um, like you just said, we're here to request authorization of a revised grant for the Safe Streets for All uh grant program. you. It may sound familiar to you because we were here in January where you approved the original grant application. That's when we sent it into the federal government. They changed the administrative rules requiring us to modify our application. So, we've been working with them ever since then to get it uh under the new guidelines. So, I'm here to request your authorization to go ahead with the revised grant.

Very good. We have a motion by Mr. Blair, seconded by Mrs. Newower. Um, I don't see any further discussion or public comment on this item. So, I'll go ahead and read the resolution. Uh, now therefore, be it resolved that the Rochester Hills City Council accepts the updated terms of the grant agreement between the city and the US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Office of Safety Grant Agreement, federal award number 693 JJ 325430 for $440,000 with the city providing a 20% local match requirement in the amount of $110,00 000 for a total project cost of $550,000 and expend the funds within two years of the grant agreement execution. Be it further resolved that the Rochester Hills City Council authorizes the mayor as the city's recipient and further authorizes the mayor to execute the grant agreement and any subsequent required documentation on behalf of the city. All those in favor say I.

I. Are there any opposed? Hearing none, that passes unanimously. Thank you.

Thank you. And next up, item number 2025-0326, adoption of the fiscal year 2026 budget. Mr. Snyder. Oh, thank you, President Deal, City Council, Mayor Bernett, Miss Woo. Well, the city's directors and I are here tonight to request the city Rochester Hills city council formal approval of the fiscal year 2026 proposed budget for the city of Rochester Hills. The first step in establishing this proposed fiscal year 2026 budget plan presented before you tonight was first to meet with the city council strategic planning and technical review committee. And that was back in May of this year at the very beginning of this budget process. And uh that committee reviewed and confirmed city council's goals and objectives for the upcoming year. Then with city council's vision for the city in mind, directors, staff, and the mayor worked to develop this latest budget plan covering fiscal years 2026 to 2028. Then on uh July 1st or I'm sorry, July 21st, I presented a long-term 7-year forecast covering 2026 to 2032 to the city council, and it laid out the long-term assumptions and financial outlooks for the city. Next, on August 11th, the mayor's proposed three-year budget plan. This covered fiscal years 2026 to 2028. That was formally presented per the city charter at the city council's first meeting in August. City council then reviewed the proposed budget information and provided a list of questions on the proposed budget plan and we provided administrative responses to all of those questions and those are included in the budget agenda package. On August 18th, we held a budget workshop which was open to the public where each department presented their proposed budget plans and we were available for any questions and/or comments. At the conclusion of that meeting, there was one straw poll question posed to city council members

to amend the mayor's budget proposed budget plan. Next step on September 8th, we held another public hearing and this will allow an additional opportunity for public comments. And as well at that and at that evening, I informed the city council members of the results of the city's straw poll, which did vote to amend the mayor's proposed budget to uh have the addition of one uh part-time facilities um or museum facilities tech to a full-time status. And that brings us to tonight, September 22nd, 2025, where we, as a collective unit, respectively request your support and approval of the city's fiscal year 2026 budget plan. I, along with the mayor and all the city directors behind me, fully support this budget, and we respectfully request city council's approval of the city of Rochester Hills fiscal year 2026 plan. Collectively, we are here if you have any final questions or comments on the city's proposed 2026 budget. Thank you. Very good. Thank you so much for that, Mr. Snyder, and that description of the, you know, the entire process that we've kind of gone through. As as as tonight we will have one vote on it. You know, that will probably seem very routine, but I like that you laid it out because it is really the culmination of months of work and it is probably the single most important job that we have as as a city council. And so I really really appreciate the way you laid that out for you know the how the entire process works. So thank you once again and and also thank you to the administration and the staff and everyone for all of your hard work on this. We greatly appreciate it. We've asked, we know that we ask lots of questions because, you know, it's our job as the oversight body to to ask those questions and and you guys always always in my eight years of being here have always risen to the occasion. Um,

even you all work so hard and diligently that early on I had to make a special note to when I because I would go over the the all the these things over the weekend and I knew that if I I started figuring out that if I sent you guys a question on a Saturday, I'd get an answer within five minutes. And I'm like, no, I need these people to have their weekend. They are entitled to their weekend. So, I would always put a little tickler, the send later uh button on there so that it wouldn't get sent out until Monday morning because I knew that even if I said don't answer, you would still answer the emails because you guys really all work that hard and care that much about what you're doing. So, uh we as a council appreciate it more than you probably know and more than I can probably express. But, um we do have some other council comments, so I'll get out of their way. Uh Mrs. Mongioli.

Thank you, President Deal. Uh, I echo President Deal's comments, thanking you and the staff for all the work that you do on putting the budget together, answering all our questions, um, making sure that we have the information we need to make a good decision relative to 223 million and change for 2026. Um at the workshop I had expressed a concern about the uh increase in the charter millage rate because it was the first time in what 10 years that we were increasing the charter mill rate because so many of the other millages had reached their headley cap and so we couldn't um increase them any further. um that amount, the 250,000 in my mind equals almost what we spent at our last meeting fixing Brewster Road because there was an overage. Um, so as I start hearing seeing those different pieces, I'm wondering we can find 250 million to or,000 250,000 to cover the Brewster Road um overage, but 250,000 to um not raise our charter mills is not something we couldn't find at the time. So, um, what I'm asking is for us to challenge ourselves over the next year because 250,000 is sometimes a rounding error or one of the directors will say, "Yes, it's over, but we're going to do a budget amendment in the next quarter and, you know, move the money around and it works." I would like to see us go back to the 2025 millage rate next year when you bring the budget forward to us. If it's $250,000 somewhere, I think we can find that amount of money in order to not have to pay force the taxpayers to take an increase, especially when we can find

