City Council - Regular Meeting

This meeting of the Oak Park City Council is called to order. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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.

Uh, city clerk Norris, would you call the role? Uh, Mayor Mlen here. Mayor Prom Edgar here. Council member Radner here. Council member Whitehead. Uh, council member Crawford here. We have a quorum. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Second. Thank you. All in favor, please say I.

Any opposed? Motion carried. Consent agenda item five. The following routine items are presented for approval without discussion as a single agenda item. Should any member wish to discuss or disapprove of any item, it must be dropped on the blanket motion of approval and considered separately. A regular city council meeting minutes for January 20th, 2026. B. Special ME minutes for the same date. C. Recycling commission meeting minutes for January 15th. D. Payment of an MDOT invoice for 2025 9mm construction project from Cloverlon to Greenfield Road M771 for the total amount of $244,828. E second quarter fiscal year 202526 investment report F. Budget to actual report for period ending 123125. G payment of invoices from OM advisors for engineering consulting services for the total amount of $4,227. Finally, H new and renewal of licenses for February 2nd, 2026. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda?

So moved. Second. Thank you. Um all in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carried. We have an elected official. We have uh state rep. Regina Weiss to uh update us on what's doing in Lancing. For those of you who don't know, Regina Weiss used to be on our city council. So, welcome back home.

I know. Um good evening everyone. And it's wonderful, I will say, also to see a great turnout at city council meeting. This is a much larger turnout than we uh typically see at council. So excited that there's a lot of people here to speak during public comment. Um I did want to come and just give a update about some of the things that are happening in Lanc City. Uh first and foremost, uh for those who don't know, I know uh our city officials are very very familiar with this issue, but um some of the public may not be. Um, back in December, uh, the Michigan House Appropriations Committee had a vote to claw back $645 million in already approved funding, um, that had been approved by both chambers and the governor from the previous fiscal year, uh, for projects across the state, infrastructure projects across the state, many of which are already in process, some of which they already have even completed. Um, they were able to do this um, using this uh, a very rarely used rule um that is um likely unconstitutional and being challenged on a constitutional merit as such. Um but it was only voted through one chambers appropriations committee. So we never even came to the floor for a vote. Uh just this simply the house appropriations committee voted to claw back this funding. Um, and there are several projects across the state that are potentially impacted by that, including some money for projects here in the city park. Um, we are sitting right next to the event hub that is currently in progress. Uh, there was a million dollar appropriations that we secured to help pay for that event hub and we don't know as of this moment whether or not some or all of that funding could be impacted by that vote. We're still waiting on a list of projects from the state budget office. Um what they have said, um I believe it's for legal reasons, but they're refusing to give the list of projects

that are impacted. They've given us a list of projects that have vote has technically been taken to resin the funding. However, um they have said about 70% of that funding is considered to be incumbent, meaning that the funding for those projects, you can't claw back. But we don't know which ones. We don't know how much and so we're still waiting to hear back. There is a court case that is going on about that. The the attorney general put out an opinion that the law that was cited to do this vote initially was unconstitutional. Um the house speaker countered and sued the attorney general. And so there's a lawsuit that is now currently playing through the courts, but there has been a stay on the funding going out because of that lawsuit. And so we don't know what the outcome of that will be. But I will say that um myself and my colleagues um on the House Democratic side and and many of our colleagues even um some of our Republican colleagues on the Senate side have spoken out against this action that was taken by the House Appropriations Committee and Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee that they were able to that they did this took this vote to claw back this funding that was already guaranteed. Um, we are continuing to constantly monitor and get as much information as we can and share with uh our local governments and partners as we receive it from the state budget office. Um, I do hope that the funding that is uh been has been promised for the city of Oak Park will be delivered and I am very disappointed um and and very upset that we can't say that at with confidence at this point because of actions that was taken by the House Appropriations Committee. Um, but I just wanted to make sure that folks knew that that was happening. And, um, I wanted to thank our city manager and the rest of council for being very responsive on this issue, um, and helping to do everything on their part to, uh, try to push for that funding to

be restored. Um, additionally, um, wanted to just share some things that are happening. Another uh priority that has been laid out, which I think is something that a lot of people in this room hopefully would be found sign uh find exciting um is the possibility of doing some things to reduce property tax burden on folks in the state. And um there, as you I'm sure everyone in this room can imagine, there are responsible ways to do that and there are irresponsible ways to do that. Um the speaker has said that he's going to be putting forward a plan. We're hearing that might be coming out this week. Um I myself have been meeting with stakeholders across the state since November on trying to come up with plan a plan to help reduce uh property tax burden for folks who really need the help but also do it in a responsible way that doesn't bankrupt local communities, police, fire, school districts. Um and so we are working on that and we'll be rolling that out within the next few weeks with a lot of partners um um who've been helping us with that. Uh there may though, we're hearing that the h the House Republicans plan may be coming out this week. So be on the lookout for that because what we've heard again is it's more of the same of cutting funding and not restoring funding. Um and really worried about what the implications of that could be for again our local governments, police, fire, school districts. Um did also want to make sure people know that we have community conversations where we give updates about these sorts of things and other things that are happening in Lancing. Actually, thank you to people who are in this room who just came to the one that just happened right before this council meeting at the library. Um, we have another one coming up if you missed it. Um, uh, next month on March 3rd at 6:00 at the, uh, Royal Oak Township Library. So again, next Thursday, 6 o'clock at the Royal Oak Township Library. If you missed this one, uh, we hope you can join us for that one. Um, and also to see a list of our upcoming community

