City Council - workshop

Thank you. Thank you. Do you both have power? I don't know. Five, four, three.

We'll call the City Council work session to order. Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilperson Hader?

Yes.

Steelgrave?

Here.

Binding?

Excuse.

Germani? Here. Stringham? Here. Felder?

Here.

Mayor Clark?

Here. Next item is?

The next item on the work session is public comment.

We do have items on the agenda that we'll be speaking about as public comment. Is there any comments from the public that is here this evening? Any public comments? Seeing none, next item.

The next item under the work session agenda is item 6016, Monroe Housing Commission Update.

Thank you, Interim Manager Cochran. Introductions or? Yeah. Thank you.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor, Council Clerk, Treasurer Lavoie. So we recently had the pleasure to, Matt Van Nessacker and I had the pleasure to meet with Jasmine with the Monroe Housing Commission. She's the director after Nancy Wayne officially retired. And so we had the opportunity to sit down and chat, hear more about some future plans with the Housing Commission. And we thought it might be a good opportunity to have them come and do a little background on the Housing Commission for those who may be unaware. but also to have a discussion about some of their future plans development of which some of it is going to require City Council's involvement and approval as well. So Jasmine is here to present as such and thank you.

Welcome.

All right, we're just gonna discuss the development and planning. The overview is gonna go over our mission, the program that we have, the portfolio that we have as well, the deed of trust that is at Greenwood Townhomes and River Park Plaza, and then also just giving you a short description of public housing, the HUD Section 9 platform, Faircloth, and then RAD slash LIHTC, which is Low Income Housing Tax Credits. the Greenwood expansion, and then also Murano Housing Commission's vision for creating a neighborhood and community opportunity. Our mission statement is always to aim to provide safe, decent, and affordable housing that will create opportunities that promote self-sufficiency and economic independence for the residents that reside throughout our properties. It is a general admission housing, which means that their rent is 30% of their gross adjusted income. The portfolio that we do have is that we have River Park Plaza that is at 20 North Rossler Street. It's 146 one-bedroom units. It is independent living. We also have Greenwood Townhomes that's located at 930 Greenwood Avenue. It's 115 units that consists of two, three, and four bedroom units. We call them our family housing. We also have 30, sorry about the typo for the 33, but it is 30 scattered sites that we sold back in 2020 that we did partner with the city at that time to sell that housing. The deed of trust. Just a little history. Back in, I'd say in the 60s when public housing came to be, the city partnered with HUD. It's called the ACC contract. That was signed that you guys would have 263 public housing units in the city of Monroe. And at that time, it was part of the city. The Housing Commission was part of the city. As time went on, HUD decided, you know what, we need to part from the city and become our own entity. So they parted their ways. However, they never took the city's name off of the deed of trust. The Housing Commission is now a commission under ordinance for the city of Monroe. So you do appoint all of our board members. We have five of them. Excuse me. When we're wanting to do some redevelopment, this is our opportunity and really to try and get where HUD was trying to do back in the day is to get the city's name and put the full ownership into the housing commission's name. So right now our River Park Plaza property and the Greenwood Townhomes property does have the city's name on it, along with HUD's name on it. So, you know, the city couldn't budge or, you know, try and sell the property without HUD's authority because HUD is truly the owners of the property that is there. And even though we are trying to remove the city's name, I think that it's important that our partnership is still essential and it's still going to support and redevelop the property that we have and the property that we anticipate doing in the future. Just a short description. So HUD Section 9 is called public housing. So that means that all of our funding comes from HUD. We're not MSHDA, so we get no state funding at all. It's all federally funded. And with that, all of the residents, their rent is based off of HUD regulation. So their rent is 30% of their income. Faircloth. When the Housing Commission sold those 30 units, HUD had a regulation that, you know what, we're going to let you basically put a placeholder in for those 30 units that you could build another 30 units and still get operating subsidy from HUD to operate those additional 30 units that you want to develop on. And then they have, it's called rental assistance demonstration. It's where you can use other funding to redevelop the property that you have, but also to build new developments. And one of that funding source could be low-income housing tax credits or LIHTC, where it's private investors getting tax credits in order to help with affordable housing in communities like ours. One thing that we do wanna do is do an expansion out at Greenwood Townhomes. We are exploring and thinking about purchasing approximately 10 acres of the city's land that sits right behind Greenwood in order to utilize those 30 Faircloth units that we do have. Our idea is to start with one-bedroom units, ideally 10 at first. Those will be for senior or the disabled, but definitely one-bedroom units. And then as we continue further down the phase of the development, we would move into family housing as well. And when we do family housing, we can do mixed incomes. So it would be AMI, which is the area medium income, which is a mix of income. So it's not just low income. You know, those incomes do include firefighters and teachers and essential workers. So it could definitely be a good mix of income for that new development. And when we do the new development, there's a pilot, which is a payment in lieu of taxes. We do have one already implemented for the property that is existing. But for the new development, we would like to negotiate a new pilot for the new development if we're able to get those 10 acres to develop. And I just wanted to show you a little bit here what property is sitting right behind Goodwood at this time. And then just a quick summary. Just creating a neighborhood and community opportunity, we believe that redeveloping and preserving the existing housing portfolio is crucial for the city of Monroe. We also believe that partnering with the city and getting the city's support is one of your guys' long-term economic and community development goals, and we'd love to be a partnership in that to really recreate that for the residents here in the city. And truth be told, out at Greenwood, we've already kind of started in redeveloping. I know that through CDBG funding that we've built the Anthony Webb Community Center, That also included the Bonnie Doster and Jack McGee Library and we have the police substation there as well. So adding on to that existing or to that 10 acres that we are looking to purchase from you guys does meet some of the needs of the residents that are there or that's going to be there in the future. Thank you. Any questions?

Well, I guess I'll ask council first if there's any questions from council for Jasmine. Michelle?

So are these gonna be little houses or are you thinking town homes for the addition?

It's gonna be a variety. I don't think we've honed down on one particular design yet. I know that for right now we're thinking just one bedrooms. I'm not sure about if it's gonna be town homes or tiny houses or duplexes.

Other questions? Looks like maybe interim manager Cochran has something. I think I understand because we've chatted. And you're looking to obviously expand and develop, and we talked about the houses, I remember that as we went through the sale of those here just a few years ago. and how that then transitioned into the community. So you have the space to be able to rebuild those at the same time as you move in there, you're gonna come back and do a redevelopment in the existing locations, is that correct?

That's correct.

Yeah, because you mentioned a couple of items that you are redeveloping and have with the, you know, the library, the police, and then also, of course, the web center there, which is very nice. So it gives you the opportunity to continue to house while you're redeveloping the others that would then be updated, so to speak, for housing in the future as well.

Yes, that's correct.

Mark?

Yeah. So when we talk about the expansion and the proposed 10-acre acquisition from the city for the high property, Part of why we thought it was relevant to have this conversation tonight is because we're currently working on the sub-area master plan for the high property, which is the 135 acres from Mason Run 2.0 north to Greenwood, and coming up with a master plan for what we would like that neighborhood to look like and how that can be used and utilized to the highest and best use for residential development. When it was Nancy at the time came and talked to us about the plans and now working with Jasmine, we said, well, this is perfect timing because we'd like you to be part of the team as we develop the master plan. They were able to also incorporate your plans and your future proposal into that property. And so we're working hand in hand on that right now, looking at with those 10 acres and those future development plans, how that may impact POSSIBLE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT ON THE REMAINDER OF THE HIGH PROPERTY. SO THANKS FOR THE PRESENTATION TONIGHT. BUT MAYOR, IF I MAY, I'D ALSO, COULD YOU TOUCH ON SOME OF THE FUTURE PLANS WITH THE CONVERSION WITH THE REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS LATER THIS YEAR AND CITY COUNCIL'S INVOLVEMENT IN APPROVAL OF THE CONVERSION OF THAT INTO LIHTC?

