City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Uh, roll call, please. Madam clerk. Mayor Beall, present. Deputy mayor res present. Council member Mar present. Council member Bachel is excused. Council member Brown Fox here. Council member Sharp present.

I'm sorry. Council member, this is agenda is wrong. Yes. Did you guys notice that? I just I just did. Did Okay. Well, that's why um that's why there was a little pause for a minute, but everyone is here. All right. Change your changes or additions to the agenda as presented tonight. City manager, I have no changes, sir. Assistant city manager. I have none, sir. Any from the DAS? All right. Very good. Moving on to approval of minutes. We got two sets of minutes to approve tonight. First one is the regular city council meeting of November 18th, 2025. Do I have a motion? Move to approve. Support.

Any discussion? Seeing none, I got a motion and a second to approve the regular city council meeting minutes from November 18th, 2025. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Uh the next set of minutes will be the regular city council meeting from November 25th, 2025. Do I have a motion? Balloon or any discussion? Seeing none, I got a motion and a second to approve the regular city council meeting minutes from November 25th, 2025. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Opposed?

Motion carries. We have no correspondence tonight, which so we'll move on to city manager report. The first um report is the fire report from October 2025. Any questions for the chief? Wow. Uh, next up is the police report from October 2025. Any for Chief Langmire? No, not a question. Just kind of sharp.

Uh, I was just looking at the numbers 25 to 24 all calls for service down by like 33% I'd say about on the year for the month of uh October. Any thoughts on warmer out or something or colder out or people it's just amazing. the number the drop in the numbers is coming from those miscellaneous calls for service and that's just we're not getting as many calls from the residents for things those minor things that are out there things like the lockouts. We are down a couple people right now so there's not as many traffic stops which are included in there. That's all those miscellaneous minor things that we take care of and those are the ones that are really down. Overall crime is down across the board which is a good thing. Um, but that the big drop comes from that that neighborhood right there.

Okay. Thank you. Yes, sir. Any other questions? All right. Thanks, Steve. Thank you. Uh, next up is consent agenda. All items listed under the consent agenda are considered routine by the city council and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a council member sole requests in which the event in which the items will be removed from the consent agenda and added to the regular agenda at the end of unfinished or new business. Do I have a motion? Support. Okay. Got a motion to support to approve the consent agenda as presented tonight. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I.

Opposed. Motion carries. Uh, next item up is the call to the public. I'm not going to read the rules to call to the public because we have no public here tonight. We have no unfinished business. So, we'll move on to new business number one. And that's a recommendation to approve a three-year quote for annual downtown flower installation and maintenance with Eerts Greenhouse of Sterling Heights, Michigan, and Worry-Free Outdoor Services of Royal Oak, Michigan for fiscal year 2026 2027 for the amount of $45,271.50. 50. Fiscal year 202728 for the amount of 42,27150 and fiscal year 2028 2029 for the amount of $46,516.50 from downtown Flowers account number 248-729-956.016. Do a motion?

So move. All right. Before we get into any discussion though, just for uh transparency, I do know the owner of Worry-Free Outdoor Services. I referee with them. Um I don't see him all that often. Maybe once or twice a year, but just to be transparent, I'm putting that out there. That we'll go to uh Assistant City Manager Benson.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh good evening, members of city council. You all are likely familiar with the hanging baskets that we do on the light poles in the downtown district. We've been doing them for a few years. Uh this past year uh in 2025 uh we did work with a different firm than we have historically. Uh the combination of Eert's Greenhouse for the flower baskets and then worry-f free outdoor services for the uh routine maintenance of those flower baskets. Uh one-year trial basis to see if we like them. The the price was lower than our previous vendor who used to do both pieces. uh the uh the DDA board and uh and staff thought that this combination of service providers did a very nice job and we were generally very pleased with their service this year. And so the recommendation before you tonight is uh is a three-year uh quote or agreement uh to continue that relationship with these two firms. Um same number of baskets, uh same maintenance schedule, all of these things. Um, you know, that's the scope of work is listed in the agenda item. Uh, the DDA board did consider this cons this request at their last meeting in November and they unanimously recommended approval to city council. If there are any additional questions about the service or the service providers, I'd be happy to uh try and answer them. Council member Bman,

I'll just say that um flowers were much better this last year than they have ever been and I'm glad to see that we're sticking with them for the next several years. Deputy Mayor Resnment. Uh it's great to also to see that they kept the price the same for those first two years of the contract. That was very generous as well. Council member Sharp, uh do we know what color the flowers are going to be? Those have not been decided yet. And you're not going to get to not red and white. That's why I wanted to do it now. Got to know now. I I I still don't know if scarlet and gray is an option. Uh but uh no, those are the Christmas trees in the DDA.