conversations. We're also working on planning a know your rights town hall. I know there probably there are a lot of folks here tonight to speak about concerns around ICE in our communities. We are working on a know your rights town hall that will likely be happening later this month or early in March. Um, so be on the lookout for that. And you can um if you go to my website which is very easy to remember. It's just repiss.com repwiss.com. We post all of our upcoming community conversations and town halls. Um, so you can go on there uh and see when that date gets scheduled. And we're also on social media and you can follow us there as well. Um, and I again just want to thank our the community for coming out tonight. And I want to thank especially our council, our mayor and city government for all the work that you do for the citizens here at North Park. And I'm happy to answer any questions if you have them.

Are there questions for the state rep? We appreciate your time and coming out and supporting us. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Item seven of the agenda is accounting reports. Approval for payment of an invoice submitted by our city prosecutor Dick Faber Kaplan for legal services in the total amount of $6,500. Is there a motion to approve payment? Some move. Second. Thank you. Discussion. Roll call, please. Council member Crawford, yes. Mayor Prom Edgar, yes. Mayor Mlullen, yes. Council member Rner,

yes. Motion carried. Thank you. Item eight, uh, bid. This is a request to award the 2026 janitorial contract to PIC Maintenance Incorporated of Southfield, Michigan in the amount of $128,81.72. Is there a motion to award the contract? So moved. Second.

Second. Thank you. Um, uh, we would love to know, uh, who was doing it before and why aren't we hiring them again or Yeah. Good evening, Mayor, City Council, City Manager Tongate. Um, to answer your question, mayor, um, PIC maintenance, who was awarded the contract, um, was who was temporarily kind of, uh, filling in for us uh, momentarily. So, kind of just a little backstory of um the janitorial. Uh we used uh VHM uh was our previous janitorial bid who was awarded and um unfortunately they um I guess for a lack of a better term uh ghosted us. They started showing up um and city staff for about a week and a half was left scrambling, you know, um doing some duties. um working alongside the department of public clerks department um we reached out to um a few local vendors to temporarily bridge our janitorial services until uh we could post this bid. So um PIC maintenance was the uh lowest temporary bidder and then we went through uh a full proper process uh posted on bidet direct where uh 30 vendors uh attended the walkthrough and we got 13 bids. Um, and through that process, they ended up being the low bidder. So, this is going to be a one-year contract with the option to uh two one-year extensions if mutually agreed upon and service is um up to par. So,

and they were showing up during this period, this new company, PIC Maintenance. Yes, we've been um you know there have been some hiccups along the way with any um you know vendor coming on, but we've worked through them and uh we're happy with their work and believe they will do a good job. Um uh any questions? How long have they been temporary? I believe it's been about two to three months, I would say. I believe. Thank you. All right. Thank you so much. Um, roll call, please. Mayor Potm Edgar, yes. Mayor Mlen,

yes. Council member Rner, yes. Council member Crawford, yes. Item 8B, request to award the cablecast VIO playback and bulletin board system upgrade bid to Medium Media Storage Group Incorporated of Burbank, California in the amount of $34,29.50. Um, is there a motion? So, second. Thank you. Um, and our communications director is going to explain what this is and why we picked Burbank, California.

Sure. Um, the I'm up here with Deputy City Manager Adam Ozarzac, who helped in the bidding process. Um, this is actually John Stilson. Um, his company, although the bid, I think the main company came through Burbank, he is local. He actually fixes our um a lot of our equipment regularly and came in last year around this time when all of our equipment was kind of going offline and we were having trouble with streaming month after month. Um so he actually is very familiar with the city and works uh locally within the state and was just in you know fairly recently. So um anything else you'd like to add?

Yeah, there is one more thing I would just like to add for point of clarification. So, uh, bidnet direct is the system that the city uses to post all of our bids and that does have a national reach to ensure that we're getting the most competitive price and bang for our buck with uh tax dollars. Um, so as Britney mentioned, while um the main company is out of Burbank, California, it is a local uh vendor of this company that we are working with. So again, I just wanted to clarify that's how we got someone from California to um essentially bid on our project. Are there uh questions? Nope.