Yeah, we're looking into doing a LIHTC application. The next round is in October. And with that, the deed of trust is a crucial part of that application. When you do LIHTC, the property needs to fully be in the Housing Commission's name. It can't have any other name on it. So it is a key piece to getting an application in. So that is one of the main things for that LIHTC application.

Mayor, so we recently went through this with the fire station redevelopment, if you may remember, with Woda Cooper applying for LIHTC tax credits through MSHDA and having to show site control over the fire station site as well as the county property. So you're somewhat familiar with that process of having an agreement in place with the potential developer, which in this case would be the Housing Commission. But that would require us to take the property out of the city of Monroe's name and convey that full ownership to the Monroe Housing Commission. And then they are, Jasmine, correct me, and Phil, and if I'm wrong, you're going to work with a developer to receive the LIHTC tax credits that's going to help with the funding for the Greenwood redevelopment and possibly River Park Plaza, correct?

That's correct, yes. Okay.

So Mark, just because we did this recently with the Water Cooper and of course as we move forward with that, it's the same process in the sense that working with the city and having those, the developer and as they come in, they'll be asking for things, is that correct?

Yeah, and so as I understand before, if the deadline is October for the application, we have to have this completed before that time to have the property transferred to the Housing Commission. But also if I understand, we also have to have that pilot agreement. set, right? Because we did that with Voda Cooper.

We're in the first stages of working with a developer to get that application in, so they haven't mentioned that yet, but I do know at some point a pilot agreement does need to be discussed.

I don't want to say it's pretty rigorous, because I'm not involved in it, the staff is, and I said that, I looked over at Matt VanSacker and he's smiling, so. But there is timelines that come up very quickly, and we learned that here last fall when we just fell short, and then didn't stop the project, just made a delay until spring. But there was various reasons for that, so. Yeah, if you have your developer and they're thinking of something, I'd just recommend that they call the city, have conversation now, rather than finding out in a month from now, we should ask this a month earlier, because it will come quickly if it's the fall, as we found out with the last one.

Okay.

Mayor, if I may, will this also, we're proposing to transfer ownership as well for River Park Plaza too, correct?

Yes.

Not just Greenwood, where the

That's correct.

Okay. Is the LIHTC application also going to be for River Park Plaza? Yes. Okay. So a couple different property transactions we'll be looking at.

Yeah, we have a couple things going on.

It sounds like it. And if you have a good developer and they're familiar with the process, I think it'll be beneficial. But our staff in the city is always here to be available if you have questions.

I appreciate that. Thank you for the support.

Other questions from council? We look forward to hearing how this moves forward. I'm sure we'll be kept apprised of how it's going.

Thank you.

Thanks. Thanks for being here, Jasmine. It was great to see you. Nancy, great to see you too.

Oh, I don't want to break this. I take my time.

Thanks.

You're welcome to stay too. Clerk, next item is...

The next item is the review of proposed amendment to Lake Erie Transit interlocal agency agreement.

Thank you. Interim Manager Cochran.

Yes, so the Lake Erie Transportation Commission is proposing to revise the interlocal agreement that is between Frenchtown Charter Township, the City of Monroe, and Lake Erie Transit. We've currently got an agreement in place, but there were a couple items that they felt they wanted to address, and so that's going to be on your regular meeting agenda tonight to approve. This revised agreement will... is proposed to be in effect until 2032. And so extending it out probably about six years or so from this current period. But in review of the draft proposed agreement, there are only two significant changes. that we wanted to highlight and bring to your attention in advance of taking action later this evening. The first, when LET was created, it called for a board no less than seven commission members that would be appointed by two by City of Monroe, two by Frenchtown Township, which would be four, and then three at-large members that the city and Frenchtown both must appoint. What they're proposing is to revise the agreement to allow Bedford Township to appoint one of those three at-large members, and the city and Frenchtown would still make the appointments to the remaining two at-large. In the agreement, it does preface that Bedford Township will only be allowed to do that if their voters or if their residents pay into a millage. So if at some point the millage drops off, then it would go back to being three members, three at-large members being appointed by the city in Frenchtown. The second change was to allow... in order to better achieve a quorum is to allow the appointing body, in this case City Council, to appoint alternates also for the commission members. So ours is Commissioner Hader as well as Joe Liebich, or Councilman Hader, sorry. And City Council would have the ability to appoint an alternate to represent them if they can't make the meeting, as would Frenchtown and others. So that's the other revision. We do have other boards and commissions that have alternates like Simcog, where city council appoints an alternate to vote and represent the city in case the primary cannot attend. So those were the two primary changes in the agreement that's on your agenda tonight.

Just for clarification, Joe Levick was on the Lake Erie Transit, and the other is Sue Hyatt Garrison.

My binder, thanks.

Which is good. And so then it comes to be where we get the alternate from. and we wanna make sure we have quorums. We also wanna make sure we have people there that go through the process that council would, I guess, approve. It was noticed as I sat at the LAT meetings periodically over the years, and we had two residents that were there, but the other partners had an elected official. That's how he came to be when Mr. Liebig decided after 30 some years he was on the board. And then Councilman Hader was willing to do that. So it could be a resident, could be a council person. So I guess for council thinking that through as we make the, I'll say the alternate in the case that Councilman Hader wasn't available, that we have a representative. And actually, it could be, if Sue wasn't available too, I would think, correct?

Yeah, so the revised agreement would allow you to have two alternates, one for each member. But it's a may appoint. You're not required to appoint an alternate. You may, if you so choose.

So as I said, we're always recruiting when it comes to boards and commissions and thinking of how to find people. But at the same time, you may have somebody in mind that you know that has a passion and interest in services to provide from L.E.T. So something as this goes through, we'll see how it goes through tonight, if it passes and how. And I know that their director, J.T. Hensley, is going to be here probably later at the council meeting. I didn't think he'd come at the work session.

I believe Frenchtown has it on their agenda, one of their agendas this month to approve as well. So they also have to approve the agreement. Correct.

Any questions or thoughts from council on the LET?

Not on that item, no, sir.

Okay. I'll make a mention, because the clerk and I did talk earlier today. You know, we have a fact sheet which is accurate to what the choice is at on our agenda. There's a motion that's if to be motioned and approved, seconded, I say approved. Just clarity on the date at the end of the sentence. Make sure it's 2032. So, just for... as we get there so we don't stumble on it later. That's all I have. Clerk, any on those two?

No, I don't have any further items.

Okay.

Mark?