$250,000 to cover a a road overage within the existing budget and not have to pull something out of a different account in order to make that happen. So, it's a challenge. Um, but I would love to be able to say next year we reduced your taxes back to where the 2025 millage rate was. Um, and so we have a year to make those changes. Um, and hopefully we can find that money in the coming year. Um, even sometimes because things don't come in as expensive as we thought. So, can we put some money aside to make sure the taxpayers are not having to pay more? Um, I'm hearing too much from taxpayers at this point that things are getting expensive. Inflation hasn't come down as much as they would like or they're not feeling it in their weekly grocery bills. So, it' be nice to be able to tell them that their property taxes are going to go down as well. So, but in the meantime, I appreciate all the work that you've done, the information that you've provided, and with that president deal, I move the resolution in our pack.

Motion by Mrs. Mioli, seconded by Oh my goodness. Okay, I gotta move. Uh, we'll go with Mrs. Morlin. Um, so motion by Mrs. Mongoli, second by Mrs. Morland, and Mayor Barnett.

Yeah, thank you, President. Yeah, just u as this seems to be heading uh towards uh a a positive uh ending, just just want to thank the council for uh their partnership in this. Um this is not an easy process and I am exceptionally proud of the way our team puts it together. Uh, and it's led by CFO Snyder, uh, and, uh, Miss Hoy, and and the rest of the folks there. Um, I I don't know if if anybody, this might sound bad coming from me, I'm not sure if any if any fiscal team does it better. Um, uh, hopefully it's clear. It's clear to residents. Uh, if they want to see, they can see where every single dime uh, of their dollars are going. Um, and as we talked about, um, in this particular budget, I think two things are important to note. Um because of the financial stewardship of the city council, the strong direction given by city council and the followth through by the administration, uh we are Michigan's only debt-free city. Uh we own everything that you see free and clear. Every building, every truck, every car, every fire apparatus, every parkland, um no pension obligations. That's a unique and envious position for every other community in Michigan, which I think is exceptional. Uh we're paying for things in cash and we're not, you know, and still investing. Your direction in this is still to invest in in uh in things quality of life issues like parks and so forth as we you know more money spent on roads next year than we've ever done in the history of our city. Similar with parks. Uh I think that's exceptional. Uh and the second part uh is just as just as important. Certainly a recognition of what Miss Munie only said. No, no taxpayer ever wants to pay more. And I think that includes all seven of you and and and myself included. Um and our CFO who's as as tight as anybody and his I think his family would tell you that that's true.

Um but it should be noted that um there's only one other city you could live in in the entire county that pays less taxes than us. We're the second lowest taxed community in our county and still provide the kind of level of services that we provide is exceptional. So you might say, okay, well, you know, uh, you're doing a lot of things and paying, you know, spending more on roads and parks than ever before, but you're probably taxing people a lot. Wrong. Wrong. We're we're the second lowest in Michigan, uh, or excuse me, second lowest in the county among cities. So So I think that's a pretty cool scenario for our residents that are here. um that um you know that that we have our residents have come to expect uh financial prudence from the city um and Joe and his team and the directors over here behind me who've been a part of every part of this step of this process including tonight uh understand the council's me message and direction uh and I think are delivering it in spades. So really proud of the process. Appreciate council's uh support hopefully tonight uh and their trust in us as we'll execute hopefully uh another uh budget that you can be proud of uh as uh you know you know literally the only city in Michigan that's debtfree and uh doing it on a a pretty thin nickel. Thanks.

Thank you very much Mayor Bernett. Yeah, really, really and truly, I think that it's, you know, obviously our fiscal position is the envy of all of our peers. Um, but even more than that, the process that this city employs to get to where we are, if there's a better system out there, I haven't seen it. Um I know that since I've been on this council and I have and I have uh you know observed the way we do things as I've worked on our fund balance pol our fund balance policy is second to no one's uh and our and it it's these policies and these processes that enable us to to to do what we do and and really and truly um I've taken these policies cop copied and pasted them and and brought them into other organizations because any organization can operate this way. Any organization probably should operate this way. Um, and really and truly and the results are just what the mayor said. It's it's it's not an accident that this city is in the position that it's in. It is the result of deliberate action and a deliberate process that that brings us to this point. So I just this will be my last budget. So I am just incredibly proud though of what this body has done, what this city has accomplished and I'm incredibly proud of this, you know, every single employee that works here. I am just couldn't be more proud to be a resident of the city. So we have a motion by Mrs. Mongoli, seconded by Mrs. Morland. I'll read it into the record. resolved that the list of funds as set sets forth the general appropriations for the city and adopts

the city budgets for fiscal year 2026 as they appear in your packet. Be it further resolved that the mayor is hereby authorized to administratively adjust the operating budget line items up to $25,000 per event. But in no case may total expenditures of a particular fund exceed that which is appropriated by city council without a budget amendment. Adjustments from capital accounts and fund balances shall be made only by further action of city council. I believe I've read that correctly. Hopefully. All right. All those in Well, yeah. All those in favor say I. I. Are there any opposed? Hearing none. That motion passes unanimously. Thank you, Mr. Snider.

Thank you, city council. And with that, the most important line item, most important business of the year. We have no further business in front of the Rochester Hills City Council. We have a motion by M. Mrs. Newower, seconded by this time Mr. Blair to adjurnn. All those in favor of adjournment, say I. Are there any opposed? Hearing none, that motion passes unanimously. We are adjourned. Thank you very much, everyone.