If you need a volunteer to go check this company out in person, I'm happy to go. Especially today or tomorrow. Your kindness is is noted. Team player. Um, we are ready for um a roll call. Uh, Mayor Mlullen, yes. Council member Radner, yes. Council member Crawford, yes. Mayor Prom Edgar,

yes. Motion carried unanimously. We're now in the city manager portion. Um uh there will be an announcement that I think everybody is here to listen to and then um uh at the end we will have call to the audience and everyone who wants to speak will get an opportunity. I'm an oldtime teacher and if you want to talk we want to listen. That's a new wave of teaching. That's not the old way.

Very true. Okay. Council members, uh, members of the public, I am going to pass down a statement that we are going to release immediately following tonight's meeting. I've asked Director Cooper to join me at the podium for tonight. Um, this is with respect to um, a lot of the concerns that a lot of you here have. Um, so let me read this statement. The city of Oak Park works within the boundaries of applicable federal and state law. At the same time, the city's primary responsibility is to provide local services that promote public safety, trust, and community well-being. City departments do not enforce federal civil immigration law unless required by law or pursuant to a judicial warrant. As our local resources are focused on municipal priorities, I wanted to clarify the following as it relates specifically to our public safety department. We police legally, ethically, and morally. In response to false statements circulating on social media, the city of Oak Park and our public safety department want to assure the community that ICE has never contacted our department for any type of assistance, nor have we provided it. Also, we have not and have no intentions of signing a separate 287g agreement with ICE. And for those of you that don't know, the 287G program allows your local law enforcement agency to enforce certain aspects of US immigration law. We have not and will not participate in doortodoor style roundups with ICE to enforce federal immigration laws. Residents who have questions after my statement and after tonight are encouraged to

contact public safety through our director or his staff anytime they feel our assistance is needed. I also want every resident to know the city has also developed a comprehensive administrative policy working with our city legal team for how our other city staff interact with federal law enforcement. Some of the main points of our administrative policy include we maintain good security practices by monitoring entrances and requiring anyone entering the building to identify themselves. We make sure standard security measures including security cameras are functioning and recording so that any enforcement activity is recorded. We treat ICE agents as you would any member of the public and do not let them into non-public areas without a valid judicial warrant. And that is not just an ICE administrative warrant. We need a valid judicial warrant. We continue to follow privacy protections in the same manner that such protections would be followed during the normal co course and scope of city operations and do not provide anyone including ICE with personal information that is protected by law. We emphasize to our employees the difference between a valid judge signed warrant and an administrative warrant and instruct employees to immediately contact the city manager's office who will in turn authorize assignment to our city attorney to review any warrant presented. Lastly, and I want to turn it over to Director Cooper to make a few comments as well, but lastly, Oak Park is strongest when all of our residents feel safe engaging with their local government. The city will continue to uphold the law and prioritize the well-being of our community. We remain

committed to serving every resident with professionalism, respect, and integrity. Director Cooper.

Thank you, City Manager Tongate. Uh, first, I'd like to take this opportunity to affirm what has been shared here today. Second, I want to express the department's sincere appreciation for the continued support and trust of the city administration, this council, and ultimately our residents. As a member of this department for the past 36 years and a director of public safety for the past 14 of those years, I take great personal pride in and can personally attest to our long-standing history of meaningful community engagement, strong personal relationships, and mutual respect with the people we serve. During challenging times like these, the foundational culture of trust and respect matters most. We will continue to prioritize public safety, trust, and community well-being for every resident and visitor in our park to the best of our ability. It is both an honor and a privilege to serve this great community, and we continue our pledge to never take this duty and responsibility for granted. So, thank you. Okay, I think we are on to a little bit lighter topic here. 9A1 council members is our 2026 27 budget calendar. We have our finance director Sandre Crawford here, council members. And I believe a copy of the bud proposed budget calendar has been provided to you at your seats. Right.

We're going to be starting Monday going through Friday again. So we did try to mimic the budget schedule that we did last year. So I believe it culminates in the final budget being approved on May 18th which by is required by charter. Um we did want to I think Sandre maybe you want to chime in on this but we did want to look for the one day where we would have council spend with department heads. Yes. Like we did last year.

Yes that is correct. um we we chose or we looked at the reason it was highlighted in red um was May 1st um because that was what we did last year on a Friday but you can pick either day if that's not a good day but that was what we were striving for May 1 May would be the day that we all get together yes we we wanted to leave that week open um for you to pick a day but if we chose I think the the first is a is it a Friday versus a Friday. So Friday if it were that Friday like we did last year, it would be May 1st. The only day that week I'm currently unavailable is Monday. So any other day.

So Director Crawford, are you looking for them to make a decision on that particular day tonight? Okay. So council members, if at all possible um with respect to that particular day, we would like you to make a decision if you could. Please check your calendars. Can I just just a quick thought? I think might make sense for us to confer with Sean about this before we pick a date because it could be, you know, we can make multiple days work and it could be there's one that won't work for him and then we could just put it on the next C on the next uh agenda if that's okay. Yes. So, can you at least adopt it and leave that? Yeah. Other than that, yeah, put it in there. Yeah.