Yes, so the last thing on the agenda is other items if time permits, and we thought we'd use this time on a couple different things to go through some of the items that are on the regular meeting agenda, but to also recap some of the activities that occurred over the weekend following the severe weather event that we've experienced, as well as the ongoing efforts by both the city and DTE to restore our community. Mayor, do you have a preference which one first? Nope, you go right ahead. So we'll go through the severe weather event over the weekend first. Certainly we've done our best to try and keep you apprised and updated as the situation unfolded throughout the weekend. But I wanted to really highlight and celebrate our great staff and the work that they've done across all the city departments. From the time the first winds blew strong across the city, even through this evening, the collaboration that took place across all the departments to make sure that We were responding in a coordinated effort and not tripping over each other, I think, is something that's very commendable, and especially because most of it was initiated by our frontline staff. And so we'll go through that. But we did ask Director Tolstad, Director Lewis, as well as Brad Willey to put together some statistics for you about what the impact has looked like. You've gotten the operational updates through the weekend, but I wanted to let you know how our staff really rallied together in their dedication to both our community as well as their positions over the weekend. So I'll start with public safety. Public safety department, when the storm hit on Friday, we had five police officers. and four firefighters that were on duty at the time. But Director Tolstad called me immediately when he realized what was happening and they initiated a callback. We did have five additional police officers return to duty Friday night, showing back up. as well as four additional firefighters that returned to duty. 15 and a half hours were put in by police officers who were off duty and returned, and 26 off duty staff hours by the fire department Friday night alone, in addition to the five officers and four firefighters who were already on duty that night. Across the three days from Friday through Sunday, Public Safety handled 303 calls for service related to the storms. There were 245 of those were related to police calls, 108 were related to fire. 58 of those were for downed wires alone across the city. And there were 23 fire alarms that were also going off. I will say all of this in addition to the normal day-to-day calls that they take care of from traffic accidents to medical emergencies to Criminal activity that was happening across the city, the severe weather alert only added to that. Also add to the fact it was the 4th of July weekend and a significant number of fireworks complaints were also coming in that had to be dealt with as well. The weekend was not without its challenges on the public safety side. There were system outages with some of the computer systems. The stations themselves lost power from the police station and the fire station. And you probably know the central dispatch also lost power. In addition to that, their generator failed as they were taking calls for Hillsdale County, whose 911 dispatch center was also hit. And so Director Tolstad, the Public Safety Department, in coordination with the sheriff, did activate the mobile command center that was activated in taking 911 calls for redundancy through the duration of the event until dispatch was stabilized. And so The impressive part, too, that I think the Director Tolstad highlighted is the police officers, the firefighters, and DPS were all working on one system where if somebody noted an activity throughout the city, a tree down, a street closed, a wire down, they were all inputting it into a document that all of them could see real time when they were out in the field, which helped both departments, Public Safety and DPS, to understand the magnitude of the events that were happening, where they needed to respond, and to begin to put together a plan to address each of those challenges together. And I believe that was Officer Ochins and Wish Jansen. Lieutenant Nelson. Thank you. Sergeant. thank you, who collaborated and put that together following previous events. So that was public safety over the last several days. DPS, for your awareness, DPS has a total of 14 crew members and two supervisors that are part of the staff team at DPS. Friday, after the storm hit, they called in all available staff who could to come in and work that night. We had 60 crew hours and 10 people returned to duty Friday night to help address the storm damage. Saturday, all the staff reported for work at 8 a.m., and again, we called in everybody who was available to come and work. 58 and a half crew hours and nine people were worked on Saturday, with the priority being clearing streets, clearing blocked driveways and those who were trapped, as well as beginning to assess and remove trees that had fallen onto structures and homes. That was the priority on Saturday. Sunday, we had intended to start earlier in the morning, but of course we had more storms roll in, which resulted in flooding. So the DPS crews pushed back until one o'clock when they came in, but they worked a total of 60 hours that day with 10 people, again, continuing to attack street openings. All the streets were reopened Sunday, except for those that had wire entanglements that we couldn't get to until DTE cleared them. continuing to address the sidewalks, starting to address sidewalks at that point, as well as block driveways and still trees that were on structures and houses. So over the weekend, we had 180 hours additionally work that didn't include the director and the supervisor that were coordinating and updating on the situation. They handled between 150 to 200 calls over the weekend and we had 25 trees or significant pieces of trees fell across roadways and about the same amount fell on structures or homes across the city. And we're still finding some more of those as they traverse the city and take resident phone calls. So following that, and then of course we dealt with street flooding because some of the catch basins were not cleared due to the downed debris. And then we also had the power loss at the Dingle underpass, which resulted in flooding and the pump station not being able to clear that. Through the remainder of this week, the crews are working 10 hours, except for Wednesday when we have the America 250 event. Well, they'll be working 12 hours on Wednesday, working, continuing to work on tree removal and then brush and resident pile removal later in the week. And we'll talk more about that in a second. So the forestry division has all hands on deck right now. Today they continued removing trees and large limbs on structures. Tomorrow they will start with dangerous limbs or what we call hangers that are hanging and present a clear and present danger if they were to fall either on a home, on a vehicle, passing traffic, or a pedestrian. So that will start tomorrow. And then also the mechanics at DPS have been working very hard to make sure all the equipment continues to work because our crews are nothing without their equipment. And then Wednesday, we will start street sweeping across the city again. The importance of this is clearing the curbs, clearing the streets and the catch basins if we are to get more rain, which is forecasted later in the week to prevent additional flooding like we saw Sunday morning. We estimate the number of trees that were destroyed across the city were 50, but it could be up to 100. So by the time all this is said and done, whether that's trees that were completely fallen or trees that are destroyed, but not down all the way that need to be taken down. In parks, our parks crew, we've got two full-time park staff as well as one supervisor and 10 seasonals. Friday evening, once the storm hit, the staff came back in and they worked a couple hours on the most urgent priorities and damage assessment. On Saturday, three employees worked 24 hours to clear sidewalks, parking lots, trails, tree damage assessment and cleanup, and then today they worked a total of 61 hours to continue to clean the parks. I will say when I went out to Munson on Saturday, a birthday party continued under the shelter. Events still continued, shelter rentals still continued throughout the weekend where it was safe to do so. Bathrooms still got cleaned. But the parks crew are able to help with limb removal, brush removal, but for larger limbs, larger trees, our forestry crew has to take care of those in the parks as well. And so parks is working on an inventory for forestry to come back and attack when they're able to do so. Across the parks, we have 12 trees destroyed, but that does not include the Munson trails that had not been assessed yet in the North Munson area. Today and tomorrow, they are focusing on, again, those hangers in the parks that need to be cleared off. Parks will cordon them off and then forestry will come back and remove them according to priority. And work will continue for all of our crews until all the parks are clear. Soldiers and Sailors was particularly hard hit. Lavender Park, we had a large tree down next to the playground, but thankfully it didn't take out the playscape. And then Munson had multiple trees down and one of which landed next to the playscape there as well, but didn't damage the playscape, so. Communications, I will say Jody and Amy were working very hard all weekend long to push this information out to the public. Responding to communications that were coming in both on social media as well as MyMonroe. City Hall did not have power, so we weren't able to answer phones, but we instructed residents to report problems under the MyMonroe app, and all weekend long they were routing those accordingly. When they came into My Monroe, and I think we had a couple hundred came in on the My Monroe app related to property damage too. And then as we were getting updates from DTE, we were sharing those out to the public as well. Again, safety messages with public safety about what to do if you encounter downed trees, downed limbs, downed lines, things of that sort. So they've been incredibly helpful in making sure that our residents are getting the information that they need. And then finally, DTE, we've been in communication with them from early morning till late at night, getting an understanding of where the hardest hits neighborhoods are, how many crews are working in the city, where are the lines, what are they doing, when are the crews arriving, fielding resident phone calls, questions about power outages and restoration times. And so we've been getting real time updates as best we can from DTE about the number of crews. I believe today it was 27 were across the city at stations that feed into the city. So you may not have seen them within the 10 square miles of the city limits, but they may have been at a substation that feed into the city. And so they did call in 175 foreign crews I know. Monroe was one of the hardest hit areas and so they've been working over the past several days. The hospital lost power and has been running on a generator. They got restored today. And then the many down lines all across the city and active lines. I believe there were a total of 400 to 900 lines across the entire service area. that were down and active and sparking. And so communicating as public safety and DPS were identifying those, feeding that back to DTE so they can address it and take care of it. So we also, City Hall on Saturday was used as a, or Friday, because the holiday was used as a distribution site for care packages. So they set up in our parking lot. Everything was gone within an hour. So it was a very short distribution time. And of course they've been doing distributions at the battlefield yesterday and today as well for residents. So really just have to hand it to all of our staff. When you think about the number of trees that are on houses, the number of trees that are blocking major arteries, When I got back into town Friday night, Monroe Street and at least Hollywood had trees all across. When I woke up Saturday morning, there were leaves on the ground, but no sign of any trees across the street. Working really hard and, of course, trying not to tire them out so they can come back and take care of everything. And then police, the sheer number of calls that they've taken in over the weekend, even without dispatch, doing self-dispatch to calls when the call center was down. Just a really remarkable job by everybody. And we ask that the residents please be patient with us. This is a small but mighty crew. This was a huge storm that did a lot of damage. It's likely going to take a month or more, frankly, to clean up. When you look at the damage, it's widespread across the city. So we did announce to residents today that if they have tree damage on their own personal property, they can put it out to the curb. We're asking them to do that. Put it in the terrace, which is the area between the sidewalk and the curb by Friday at 8 a.m. The importance of that is DPS will start their sweeps this weekend, going block by block to clear and pick up the brush and trees that residents put to the curb. But we can't have it out too long because again, they have to manage street sweeping to make sure that if we get rain, it doesn't flood. So we'll be continuing to monitor that, but offering that service to our residents as we normally do in these events to help clean up the damage that they've experienced on their private property too. Again, our staff is amazing. They've been dynamic. The number that came back in in the callbacks to help, I think, speaks volumes to the commitment and the dedication, especially over their holiday weekend too, right? This was their holiday too, but they responded and committed to the job that they signed up to do this weekend.