No, I was just going to say I support this. I I agree with uh Council Member Beerman. The best looking flowers we've had in this program. I just And I've said this to Director Clutier. I'm hoping we can figure out some placement revisions going forward where we really make an impact and there are sometimes I feel like the flowers are just halfhazardly spread. Although Oh, there's a there's a light pole. We got to put one over here. Oh, there's a light pole. Let's put one over this section. I feel like we really if we could kind of concentrate them down at Wixom and Pontiac Trail area. um you know it just feels like it would make more of an impact and be more wow factor rather than just say hey that's that's a nice looking set of flowers that's a nice looking downtown you know the whole thing so that's just my only comment but I definitely support it the guys they did a great job best looking best looking ones yet thank you

yeah I received a bunch of compliments too on the flowers this year so I'm happy that we're sticking with the two businesses that we're dealing with and it's going to be longterm relationship So, with that, I got a motion and a second to approve the recommendation to approve a three-year quote for annual downtown Flower installation, excuse me, and maintenance with Eerts Greenhouse of Sterling Heights, Michigan, and Worry-Free Outdoor Services of Royal Oak, Michigan for fiscal year 2026 2027 for the amount of $45,271.50. Fiscal year 2027 2028 for the amount of $42,271.50. and for fiscal year 2028 2029 for the amount of $46,516.50 from downtown Flowers account number 248-729-956.016. All those in favor please signify by saying I.

I opposed. Motion carries. Excuse me. New business number two is a request for approval of the 2026 proposed operating budget for the Michigan Airline Trailway Management Council. A motion. support. All right, a motion a second. City Manager Brown.

Yeah, it's relatively routine, but I didn't want to put everything on consent. So, that's my admission on this. So, um it's the annual budget for the Michigan Airlines Trail. Uh dollar amount uh revenue is $106,000 and change. Um expenses is about $67,000 and change. Uh that leaves a a contribution to fund balance and the you'll see on the attachment that the uh uh contribution to fund balance is just under $40,000 and the previous set aside was about 85. That leaves us with about $125,000 of excess funds available for maintenance and other purposes such as that. Uh the usual uh stuff is in there in terms of uh cost for insurance and cost for the uh trail manager. Um, we did include uh an annual adjustment for the trail manager as opposed to uh the way it's been handled in the past. So, that's about the only tweak to the budget this year. Uh, nothing else that I was going to highlight. We're looking for approval to that so that we can uh proceed with the trailway council vote tomorrow.

Council member McGron Fox. Thank you. Could you explain for me or anyone that may might be watching how how this is split up between the different communities? Um, not this. I know this is our portion, but as far as the whole expenditure for the maintenance of the trail,

yeah, the the um budget handles the the day-to-day stuff, the the tax or the insurance, the the fees for the uh for the management from the trailway manager. Um and then maintenance is intended to be on uh the individual communities. That's something that just came up actually and we looked at that whether we were going to change that mo, we decided not to. Um so maintenance is done on an as needed basis and it depends on where it's where it's at within the community. uh you know so if it's a problem in Wixom as we currently have an an issue with some uh pavement failure just just to the uh to the west of uh center centerard there that's going to be on our dime. Um so that's how that gets handled.

Now didn't this change or maybe I'm confusing it with something else but when Wald Lake went out didn't it change how that was all figured for the other communities? I don't recall there was any change to the to the funding or the or how the individual costs are handled. Um we're believe it or not still dealing with the uh approval of the uh actual change in the uh interlocal agreement that's continues to drag on much to my dismay at this point but um we're close to a solution on that and about to get it taken care of. I think it's pretty much handled now. Okay. So, but no, I don't recall anything that was impacted in terms of change in mo by them getting out other than the maintenance of the section in Walt Lake. But again that we would have been on Walt Lake anyway.

Right. So if they come back in it will have no effect on on our expenditures for that. Right. Okay. That's something that the with what's happened in elections maybe that's something. Thank you. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Resnick. That was one of my questions. Have any discussions been initiated to see if there's a at least a lukewarm interest? Yeah. Well, we'll I'll bring it up again at the trailway council meeting which is scheduled for tomorrow. Um there was some uh discussion of it but no decision as to whether to to to basically go out and solicit that or not. So I'll bring it up for discussion tomorrow and see if we want to proceed with that. And then the revenue line uh the billboard revenues that billboard that's over by M5. Is that correct?

That is correct. Yes. And that's okay. All right. That's that one. And the the forward fund is separately accounted for as a line item and that's going to be hold aside for 20 years down the line. Correct. Right. All right. Very good. All right. See no further discussion. I've got a motion and a second to approve the request for approval of the 2026 proposed operating budget for the Michigan Airline Trailway Management Council. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I.

I. Opposed. Motion carries. I will not read the rules. So, second call to the public as still we have no public here tonight. So, we'll move on to city manager's comment. City manager Brown. Yes. So, the only thing that I have in the city manager update uh for this council meeting is in relation to the uh billboard contract that the downtown development authority um has uh entered into. Uh we have uh had one billboard uh that has been up uh since the inception of the program. Um we are looking for the next one to go up uh in mid December to late December depending on the timing of this kind of approval. Um the uh new billboard is going to be focusing on the Wednesdays and Wixom promotion which is kind of one of the things that I thought would have been one of the best beneficiaries of that to to see if we have an impact on the program or not. So I'm looking forward to that seeing how that turns out. We've uh looked at different design alternatives trying to incorporate some of the feedback uh that we had from council and others about the readability of the of the billboard, the first one out of the box if you will. Uh so this one uh is going to be more simple in its design and content and uh it's going to be focused on Wednesdays and Wixom. So looking forward to seeing that and seeing what kind of an impact we can have on that program which I think is something that can grow. So just a FYI on that.