Is there a motion yet? I'll make the motion to adopt this with the exception that the um city council budget review session will be on one day between 427 and 51 on a date to be determined at a future meeting. Yes. Is that complicated enough? All right. We may not get a second. We'll see. Is there a second? Second. Yeah. Okay. Um do we need a roll call? No. All those in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. We will Thank you. get more details on the exact date.

Okay. 9B1. Uh, director Kimberly Moroni is here. This council members, this is our DIA partners and public art program.

Good evening, Mayor, mayor prom, and city council members. Uh back in October of 2024, city council passed a resolution to apply for a DIA DIA partners and public art program to do a mural on one of our properties. At that time, the resolution stated it was either going to be the event hub or the 11mi social district wall. Um, at we did decide internally that we were going to do the event hub wall as the final selection and we have been selected to put a mural there in spring of 2026. So, we need to update the resolution to reflect that the final location will be the event hub and that's the resolution before you this evening. So, it is a resolution in support of an application to the DIA partners and public art program to provide a mural for the event hub.

Correct. Is there a motion? So, moved. Second. Thank you. Um, discussion. Yeah, I have a question. Yes, Mayor Prom. Is the DIA supplying the mural or are we going to put this out for bid?

They are supplying the artists that will do the mural. Uh survey was released today on social media that will be open for 2 weeks or you can come into our offices and fill out a paper application. They're looking for input from all the residents of Oak Park on what they would like to see on the mural. That information will then be given to the artist that's selected by the DIA and they'll come up with a few renderings that we will select the final um actual mural. So, will it cost the city anything? There is zero cost to the city. So, the DA do you know how much they're going to spend? I don't know what their budget is. Okay. Thank you.

Anyone else? Um, for the people here, uh, we'd love your input on what would you like us to direct the artists to focus on in this mural next door on the new building, the history of Oak Park, the people, the activities, any idea that you have uh, would be welcome. We'd love your input. We will pass it on to the artists. This is exciting and it's free. All right. Um, do we need a So, we have a motion. Do we? Motion.

We have a motion and second. Any other discussion? All those in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Okay. And we have Director Moroni for 9B2 as well. Yes. Thank you. Um, this is a request to approve the final payment application number four and change order number two for the 9mm connector park M7746 to DMC Consultants of Detroit, Michigan uh for the amounts of 23,38.97 and 48,84725 respectively. So this will balance out the project that is now 100% complete.

Okay. First, is there a motion to approve the final payment application? So, moved. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Um question. Uh what is left to be done for $23,000 on the park? So, when they did their final plantings, we hold money aside um for retainage, which is the change order, and then also for the 23,000, it was for their watering services throughout the past year. and the maintenance. And maintenance. And so that's a yearly expense.

No, it's just the first year of the project plantings and then the uh DPW will take over. Correct. Any further questions? Uh, roll call, please. Council member Crawford. Yes. Mayor Prom Edgar. Yes. Mayor Mlullen. Yes. Council member Radner. Yes. Motion carries. Okay. Council members, we have 9C1. Director Sandra Crawford, please.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tim Edgar. Council members, city manager Tongate. Before you are the second quarter budget amendments for the general fund, and it's summarized as below. The proposed amendments have no net impact on fund balance. The proposed budget amendments have no net impact on fund balance and includes the following notable items. Increase in property tax revenue represents the difference between the original budgeted estimates and the actual anticipated revenues that were build in jy. Decrease in state shared revenues due to the state of Michigan's fiscal year 26 budget shifted revenues from local government's general fund to major and local street funds due to the removal of sales tax on gas sales. An increase in interest income per returns to date. An increase in straight state grant revenue for two new grants allocated to replace the lost revenue from other state legislations. The proposed amendments move all expenditures out of the non-EP departmental account that is not related to health care and and to a new department to comply with the state of Michigan's reporting requirements. An increase in the general retirey and public safety health care costs based on costs to date and projections throughout through year end for the special revenue funds. An increase in the park and recreation and the rubbish collection funds property tax revenues were based on the anticipated year-to- date numbers to help offset the additional cost for both funds. For the water and sewer fund, an increase in interest income based on prior year's actual projections through what we project for year end. for the internal service fund which is the motor pool increase in capital outlay expenditures due to the rollover of equipment vehicle purchases from

fiscal year 24 and 25 that will be made in this fiscal year 2026 and for the brownfield fund there was increase in state grants to cover professional services for the brownfield fund the proposed budget amendments have an impact on the general fund balance while keeping the estimates the estimated fund balance at approximately 17 and a half percent of annual expenditures. The amendments to all other funds keep the fund balance at targeted ranges and are done in compliance with the state of Michigan requirements and guidelines. The request or the recommended action is approval of the resolution to authorize budget amendments 2026 number two. Thank you. Okay. So, um, we need a motion.