Thanks, Mark. Any questions or comments for Andrew?

I'm sure that it goes without saying, but regular yard waste pickup will be available this week as usual.

Yep, trash service is not interrupted this week. Yep. Thank you. Michelle?

Are there any areas that are more concentrated with damage than others?

There was a pretty clear line where the storm came, you could tell. I know coming back into town Friday, Nettle Road is where I started seeing damage when coming back. The West 7th and 8th Street neighborhood, the West number streets, I would say were particularly hard. I know there's still a couple of trees down across West 8th today, but they have power lines entangled in them so we can't remove them. The northwest quadrant of the city, which is Arbor, Hollywood, Maple, that area is pretty hard hit, particularly from large tree limbs. In that area, there is a large number of lines that run in between properties where trees fell and so they're not easily accessible from the street. like other areas of the city. So getting behind the property has been a bit of a challenge, I understand, in restoration. But the Orchard neighborhood, I also know, had some large trees down and power out as well. So I would say it was pretty widespread, the totality of the damage, but those are the areas that seem to be some of the hardest hit. The W streets too. There were a couple large limbs and trees down on houses in that neighborhood. Streets closed. and then also a significant number of power outage there.

Other questions or comments? Thanks, Mark. Next.

That's all the items I have tonight.

Okay. So since we have some time here, is there any items on the agenda that the council may be looking at to get some clarity or questions on that we may be looking so we can prepare before the meeting if it needs to be addressed? I think you have one, correct, Mark?

Yes, on the consent agenda, we're going to ask for item number 5988 to be pulled. That's the approval of the purchase for the condenser coil replacement on the city hall roof. The reason we're asking to pull this is because this was The condenser unit that services the north side of the building has been struggling for a little bit now, and we've been repairing it, but it's beyond repair at this point. The coil needs a complete replacement. We did get bids for that, and the bids were on your agenda for approval tonight. However, with the extreme heat that we experienced last week in the hundreds and then over the weekend with the power outage, we had some additional failure with that unit. I know the public safety office was well above 80 degrees and there were some employees that were struggling with the air conditioning. or the air condition throughout the building. And so the purchasing ordinance does allow for emergency purchases by the city manager and the finance director. So we had hoped that once the extreme temperatures left late last week, that we could get through tonight, have you approved the purchase formally, and then order the part once you formally approved it. But the conditions within the building over the weekend and today, we went ahead and did authorize the purchase and replacement of that unit. It did go to the low bidder. And we did go ahead and get the work ordered because if anybody has tried to get any repair service over the past week, they're all booked, solid and extremely busy. So we wanted to make sure that we got on the list. So that one, we just wanted to pull. The ordinance does require that if we do an emergency purchase, that it is reported to city council at the next regular meeting. So we're asking to pull that off the agenda so that we can highlight that, report it out to you and have you do the formal approval of the purchase.

So you'll be looking for a council member to have it pulled. Are you gonna pull it or?

I can request it.

For it to be pulled, yep. Have it be motioned and put it under council action at the end of the meeting. Okay. Anything on the agenda or discussion items that council may have for administration or others? Mark.

Yeah, a couple other items just to highlight on the consent agenda. Number 6002, which is the MDOT funding agreement for the South Telegraph water main repair. So City Council had awarded this project in a change order to repair the water main on Telegraph between Stone and 7th Street. You've probably seen that work ongoing if you've been down Telegraph Road. We had intended to repair the road in concrete and that was what Council awarded as part of the project bid. But we have to get an MDOT right-of-way permit. MDOT came back and said we're repaving Telegraph Road as we know that project is ongoing and And you've got to replace it in like which meant asphalt instead of concrete. So we went to get a bid to have the spot patched in asphalt and it came back $60,000 over the project budget. We went to MDOT and said, could we coordinate with you and have your contractor do it rather than a spot repair that we would order? It still came back $40,000 over, but it's $20,000 cheaper than what we got. This is another one where we had to go ahead and authorize and commit to MDOT given that work was already ongoing before council could approve it. So tonight on your agenda is the formal agreement with MDOT, although please know the work has already been approved and committed for the 40,000. The next one is number 5998, which is the purchase of drones for public safety. Just wanted to call out, this was a project that you may recall in your presentation with the Planning Commission for this year's Capital Improvements Program. This is purchasing four drones for public safety. These are not flock drones. And so we wanted just to make sure that you were aware that these are the equipment that public safety has been using for their routine business, but this is not part of the flock system. So just heightened awareness around that item. But it is a project that was approved in the capital improvements plan. Any other items on the consent agenda or regular agenda that we can discuss further?

Any items? Know that an item 6003, the CDL training approval, was an item that came up, but first I looked at it as a very positive sense because we've talked about in our sessions about employment retention and needs for educational items, so I looked at it as being on there, but then you also advised there was some timing issues on this as well.

Yeah, so the CDL training, we had five employees who received their CDL training last fall. It was part of their job requirement. Previously, people would get their CDL training and then come to us or get the training and certification on their own. through recruitment and retention of employees, that's become harder and harder to get. And so we have actually been paying and sending our employees to get that certification, which is the positive. We've got employees that are meeting their employee requirements. But this training happened in the fall. Unfortunately, the invoice didn't come on time. And then the invoice is extremely late in being paid because it's gone. It It got awry when going through the accounts payable system at the city. So this is another one. The service was already provided. It is over the city manager's purchasing authority, which is $15,000, just slightly. Otherwise, we would have just paid it. But that's coming to you for your approval and then immediate payment tomorrow as well for that.

I look at it as a positive as well. As we've talked about as a council, how we retain and credentialing our certificates that are needed to continue to do the job as our employees. And we know we've had transition. We have newer employees, employees that are making their way progressively up through the, I'll say the opportunities that present themselves in their work. So I think it's great that we're continuing to get them the credentials and training they need.

Yeah, this is certainly a rare agenda, having three items that have already been committed that we technically didn't have the authority to commit at the time, and this is not our standard practice to get out ahead of you, so to speak, and so we do apologize on the one item for that, but appreciate your understanding, and no, it's not our common practice to take this step without you.

Kathy.

Since we have a minute, do you have any information to add for the MDOT's plan for Telegraph for the next couple of weeks? Anything that would help us understand what to expect?

Sure. So I do know that they pulled out the barrels again today. I suspect it was most of the state road work takes a pause over the July 4th holiday for travel. And so they pulled the barrels back in. We understand the first phase is on, I believe it's northbound Telegraph Road. They're going to mill Telegraph Road, the northbound lanes first, but some of the action that you're going to see is not related to the road work because MDOT is installing sidewalks and completing the gaps along Telegraph Road as well as part of this project. They are going to keep traffic open at all times and it probably is going to take until early to mid-August to get this project completed at this point, but we understand that's the first step is milling and then also doing the sidewalk gaps and then they'll switch to the other side following that completion.

Not to make it longer, I just want to know if there's any other questions. But it's a good conversation, an opportunity to have it here at this time, and we could do, I'm sure we'll report during the council meeting regarding what you've covered with the work by the employees and the updates from DTE. I think not only for those that are here, but those that'll be listening. So it'll be a good thing to hear again. All right. Anything else? No. Anything else from council?

And clerk, anything further?

All right. I guess at this time we'll close the work session and be prepared here for the council meeting at 7.30 at this time. Thank you all.

I know for sure.