Very good. Assistant city manager Benson, anything?

Yeah, just one note. Uh you may have seen either in the news on Friday or earlier today um there was an announcement the Michigan Strategic Fund did approve a business development grant for Pterodine um I'm sorry I want to get this right. Pterodine Robotics Group um they've announced that they plan to locate here in the city of Wixom. Um they'll be taking over an existing facility former manufacturing facility. So it it really uh appears to be a very good fit for us. um 230 new jobs and a $32 million investment into that facility. So, uh you should see more or hear more as they get kind of closer on their internal buildout. But, uh just an exciting kind of piece of news and uh we're we're we're thrilled that the state will help support that and that they chose Wix. And that's all I have for them. Wix is a happening spot these days, man. Two big announcements. Madam clerk, anything tonight?

No. Okay, we'll move on to council comments. Uh, council me uh council member Barman say the Christmas tree lighting was a nice nice event and following the same trend Christmas lights the trees at Wixom and Wixom. They need some some work. There's some of them that are not on. That's it. All right. Uh, council member council council member sharp. I've got this thing around my neck and it's choking me. I was going to say

I knew probably I told Crystal it's probably a little too soon for something like that with me, but

thank you, mayor. I did also I wanted to comment on a couple things. One, the lunchon that uh Steve Brown and his team put on for the city staff and uh on December 3rd was a wonderful event. I couldn't believe how many people were here. I it's biggest in my six years. I know that. So, really well attended and everybody was having a good time. What a great team uh we have here. Uh, also the Christmas tree lighting was a a great event. Santa made it on time this year. The tree worked. And uh, Sinja and Smith, that band is really good. And I'm hoping we'll get them again in the summertime. I think they played last summer here. And I just wanted to comment how good the mayor looks in red. Thank you.

Council member grilling effects. Well, not to be a broken record, but I too would like to uh just say how nice the uh, tree lighting was. So, thank you to parks and DPW, police and fire, every anyone else that had uh played a part in that. It was a great event. Thank you, Council Member OD.

Thank you. Um again, just following in suit that everything was so nice at the tree lighting, seeing all the families with younger kids. Um it's part of what makes our city so great. So, I'm glad we could do that. And then just a shout out to uh the chief and his team for the stuff the squad car um making probably a lot of kids very happy this Christmas. So that's a wonderful thing. Thank you.

Deputy Mayor Resnik mayor. Um also want to say the the lunch Steve was great. Um it was really good to be able to meet some of the new people like our new assessors. I sat with them and chatted quite a bit and get to meet the engineering groups and everything else. So, um, great event, tree lighting, uh, had a blast and, you know, the whole family again, um, including all my crazy grandchildren running around. We had a blast. Um, also had a chance to pop into Let's Brunch on Friday. It was nice that they stayed open. Um, I think it's going to be a hit. I mean, uh, we just had soup and they were wonderful. And then I talked to a lot of different families on Sunday that had gone in and a lot of high um marks for quality of the food and the service over there. So, but they've got a hit. Looking forward to Ma's uh deli opening soon, too. That's it.

Very good. And I want to thank Parks and Rec, excuse me, and um DPW, police, and fire for a another successful tree lighting. And it was great to see uh even with the weather the way it was, there's a lot of people out there, a lot of kids. And uh a special thanks to the police department for making sure Santa got out of here so he can get up, finish his last minute chores before he comes back and visits all the all the boys and girls in Wixom. Uh Steve, thank you again for the lunch that you hosted. That was fun. Good time. And it's nice to see everybody who like all our employees and all the other departments that we deal with. you know, we get together and everybody's having a good time and that's what it's all about. So, thank you. Uh, and again, and then to Chief Langmire, uh, another successful squad, uh, stuff the squad car. We got a little shout out on TV about it. So, uh, very good. And then, um, Breakfast with Santa is this Saturday. I Is it is it full? Can they still register if they need to?

Uh, registration has passed, but we never turn any late.

Okay. So yeah, that's always a fun event and uh I'm honored that they let me u serve ham and pancakes and stuff like that. So, and then the last thing I want to mention is the hospitality house donation that um they've been uh we've been running for the past few weeks. Uh yesterday was the last day for it and in total we uh d the great uh citizens of Wixom and everybody else who did it. They uh donated 163 pounds of food and um uh supplies, health supplies and stuff like that. So that that's pretty awesome that uh you know it's we're we're in a need for uh things like this to to happen because there are you know families that are struggling out there and and and it's pretty awesome what everybody did. And I want to give a a shout out to Michigan Community Insurance Agency, Drafting Table, Spray Chick, Airbrush Tanning, Wixom Liquor, Backyard County, and uh Wixom City Hall. We all had bins here that people could donate uh and drop off their food. So, um, thank you to everybody who did that. And with that, do I have a motion to adjourn? All those in favor.