Motion to authorize this budget amendment. So, is there a second? Thank you. Mayor Prom is the second. Any discussion or questions? Okay. Um, do we need a roll call? Yes. Yeah. Mayor Prom Edgar? Yes. Mayor Mlen? Yes. Council member Rner? Yes. Uh, Council Member Crawford? Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Sandra. Motion carried. Thank you.

Okay, council members, I have one more thing not on the agenda, but I do want to bring to your attention. Um, actually something Representative Weiss had mentioned, and I just also want to take this opportunity to thank her for, you know, we she and I are talking constantly about all of this. I just received my 20 years uh letter from the ICMA and in 20 years doing this, I have never ever experienced what the speaker of the house just did in terms of trying to claw back funds that that uh we were already appropriated. And it's not limited to the event hub. Um it's also expanded into our street money and some of our water and sewer funds. Um, so to say that I'm and speaking solely here as the city manager, but to say that I'm disappointed would be a tremendous understatement. And council members, if this does proceed, um, we'll see what the courts decide. But if it does proceed, council members, I do intend on coming back to you uh, and filing a lawsuit uh, asking to file a lawsuit against the state of Michigan to recover the monies that we were already appropriated. And here's an example of where Oak Park, we are so diligent that probably unlike a lot of the communities that are going to be harmed by this. Um we um had already started our projects. In fact, the street project is about 80 to 90% completed. The event hub is probably 60% completed at this point. Um I've never experienced something where a legislator would try to claw back monies, our monies that were already awarded like this and we're mid- project on. So very disappointing. Uh and I'll council members, if it if and when the time comes, I'll come back to you uh with permission to file suit against the state of Michigan.

We're with you.

Um the this concludes the events on the agenda and we are at call to the audience. Um Mayor Prom, would you please here? Whoops. Wait this way. Okay, this is the call to the audience section time. Um, this is an opportunity for anyone to come up and speak. Each of the speaker's remarks are a matter of public record. The speaker alone is responsible for his or her comments, and the city of Oak Park does not, by permitting such remarks, support, endorse, or accept the content thereof as being true or accurate. Any person while being heard at a city council meeting may be called to order by the chair or any council member for failure to be germanine to the business of the city. Vulgarity or personal attacks on persons or institutions. Again, there's a threeminut time limit per speaker.

Have you got your timer going? Y. Okay. Um, first I'd like to uh welcome you and kudos for being part of the democratic process where you come and speak to your city government. Uh, I support you 100%. Um, if we have cards.

Yes. Okay. Uh, city clerk will start with calling the cards that are already turned in. Um, uh, Madame Mayor, we have, uh, Kenneth Sherman first. Good evening, Kenneth Sherman, 23840 Jerome Street, No Park. Uh, good evening. Um, two points. One, um, I was going to talk about out ofstate bid awarding to biders from out of state. Um, I was going to bring up the California bid that was awarded, but the reason you did that was clarified. So, um, I won't bring that up. But, um, I missed the last city council meeting because I was attending a library board meeting, but I wanted just to bring this up. One of the consent agenda items that was approved on the uh January 20th city council meeting was um hold on one second. It was a request to approve an invoice to um Davy Resource Group of Kent, Ohio for a tree survey project. And I don't understand why the city had to go to a company in Ohio to approve that type of service as opposed to finding a company in the state of Michigan. So maybe I can understand if it was a specialized project that you needed a special part for one of the fire engines in the city, but to go to

Ohio for a tree survey to me makes no sense when you could have justly awarded that project. Uh on that one, talk to um Dave Doster. Well, I think I think the residents have a right to get a feedback instead of just individually. Y

and then secondly, I had brought this up previously and the only person on the council that made any kind of comment uh who's not here today was council member Whitehead. I had brought up about awarding bids to the lowest bidder. And to me, just because you're the lowest bidder for something you bid on doesn't mean it's the most quality bidder who's being awarded that bid. So I really would like some kind of explanation whether it's at this meeting or at another meeting about the bid awarding process and why awarding a bid to the lowest bidder is always the way 99% of the time that the city goes. Thank you. Have a good evening. Uh Dave Dcastaster, can you come up for a bit and just talk about the Davy tree survey survey project and um why we try and save our taxpayers money by going to the lowest bidder unless the lowest bidder is not acceptable. Is that

Sure. Good evening, mayor, city council, city manager. Um so to your point, we do look at the lowest qualified bidder. We don't always look at just a low bid price. Uh to Mr. Sherman's point, they may not always be the most qualified and best to perform the work. Um, in this particular case, this was a 100% grant reimburseable project. We did have one local company that also put in a bid and I believe it was about four times as high. So, Davy Tree specializes in this type of work. They're a nationwide outfit that does a lot of this. Uh, they've done a lot of our neighboring communities. Um, they know all the grants that I know of, uh, communities around us have used Davey. Um, they're professionals. They do this work all over the place. and we have been very happy with their work.

I appreciate you. Thank you. Next, Annie Gracie. Annie Bracie. Yeah, I forgot. Thank you.