I got your email. Well, I didn't get a chance to read it. I knew it was late in the afternoon. Yeah. Yeah, you wanted me to just... Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Many hands make the light over, right?

Oh, okay. No. No. No, my dad has no estimate.

They said they can't give him an estimate until they assess his situation, which is the whole Holland Street. He's got a generator. I'm just a little worried.

Since he's 86, it's a generator. He's screwed. I'm just kidding. I don't know what I'll do with him. And then we were supposed to get it by tonight, but we were kicked out. But we told Molly we know where we are on the chain. And ours is weird. We're on a weird circuit.

We're with that whole thing that goes through the intersection of the dev shop and to mine. and all that. But then we split off and there's like five houses and some lines that go through the backyard of the old McIntyre property and the old Kennedy Bush property. So when we go home in Hollywood, there's like, I find that not only we were out nine days in 2020. I'm a little bitter, so I have it all memorized.

So we put in our generation in 2020, Oh yeah, yeah.

It was during the day, so I didn't have any lights on. I'm, like, pressing a button, and then the generator kicked in, and it was off before I got my feet down. Like, it was back to freaking over. And it lasted, like, three other times, but not even long enough for the generator to kick in.

Oh, yeah, you were. Well, we were, my brother was in town too with his family, and we were trying to get ready to order pizza on Friday, and it was the anniversary of my mom's death, two years, so it just was a lot. And I saw, Bill saw the one tree crash, and I heard it, and I said, okay, everybody's in the basement, and they amazingly listened to the oldest daughter, and they actually did what I asked, it was very little, And they all went to the basement. And I said, yeah, we have too many big oak trees on Hollywood. We're not staying up there. And Bill didn't argue with me. He said, no, I saw that tree go down.

And I knew this time it was okay to listen to yours. It was scary. I stood by the window and I was like, I don't think I should be.

You lost the window?

No, she said she was standing by the window. No, he didn't lose anything.

I'm sorry, you lost a tree?

It's actually the Harrington's tree next door. They had a little stand of pines, and so the top of one came off, and this narrow little path between the two houses, it flipped over the fence, and it landed just a million inches from my dad's car. And then it would have landed, if Mary had parked her car where she usually does when they're visiting, it would have taken her car out. And then another one of those pines went sideways through the fence, and there was a smoking, arcing, you know, power line. It was just a lot of, and Dad, every time he hears the, so it kicked on right away, but then every time he hears the air conditioning, it kind of, It's drawing more power, right? So it makes some noise and stuff. So it makes him nervous. So he has been turning the air condition off. And I'm like, you can't do that, Dad. You've got to leave it on. You've got to leave it on.

And ours does that. And the bedroom's right next to where the generator is. So when we had it on for five days, I didn't sleep. Because it would wake me up. Yeah.

Well, and then his neighbor has one. His other neighbor has one. So he's just like, oh, yeah. But, you know, it could have been worse. It could have been worse for us.

The amount of trees everywhere. It just blows your mind. Everywhere you look, there's just large. And now we're going to have all these piles of brush.

I know.

I was telling Andrew, we have, like, actually a visual impairment getting out of my driveway because the piles are so high. I can't see the cars coming down the road.

I just couldn't believe it. I was like, are you kidding me? It was so hot. Well, I mean, it made sense, right, because it was so hot. But at the same time, I was like, what the heck? Grace's friend in Grand Rapids was driving when the storm system hit them. And she called Grace right away, Grace is in D.C., and she said, she said, I think I just drove through a tornado. Like, that's how she felt. She was like, I have this, I can't drive right now. And so, like, physically drained after trying to keep the car on the road.

Those straight line winds were crazy.

Yeah, they were bad. And the squirrel got mad at us. The squirrel? The squirrel.

Oh, the squirrel.

Yeah, because there was one of the pines. It's a beautiful pine. But some of its branches were twisted. So we were looking at it and taking pictures and all this stuff, trying to figure out what happened. And the squirrel's up there. And he just turned and started chattering at us. And he's hundreds of feet in the air. We're nowhere. He's in no danger. But it was like, you know, I've had enough. I've had enough.

So you humans need to go.

So which of your children is reading? Teddy. Is he ready? He will be.

He's playing mass at the IHM next week.

Oh, okay. He's just getting out there. It's good. It's that time.

Because mom is the organist at the IHM and she's having her 40th anniversary mass next week. So they're like, oh, we need someone else to play. We'll hire a ringer. It's like, no, I think I can get my grandson to do it. And they're like, what?

What are you talking about? Get your grandson.

Well, how old is he? He's nine. He'll be fine. That's the way we do it.

We start him young.

So we handed him the music today.

We said, have it ready by Sunday. My mom just called and said that she was on the broadcast.

They're supposed to turn... I am muted. I know.

No, I was muted.

I wonder, is it the side mics, maybe?

Or this one? No, that's muted. Right here. Maybe. I don't know. What was he...

Call the City Council meeting to order. Clerk, please call the roll.

Mayor.

Here.

Stillgrave. Here. Bining.

Excused.

Germain.

Here. Stringham. Here. Felder. Here. Mayor Clark.

Here.

All please rise for the indication. Remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Guide us in our deliberations and discussions this evening. May our efforts promote the good of the residents of this city and all who call her home.

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. Clerk, first item, please.

First item on the agenda is the approval of the regular agenda.

Thank you. Interim Manager Cochran, are there any items on the agenda? Nothing on the regular agenda, just the consent agenda. Very good. Make a motion to approve. Support. It's a motion by Councilman Stilgrave, supported by Councilman Hader to approve the regular agenda. Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilperson Hader? Yes. Stilgrave? Yes. Germani? Yes. Stringham? Yes. Felder? Yes. Mayor Clark?

Yes. Next item.

is the consent agenda and for item B approval of payments to vendors the amount should read two million eighty five thousand thirty two dollars and fifty two cents two zero eight five zero three two point five two any items on the consent agenda manager Cochran administration would request that we pull item number five nine eight eight there any items on the consent agenda that council wishes to have pulled for further discussion

in the consent agenda. Any items from council? Seeing none, are there any items on the consent agenda, those present here this evening which they have pulled for further discussion? Any items on the consent agenda? If not pulled, they will be passed in one motion collectively, and the one item that the administration will be put at the end of the council action items. Okay, seeing none. Councilman Felder. Yes, Your Honor.

I'd like to make a motion that all items on the consent agenda not pulled for further discussion be accepted, placed on file, recommendations carried out, resolutions adopted.

There's a motion by Councilman Felder, supported by Councilman Germani, that all items on the consent agenda, absent the one that was pulled for further discussion, be accepted, placed on file, recommendations carried out, and resolutions adopted. Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilperson Hader? Yes. Stilgrave? Yes. Germani? Yes. Stringham? Yes. Felder? Yes. Mayor Clark?

Yes. Next item, please.

The next item is under council action, item 6004, Greenwood Avenue Reconstruction and Extension Professional Services Award for Design.

Thank you. Interim Manager Cochran.

This was, Greenwood Avenue was one of this year's capital improvements projects. It was identified looking at reconstruction. The condition of the road has deteriorated, and so it's due to be rebuilt. But as part of this project, the city does own property that would facilitate the extension of Greenwood from its current terminus at the end of Hollywood Boulevard out to McComb Street. And a couple purposes for this is to improve traffic circulation within the neighborhood, as well as looking at modifying the road width to accommodate future bicycle and pedestrian trail alongside to help with the access from the Greenwood Town Home development to McComb Street. And so this project that we're bringing forward tonight for your consideration is to not only reconstruct Greenwood Avenue, but also plan for the design to extend the roadway from its current terminus out to McComb Street. An item for note on this is that the property that we own to allow, to accommodate the extension is within Frenchtown Township. And so we will, we can't spend our dollars in another jurisdiction. So we've begun discussions with Frenchtown to do a jurisdictional transfer to transfer that property from Frenchtown into the city. So a few different steps to accomplish this project. But the first step is to move forward with the design for the complete project.

Thank you. Any questions? Councilwoman Germani.

So have we notified any of the residents on Greenwood slash Riverview, Hollywood about this project yet?

None to date. It was part of the capital improvements in the public hearings with that, but right now we're just looking at the beginning of the design phase, not planning for the construction quite yet, which would be planned for next year.

Okay, thank you.

Other questions? Seeing none, I actually am for council. Councilwoman Stram.

I move that a professional services contract be awarded to NOAC and Frost engineers in the amount of $86,580 and that the total of $100,000 be encumbered to include a 15% contingency. That the director of engineering and public services interim director of water and wastewater utilities or his designee be authorized to execute any necessary agreements on behalf of the city and that the finance director or assistant city manager be authorized to make any necessary transfers, including from the municipal streets and trails fund balance.

Motion by Councilman Stringer, supported by Councilman Germania. Item 6004, the Greenwood Avenue Reconstruction and Extension Professional Services Award for Design. Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilperson Hader? Yes. Stillgrave? Yes. Germani? Yes. Stringham? Yes. Felder? Yes. Mayor Clark?

Yes. Item, please.

The next item is item 6014, approval of amended interlocal agreement with Lake Erie Transit.

Thank you. Interim Manager Cochran, comments?

Yeah, so this was the item that we went over in the work session. But for your consideration this evening is an amendment to the interlocal agreement that we have with Lake Erie Transit and Frenchtown Township for the Lake Erie Transit Commission. This proposed amendment would carry forward the agreement through 2032. And the proposed changes primarily deal with the composition and the appointments to the commission right now. In the current agreement, the City of Monroe appoints two commissioners, Frenchtown Township appoints two commissioners, and then there are three commissioners that are appointed at large to make up the seven-member commission. The revision would allow for Bedford Township to appoint one of the at-large board members so long as their residents pay a millage into the system. The second change to note in the amended agreement is to allow for the appointing body of the commissioners, which in this case is city council, for our two commissioners, the ability to appoint an alternate who may vote in the place of the original appointee may not be present in a meeting. So it would grant the authority for you to appoint an alternate for each of our two appointed commissioners.

Any questions from council for administration?

Statement.

Sure, go ahead.

I would like to be abstained from the vote, please, due to my employment with Lake Erie Transit, if it's okay with council.

I'll look at council, see if there's any objections to that. I see none. Manager Cochran, I know that our director from LAT, JT Hensley, is here. I don't know if you wish to make any comments. I know that it was explained, but you're here. I thought at least I should be able to introduce yourself.

I'm Katie Hensley. I don't think I've come before you before as the GM of Lake Erie Transit. So I just wanted to say thank you for your continuing support of Lake Erie Transit. And if you have any questions about the interlocal agreement, I'll be happy to address them. Other than that, I appreciate the continued support for us to provide a valuable service to this community.

Thank you. And thanks for being here.

Thank you.

We had a great work session, had a lot of details about the agreement and conversation as well. So thank you. Yes. Councilman Hader.

Thank you, Your Honor. I'd like to make a motion to adopt a resolution to approve the proposed amendment to the interlocal agency agreement with Lake Erie Transit through February of 2032. Second.

Motion by Councilman Hader, supported by Councilman Stringham. I am 6-0-1-4, approval of the amendment to the interlocal agreement with Lake Erie Transit. Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilperson Hader? Yes. Steelgrave? Yes. Germain? Abstain. Stringham? Yes. Felder? Yes. Mayor Clark?

Yes. Next item, please.

The next item is 6006, consideration to approve intergovernmental agreement with Downtown Development Authority.

Manager Cochran? Yes, the city has had an agreement with the Monroe Downtown Development Authority to provide for administrative support for the DDA. These include things like managing the finances, the annual reporting to the state, providing administrative support with the meetings, preparation of agendas, minutes, things of that sort. And that is officially done through an intergovernmental agreement between the DDA and the City of Monroe. The DDA contributes $15,000 toward the position that's in the Economic and Community Development Department to help provide support for them, as well as communication support and things of that sort. And so that agreement was up for renewal. The DDA did approve it at their last board meeting. So that's coming before you for your approval and consideration this evening.

Thank you. Any questions or comments? If not, a motion for the item. Councilwoman Germani.

Move to approve ongoing near intergovernmental agreement with the Downtown Development Authority for redevelopment services and professional support and authorize the mayor and clerk to sign the agreement on behalf of the city.

It's a motion by Councilwoman Germani, supported by Councilwoman Stilgrave on item 6006, consideration to approve the inter-governmental agreement with Downtown Development Authority. Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilperson Hader? Yes. Stilgrave? Yes.

Germani? Yes. Stringham? Yes. Felder? Yes. Mayor Clark?

Yes. Next item.

The next item is item 5988, which is from the consent agenda, approval of purchase of condenser coil replacement for City Hall rooftop unit.

Manager Cochran.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. We requested this item to be pulled for one reason. The city manager has the purchasing authority of up to $15,000. If it's anything above that, it has to come before council for approval. The rooftop unit that manages the HVAC for the north side of the building has been struggling as of late, leaking water. And it is beyond repair. So it's been recommended that we replace the coil on that unit and that's why it was on your agenda this evening. We did get two quotes, one from Arctic Air and the other from Mineral Plumbing and Heating. And so what we would like is to have that approved this evening. American Heating and Cooling, I'm sorry. But the reason that we're asking for it to be pulled is because the purchase was already authorized this morning under the provision and the purchasing ordinance that allows emergency purchases that require the continuity of operations and public health and safety. Given the air quality within City Hall during last week's extreme heat is continuing in through this week with the power outage, we did go ahead and authorize that purchase so that the equipment could be ordered and the repair made as quickly as possible. But the ordinance does require that if a purchase is made under those conditions that it be reported to City Council at their next regular meeting. We are officially reporting that to you this evening, but also asking you to officially approve the purchase and the award to the low bidder.

Thank you. Any questions from our manager, Cochran? Seeing none, the motion will be in order.

You're on, I'll make a motion.

Oh, I'm sorry, Councilwoman Stringham.

to approve the bid from American Heating and Cooling in the amount of $21,791.61 for the replacement of the RTU number two located at City Hall and authorize the building official be authorized to sign the necessary agreements on behalf of the City of Monroe.

Motion by Councilman Stringer, supported by Councilman Germania on item Five nine eight eight the approval of the purchase of the condenser coil replacement has stated clerk.

Please call the roll comes person hater Yes, still grave germany string. Um Felder. Yes, Mayor Clark. Yes I know further items

Why? Councilman Hader, comments this evening. Thank you. I would just like to thank the entire city staff for all the work they did over the holiday weekend and continue to put in to get us back online. So thank you. Thank you. Councilwoman Stilgrave.

Thank you. I echo Councilman Hader's comments and also, Mark, you did a fabulous job of keeping us informed and you know, letting us know everything, and I really like the texting of that. Also, Wednesday is the 250th celebration gonna happen here in the city, and we have a lot of things happening, and we are really looking forward to it, so we hope everybody come on out and celebrate with us. That's all I have.

Thank you. Councilwoman Germani.

Thank you, Your Honor. It certainly was a busy weekend for everyone here at City Hall and even JT's been topping down trees. today. But I always like to bring the positive out of the negative that we see. Even though the power was out throughout our city, what I saw was families taking walks with their kids and their dogs and being outside. I enjoyed the fireworks in the neighborhood, even though they were loud. And it was an enjoyable time to watch everybody get together and help their neighbors. And it was nice to see the side. And, Mark, again, yes, it was a fabulous job that you did this weekend. It was tough. And your dogs got through it, too. That's all, Your Honor.

Thank you. Councilwoman Stringham?

Yep. So I'm going to echo thank you because I appreciate every single person in this city that's made a huge difference. And thank you, Manager Cochran, for your support and keeping us informed. From the heat to the storm, I think we feel like we've been through the ringer. So now we get to celebrate on Wednesday and that creates challenges with change too. So I see on social media, the public safety page has posted the streets that will be closed. So please look at those and plan your route ahead of time because there will be some impact. You got to impact downtown to be able to celebrate. So I hope to see everybody there. We'll be there helping support and enjoying the evening along with the vendors and the drone show and the music and all of the fun stuff.