Good evening everyone. Hi, welcome. Hi. Thank you. My name's Annie Bracie. Holler a little louder. Hi, my name is Annie Bracie. I live at 21760 Kenosha Street and there's a big tree in front of my house and I'm really concerned about the passer by and the kids passing by. The limbs always falling out this tree. I called the city. They sent someone out and he said the tree was okay. But I live there. The tree is dead. That tree need to come down.

Thank you. We will take another look at that tree. Thank you for coming. Uh uh Silva Haywood please. Good afternoon everyone. Um my concern is um I know Oak Park is in love with all these trees. I understand that. And um and trees are beautiful because it consists of osc. But uh just to reiterate what Miss Bracie just said, uh she lived right next door to me. Okay. And it the tree is so big. The tree look like it's about a hundred years old. Okay. The tree is dead. And I am very concerned that that tree may be uh I mean it need to be uh it need to be decinerated cut down and get rid of because it's no longer as productive, you know. And uh because not too long ago um I think we had very high wind that night and um the tree the limbs and everything it was more limbs in my driveway than it was left on the tree trunk, you know. So, I'm just someone really really need to come and check that out because it need to be cut down.

We have that address. Thank you. Really does. Okay. One more thing. I would like to commend the road commissioner that did nine miles. They did a very good job. I'm very pleased with that and I hope they continue on to uh keep up the good work. Thank you. So, that's all I have to say. It's nice to be proud of your city.

Next, Charles um Wus, is that right? I don't know if I said that. Sorry. Sorry. You're okay. It's It's a Polish name. It's Was so you wouldn't have gotten anyway. It's all good. Uh I well my comment was really clearly addressed today. So I commend the the council on on putting together that statement. Um I just think that uh actually following the the law and you know not just the opinions of uh what the law what they want to be uh is going to protect our community a lot. So I I really do commend the the council for that statement. Um, since I'm here, I might as well also say I I live at uh 13930 Pearson and that nine mile and Coolage redevelopment project looks fantastic. I'm very excited about that and uh since that's right in my backyard, I thought I'd let you know, too.

Thank you,

Carly Silverman. Good evening. My name is Kari Silverman. I'm an Oak Park resident. Um, I had a lot of words written down, but you addressed a lot of my concerns tonight. I guess I want to encourage um our city officials and the public safety department to also protect our First Amendment rights should it come to that. Um, I think we've seen a lot of horrifying videos in Minneapolis and Chicago and across the country. And I think we've learned that there's really no community that is off limits. Um, and so I want to encourage the city to continue to be transparent and supportive of its residents that want to protect the the dignity and safety of our community. Thank you,

Hope Ellis. I'm Hope Ellis. I live at 14115 Victoria Street. Um, I also go by Tikva and I have been living in Oak Park since 2019 and I've liked it and been proud to live here. I'm a big user of the library and I'm always happy. But I didn't know I could be this proud of Oak Park as I am now when I heard the resolution to protect us all from unfortunately the federal government. Thank you.

Welcome to Oak Park by the way.

Uh Paula Simal All right. Hi, Paula Somal 23520 Republic. I've been uh living here in Oak Park for almost a quarter of a century. I It's okay to be uh you know concerned that I'm saying I lived here this long. Like I'm too young. I get it. But um and I have I have uh really enjoyed the diversity within my within this town because not only do we have diversity, but we celebrate it. Um and I've also appreciated the good governance. I'm a government teacher and uh the city government here knows about serving community in a way that maybe our federal government needs to work on. Um, and I'm pleased with your statement, but I want to also encourage you and encourage the city government to continue these uh these sound policies that represent the values of our city. Um I myself am a child of immigrants and frankly the activities of ICE are terrifying and we came to this country um because there were communists and Nazis, Nazis first, but that locked up a huge portion of my family. And so to see something like that happening in this country is disturbing. So, thank you, Oak Park. And as far as the mural, diversity and sunflowers.

All right. I like that.

Glenda Steinbeck. Good evening, mayor, city manager, council members, friends, neighbors. I had prepared a lovely speech for you and I am I can't say how pleased I am that I was preempted by the statement that was made by our city uh manager. Thank you for that. I only have a couple of bullet points that were not addressed or that I would just like further clarification on. Um, I'd like to understand that our schools and our courouses are protected and designated safe places in our community. The other thing that I'd like to see is um zoning ordinances that would prevent the opening of detention centers in our city. to which centers

zoning zoning ordinance to prevent detention centers from being opened in our community. I've lived here since 1983. I have been very proud to raise my children here. My grandchildren come and play in this community. I love it so much because it is a wonderful and warm diverse community. So, a lot of my anxieties have been relieved by, you know, what I heard here tonight. So, I'm really happy about that. So, um, I came here to ask you to not just talk the talk, walk the walk. And I think you did that today. So, thank you, Erilyn. Uh, Erilyn McCullik. Um, Maryanne, you're going to have to say your last name. Perau. Okay. Thank you.