Councilman Felder.

Thank you, Your Honor. Despite the storms, I hope everyone had a very happy 4th of July. It's a little bit cooler, which is one thing, but there's other things too. We're working our way through those. So thank you to the public safety departments, the work service crews of the city and DTE who continue to be out there working on restoring power and dealing with all the trees and the mess that was made. Neighbors themselves are doing a lot of that work and are pulling those branches to the front of their yards and going out and helping out each other with the power out inside. A lot of people are finding some time to do some yard work outside. So that's We're going to try and find the silver lining in this thing, and we made it through, and we're going to move past it. So please join us at the 250th celebration this Wednesday on the 8th. There's also a food distribution for anyone who lost all the food in your fridges when the power went out. There'll be a free food distribution for the first 150 families at Simons Elementary in Milan from 1 to 3. So you're certainly welcome to come out and attend that if you need to do a little bit of restocking. We'll see you there on July 10th. The community partnership between neighbors, between agencies, between city departments, employees, people getting out there working and helping each other was inspiring to see. It's a hardship, certainly, to work through that. What we come out on the other side and see in terms of the strength that's built together is certainly worth noting. So I just want to call attention to that. Thank you, Mickey and Kathy, for your remarks. I appreciate that. And then finally, a happy 40th wedding anniversary to my parents. So there you go.

Those will conclude my comments for this evening, Your Honor.

Thank you.

Thank you. I have a few comments. It's what we've heard, but I do want to give the staff A sincere thanks to all the hard work they did in their immediate response, and what they did throughout the weekend, and what we know they have to do through the remainder of the week and the month. It'll be a long recovery of work that needs to be done, but I know that Manager Cochran's gonna give an in-depth report of the activities to give everybody an understanding, but I can't be said enough, the great work that was done. I agree. The following day in the afternoon or late morning, I went just to see some of what was done and to see what the impact was, but it didn't stop the St. Mary's and Orges and the group in the streets to have their parade with the kids and the bikes. But what I saw was all the families and people that were out there were not just standing there waiting for them. It was before they even got close, picking up the debris that they could. The staff had already cleared some of the trees. But every time I kept driving through the day, I saw all the branches and things that were already stacked up in the terrace between the curb and the sidewalk, knowing that the city does work. provide some service, how we manage that. And what the parade went on, I don't know if I'm correct, but I heard it's like the 40th year they've done this. And they had seen that it is the neighborhood parade. And it's well known for the community. But that didn't stop them going out there. So that was enjoyable to see. Manager Cochran, I want to say that your engagement and messaging was outstanding. Besides the immediate emergency responses that council got, but also the direction for the staff and the interaction between All our departments are heads, as well as the messaging, keeping updated, and then your contacts with, I know that you're going to talk about regarding the additional work that still needs to be done, but also that which needs to be done by DTE and where they're at and how that moves forward. One item that was on the agenda this evening was an appointment, so I always like to thank people that have the opportunity to serve and fit in the appointment with the DDA was Ken Wickenheiser, and I think it's a name that's well known in the community, and I remember my first year as mayor, he was on the DDA, but then he had family, and they're now graduating. He didn't hesitate to volunteer to come back because the growth that he's been a part of for the downtown, as well as what he envisions, what he can do, again, serving on the Downtown Development Authority. Of course, the American 250, I guess I'll end there. So I hope everybody has the opportunity to come down on Wednesday. I know that the downtown market will also be very active in the afternoon. There's a long... schedule and 530 is kind of like the kickoff and there'll be a posting of the flags and colors and as well as the reading of the Declaration of Independence. And I hope that everybody has the opportunity to come and listen to those that are volunteering from veterans to students that live in Monroe or attend school in Monroe. They were practicing here today and getting some guidance and understanding what their role is from second grade to senior high school will be the group of students. So, and I think it'll be great to see and to celebrate with. And of course, as we go through the day, there's many activities that were mentioned in the downtown. There'll be, Air Force Band will be here in the square. And then later when they're finished and as the activities continue, there'll be kind of the mini concert at Altruza Park. And then a conclusion with the drone show later in the evening. Please come down, enjoy, be safe. As Councilman Stringham said with the understanding of the street closures, that I think come later at 6 o'clock for some. Some will start earlier because that's when it all will be closed. And, yeah, just come down and enjoy. And I want to thank the residents for their their engagement throughout the storm. And again, I can't say enough about the staff, all the employees that came back on their holiday weekend, like all of us have an opportunity to be off and that all came back to spend their time and their away from their families as well. And I know we have much more to do and they're doing great. Clerk Treasurer LaVoy.

I agree with most everything that's been said, so I have nothing more to add. Just cede my time to the interim city manager.

Thank you. Manager Cochran.

Well, I thank all of City Council for your support for our staff. As Mayor, you indicated this was their holiday weekend too. And certainly this is what we sign up for in these jobs. But when the rubber hits the road and Mother Nature comes with her fury unannounced, it presents a rather challenging situation. Our staff certainly rose to the occasion and as we gave an update during the work session, perhaps some people may not be able, were not able to tune in or hear, but we wanted to just update city council and the public on the activities that took place following Friday storms is where we're going from here too. We did ask the different departments to compile statistics and how this impacted operations across the city, both organizationally as well as across the streets and neighborhoods. So we'll start with public safety. When the storms hit on Friday, police had five officers on duty and fire had four officers. firefighters on duty. When the storm hit and the magnitude was starting to get understood, there was a callback done. And we did have five additional police officers return to duty that night, as well as four firefighters that returned to duty that and came back to work that evening. Police, we had an additional 15 and a half off-duty hours in addition to those that were on duty that night. And then 26 off-duty hours from the fire department show up in addition to the four firefighters. But the reason that was so critical is because over the weekend they had 303 calls for service. across the city that included 245 calls for police, 108 calls for fire. There were 58 live wires down all across the city after the storms blew in, as well as trouble alarms, fire alarms that totaled up to 23. And of course it was the holiday weekend and the fireworks were not enjoyed by all or perhaps done appropriately. And we had 14 calls come in between the fourth and the fifth about complaints. But that's on top of all the other day-to-day things that they respond to as emergency first responders from traffic accidents to medical emergencies, criminal behavior, and other things on top of the storm challenges. The challenges that were encountered for public safety particularly, there were system outages. There was loss of power at the stations for our personnel. Central dispatch had a power failure and also their generator failed Friday night too. All of this while they were covering calls for Hillsdale County who also lost power and service at their facility. And so the Public Safety Department coordinated with the Sheriff's Department and the Mobile Command Center was activated. And for redundancy purposes, they were able to receive 911 calls and remained operational until dispatch was stabilized throughout the weekend. But part about the coordination, public safety and DPS throughout this entire event coordinated what they were seeing real time throughout the field from downed trees and wires, traffic impediments, residential home impacts, things of that sort, so that they could all see and share the same information as they were out in the field and come up with a plan of attack. And that was germane done by the frontline staff, great opportunities put together to address those challenges. And so the public safety department certainly took a big brunt, as did DPS. So over the weekend, for reference, we've got 14 employees plus two supervisors on our DPS crew. Friday, we had all available staff were called in. We did have 10 people return, and they worked a total of 60 crew hours Friday night, late into the night. I mentioned I got back into town Friday evening about 8 o'clock, and I Saw the trees across Monroe Street and other places, but when woke up Saturday morning, drove the city, those trees were gone. Remarkable job that they did all night. And then returning Saturday morning at 8 a.m., all available staff were called in again. A crew of nine people put in 58 and a half hours. All streets were cleared by Saturday, except for the trees that had wired entanglements, and we were waiting on DT to help respond to those. On Sunday, we had intended to start the DPS cruise early, but we know we had more storms Sunday morning, which presented a new challenge, and that was flooding. DPS came in about 1 o'clock in the afternoon on Sunday, checking catch basins, clearing roads. The dingle underpass had flooded due to a power outage in the pump station, as well as the work that they were doing to continue with tree removal work. across the city. And so we had a 10 person crew working Sunday and they worked a total of 60 hours. So altogether on the weekend, there were 180 hours put in by our DPS crew. That doesn't include Patrick and the supervisor working to coordinate and update both myself so I could update you, but also the crews that were out in the field. DPS over the weekend, we had about 150 to 200 calls come in. We had 25 trees or at least significant pieces of trees that fell across roadways and about an equal number that fell on structures, including residential houses across the city. And we are still finding more as the... The cleanup continues. So throughout the rest of the week, DPS crews are going to be working 10-hour shifts except for the event on Wednesday, the America 250 event, where they'll be working 12 hours. A majority of today included removing trees and large limbs on structures. Tomorrow, they'll begin looking at dangerous limbs or hangers that are dangling off the tree that present danger to safety, whether that's falling on vehicles, homes, pedestrians, cars passing by. and working on sidewalks as well. The other unsung heroes at DPS are the mechanics who have worked hard throughout this entire storm period to keep the equipment running. So it can be out in the field working on all the cleanup. And then we will have street sweeping that will resume on Wednesday. Part of the challenge that we saw on Sunday was clogged catch basins that was causing the street to flood. And so we are going to get back start street sweeping on Wednesday, along with the remainder of the cleanup. So we did estimate we've lost about 50 to 100 trees that are going to have to be destroyed as a result of this, whether they fell on their own or the remainder is going to have to be taken down due to dangerous conditions. The parks were also impacted. Our parks crew, we've got two full-time employees, one supervisor and 10 seasonals. Friday night after the storm hit, the staff came back in and worked a couple hours on the most urgent priorities, clearing out playgrounds, clearing out the safe issues where we knew people were going to be on Saturday and beginning to assess the damage. We had three employees that came in on Saturday and worked 24 hours to clear sidewalks, parking lots, trails, tree damage assessment and cleanup. And then today they worked a total of 61 hours. One thing to note is that special events and shelter rentals continued throughout the parks. Saturday, I know there was a birthday party at Munson with tree branches piled high all around it. But we made sure that all of those amenities and resources were safe for use before people could use them. Bathrooms were clean and parks were still able to be enjoyed. We did unfortunately lose 12 trees across the parks. That does not include the Munson trails that have not been assessed yet. So if people are going out and enjoying the Munson trails, we ask them to please use caution as we haven't gotten up there yet. Today they were also identifying hangers in the parks where forestry is going to have to come and assist to remove those. And then also larger limbs and branches will be dependent on forestry crews to remove that in addition to the work they're doing across the city. So our park staff will continue to work until all the parks are cleared. Finally, Jody Egan and Amy Moore in our communications office did a great job all through the weekend communicating all of this to all of our residents. That was from the resource delivery with DTE all the way to hazard notifications about what to do if you encounter dangerous situations, letting them know what the focus for DTE was when they, or DPS, when they see our crews out there, what they're working on and how we're beginning to attack the storm cleanup. And then also because City Hall did lose power momentarily, our phones weren't being answered on Friday because of the holiday, but we were encouraging people to report on MyMonroe. We did get a couple hundred submissions on the MyMonroe app that the communications office was fanning out to the departments over the weekend, too, as they developed their plan of attack for storm cleanup. Finally, I do want to thank Molly Lempercoy with DTE. She has been great at communicating from early morning with me through late at night, talking about where are the restoration efforts, the crews that were coming in, where they were focusing, the number of our citizens who were dealing without power. We did work with DTE and had a resource giveaway in the parking lot for customers that were impacted here at City Hall. That moved to the battlefield yesterday and today, but we allowed them to use our facility. As well as we've been reporting to them what our crews were seeing in the field so that their crews could attack the problems as well. But looking at where lines needed deactivated so that the public could be safe. What were the hardest hit areas? How many of our residents were impacted and understanding the pure magnitude of this storm? And of course, there are still people dealing with power outages. And today, I know there were 27 crews assigned to feeding locations within the city of Monroe. So you may not have seen them within our city limits, but they were working on areas that do feed electricity into the city and getting that up and running. Certainly was a storm of rather large magnitude. And so I just want to thank City Council for your recognition of our staff through all of that. They've done a tremendous job sacrificing their personal lives to work with our residents and dedicate their work to the city over the weekend. And it is going to continue. So with that, the cleanup is probably going to take well over a month, given the sheer magnitude of the situation. We did announce today that residents, if they have tree damage on their property, down limbs, brush, we are asking that they put that at the curb and the terrace between the sidewalk and the curb by Friday morning at eight o'clock. Friday, DPS will begin and they will work through the weekend to clear those piles for our residents in recognition of the challenges that they're facing as well. And we'll continue to monitor that throughout the week. But if the residents want Would like they can place everything at the curb as quickly as possible now through Friday and we'll begin as we normally do for events like this offering that service to our residents. So thank you.

Thanks Mark. So next item is citizen comments. If there's any comments from those present here this evening, please step forward. State your name, jurisdiction or residence and mindful of the three minutes. Thank you.

Katrina Kalman-Ramos, I live here in Monroe. I have a list of questions. Oh, I apologize. Good evening, City Council, Honorable Mayor Clark. Questions asked respectfully to a licensed building official. Is asbestos really classified as a deadly group one carcinogen causing all sorts of health issues? Why would asbestos not be called out during a certificate of occupancy inspection? Did you really see wall to wall, door to door, nine inch by nine inch tile after all the inspectors left? Is asbestos really not in the inspection report? Can someone get dead by living in asbestos? Can someone get dead by being around asbestos? Is all of our city economic development department educated? Do you think it's ignorance or one of their famous favors for not calling out asbestos? Do economic development department management and employees get reviewed? Is nepotism in every city hall? Is city hall going to actually open up and start accepting applications and resumes for licensed individuals? Who has the license to issue a certificate of occupancy in this city? Who has the license to make life and death judgment calls in regards to our structures? Do we have a licensed building official here in Monroe City? Who is our licensed building official? How many people are denied zoning inspections trying to get a certificate of occupancy? Is it Is a drive-by inspection done by the building administrator legal? Is it unethical? Do you know where to find the list of licenses employees have on the city website? Is there transparency? Do you know why the new library community center building is leaking from the roof? Did you see the fourth person walk into the glass wall? Did they hurt themselves? Is the structural integrity in question regarding the non-operational elevator in the library? Why isn't the new community center completely handicap accessible? Is that the fifth puddle, a roof leak, or is that a plumbing leak in the community center? Do you know how many inspections were done? Do you know how many inspections were supposed to be done in regards to the community center? Are all these cracks in the new concrete floor normal? Is it a concern to you that there's cracks longer than nine feet already? Do you know how many water pipes are leaking throughout the library? Is it touching the books? What is causing all these new cracks to form all over the new foundation? Were the foundation cracks preventable? Is this another example of those famous favored inspections apologize is this another example of those famous favor inspections I've been hearing about only in Monroe this last question I do not I'm not answering this is why are we not good enough to have a real-life building official what is the difference that that's the last one for that one in regards to the three minutes and 30 seconds so if you have a final comment Yes, sir. Anyone that has similar questions like these, please submit them to City Council. I know that they're always interested. And anyone concerned that wants to share their experiences about what they've experienced with the Building Department and the City Economic Development Department, please contact Laura, the Licensing and Administration of Regulatory Affairs of Michigan.

Thank you, and have a good evening.

Council, Honorable Mayor Clark.

Other comments from those present here this evening? Further comments? Seeing none, motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn, second.

Motion from Councilwoman Germani, supported by Councilwoman Stringham to adjourn. Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilperson Hader? Yes. Stilgrave? Yes. Germani? Yes. Stringham? Yes. Felder? Yes. Mayor Clark?

Yes.