Sometimes Maryanne Perau. I live at 22031 Parklon Street. And um the main reason I was here tonight was wanting I assumed that whatever the city was doing would be in line with what the community would expect in terms of ICE and our uh public uh public safety department. My concern was that it was not public until now. like the public. I I saw a post um on one of the Oak Park things and someone was saying, "Dude, people know where our public safety department stands with ICE." Every comment under that said, "I think they work with them. I think they're" and and so yeah, I'm not kidding. The post got taken down, right? As I put there's no 287g, but um but everybody assumed

the worst

the worst. And that's why it needs to be made public, which um you know, I I'm just curious. I don't know how you make that statement public, but people need to know in the city that this is is the policy, and I really commend you on making the statement. Um, the other thing that I have concerns about is what what will go into actually informing our police officers in the community, like will they be prepared should a situation come up and they're confronted with something that involves ICE. I know you have a policy, you're all aware of it. Do the rank and file know what to do in situations? Is there any sort of training or education for them?

So, those would be my concerns. Thank you.

Um, Peter Werby. I can only thank you too for that uh that statement and I would echo what Maryanne said the importance of making it public and I'm would like to know uh the process maybe the mayor's statement would be a good place because as you said uh city manager Tungate there's a lot of going on in the internet on our East Oak Park neighborhood association Facebook page that is filled with misinformation. So I think it would I mean the way you heard people here express the sense of pride in that statement I think that would be felt throughout the community. Uh the only other thing I could suggest is perhaps legislation for the city. Uh the state of Michigan, the Senate is examining bills right now that would forbid masked police officers in the way that ICE has. uh that they are forbidden to enter sensitive areas like schools, women's shelters, and the like. And what was there's a a second part of it, but there's 85 bills that have been introduced to uh state legislatores across the United States. So, Oak Park is right in that process. And thank you so much. All right. Fata.

I'm Batcha Shriber. I live at 15241 Burton. Um, like most most of the people that turned out tonight, I had one main concern and that is the possibility that ICE may come to our community and terrorize our residents. And I'm glad to hear that we have a policy in place not to cooperate with ICE. I'm wondering the city attorneys here if if there is a possibility of putting regulations in place in terms of foreign or outside uh uh military organizations coming in. Can we force them to not have masks? Can we can we require that they wear uniforms so we can identify who they are? Um, they should have their badge numbers emblazed on the front and the back of their uniforms so that if they're bad actors, we can know who they are. And because if I would look out on my front lawn today and see people out there with masks and guns, I don't know. Are they terrorists? Are they are they are they um is it a criminal gang or is it ICE? So, I mean, so these are these are concerns I have. I I you have addressed a lot of what I was worried about. But I'm glad to hear we're on the right side of this. But I do hope there's more that we can do to try to protect our residents. Many of the people who live here are immigrants. Some of them come from repressive governments only to come here and and find that here we are doing the very same thing in our country. So please keep up the good work and maybe we can take it a little further, too.

Thank you, Debbie Stler. It's nice to see the sunflower here. Um, Debbie Stler. I live at 14115 Victoria Street. I really love living in Oak Park. um there the library and all of the different activities that happen there, the way that it looks, the way people are allowed to have company and park on the street. There's many things I appreciate about Oak Park and hearing Mr. Tongate speak about what Oak Park's plan is to defend and protect our residents made me very proud. Um I came here nervous and I am so happy and not totally shocked to be reassured. Thank you very much. Bravo Paul Lavine. Good evening, Paul Lavine. 14094 Lello. I want to thank city manager Tongate and director Cooper for publicly uh making a statement of policy for the city and also thank our team here who already has this on Facebook for concerned citizens who could not be here tonight. With that, I concede my time. Thank you.

Thank you. Um Kathy Koser, is that right? Kathy Kathy here. Um Crystal Bailey.

Good evening. Um council, city manager, mayor, community. I am Crystal Bailey and I am a resident of Oak Park. I want to begin by acknowledging and thanking city manager and deputy Cooper for publicly stating that Oak Park will not support or cooperate with ICE. That statement matters and I appreciate it more so. I've been in Oak Park, not more so, but I live I've been a resident of Oak Park since 1998, and I'm an alumni from Oak Park High School. I'm a former Oak Park uh school board member, and I purchased a home. I've been in Oak Park since 98, but I purchased a home in 2019, and my property taxes uncapped and my mortgage increased. And I heard uh property taxes mentioned today and money coming back from the state to get the event hub done. And I heard you say city manager that you would fight for us and that even if you would get a lawsuit for us at the state level, but in the meantime, where is that money going to come from? And are we going to come back to the community and ask the community for more money to get this completed? Thank you.

Carla Wallace.

I'm not going to speak at this time because city manager and deputy already spoke to the issue that I'm here for today. I'm glad to hear that we are or will not be cooperating. And then again um like it was said here that it needs to be put out to the community on a larger scale so that the people that didn't come out today can feel safe or ensure that the communities and residents best interest are at heart. Uh Lori Lesey Hi, I am visiting from Huntington Woods. Um, and I'm really pleased to hear about the policy you guys came up with um, and articulated tonight. And I'm visiting because um, what happens here and what happens in Huntington Woods and what happens in Pleasant Ridge are really important, especially in terms of uh, the Department of Homeland Security and ICE and CBP. As many of you are aware, there was an incident in Berkeley of a stop that was made by Huntington Woods police and it ended up impacting Oak Park. Pleasant Ridge uh public safety was called, Berkeley public safety was called. So if ICE or CBP were to show up in one community, it would affect us all. So that's why I felt the need to come here tonight. Kudos for the policy that you came up with. I guess my only additional comment would be to echo some of the comments made here that um I would encourage Oak Park Department of Public Safety to think through and make sure to train officers on the implementation of this policy. I have been exploring what happened in

that November 17th stop in Huntington Woods. And I think often officers may not intend to cooperate beyond what is required by the law, but when push comes to shove and you're on the street, it's it's hard to know. Um so, for example, what would happen if Oak Park uh Department of Public Safety received a call from CBP saying they had a judicial warrant signed by a judge? Would that be checked? because I know that I I believe in Huntington Woods they they were told one thing by CBP. I'm not sure it was ever actually verified. Um how would Oak Park Department of Public Safety handle a traffic stop of someone without ID who did not speak English? Would that lead them to think they should call uh Department of Homeland Security? What will Oak Park do if there is an ice rate at a business in Oak Park? I think these things need to be thought about ahead of time so that officers and the police department are prepared. The policy is great, but I I think you need to think about how it would actually be implemented. Um, and the last thing I wanted to say is that I really hope Huntington Woods will follow Oak Park's lead. Thank you very much,

Mary Glenn. the woman that just spoke, she brought up what I was going to bring up. Um, because they just raided Amazon today in Hazel Park. They're in Pontiac. they were last week in uh Ham Tramik, Southwest Detroit, Ann Arbor. So that's what my question was. What is our goal? Not goal, but what is our plan if a business gets raided? What do I do if my neighbor across the street who's Hispanic, somebody charges in their house? What do you know? Does old park have any resources for us to call or like what do we do? What do we do? Officers

do I I know we can't interfere. I know we can take pictures, but is there like does the city have any resources? like can we call the city and say this is happening and go ahead you come out I I we have an answer pardon we have an answer for you okay

so let I'm not usually I don't usually speak during public comment I'm here to listen um so I want to say that first but I I do want to reiterate that if you if anyone in our community has those concerns that you've expressed just now that they are welcome to call public safety and and our officers. And you're welcome to speak with Director Cooper and uh Steve Arnowski, our community resource officer in the back here after the meeting, but if you have any of those concerns, please call public safety and you'll get answers to those questions. Thank you. The last card I have is Don Jones last.

Donald Jones, 24660 West Hampton. over here.

I'd like to associate myself with Mary, Glenn, Lori, Carla, Glenda, Maryanne, and Peter's comments, and I want to thank the council for adjusting the agenda and providing the um statement that addresses most of my concerns. I am afraid of ICE. When I see ice, it's a public safety problem. and I call public safety. We have an extortionist and that's a problem. So, we still have a big issue where there's money that comes in to this city from the feds, from the state. They have they we've seen it over and over again. It's go for the money. So, it's going to be difficult. Now, um, I would encourage the public safety to include in professional development time at the Holocaust Museum, paid time at the Holocaust Museum. I have a friend who passed ICE inspection in August. In November, he failed inspection and he is in detention in Baldwin, Michigan. Since November up till today, he's had trouble getting food, a coat, socks, 10 years in the country, no problems, married to a American citizen, writers in process. This is crazy. This is We need to all talk to each other and work together to oppose ICE and the extortionist. On lighter note, days are getting longer and Labor Day is coming. We're seven

months. You will be getting a special permit request and we will have an outstanding regional event in our new hub. So go to oakparkleday.com, sign up. Thank you very much. Thank you. Is that it? Um, city manager Tongate

here. Again, um, don't normally speak during this time. I'm here to listen. Um, I do want to make one additional comment. Um, our public safety officers have attended educational and training sessions at the Holocaust Museum. In fact, our public safety director sits on the board. um I don't remember it's a subcommittee of the board but sits actively sits on that subcommittee um to continue participation and and obviously you know drive education and understanding of course in our community. So I just wanted to acknowledge that

we didn't know that. Thank you. I would like to thank all of you who care passionately about your country for coming out in frigid temperatures in the middle of the night when you could be home in a nice warm house. Kudos to you for protecting democracy. We also have boards and commissions that we'd like you to participate on. So, as long as we've got you here, consider that. Thank you and good night, Mayor Prom Julie Edgar.

Thank you everybody for coming out tonight. This is a big and very very important issue. Um so I'm happy that the city did issue this statement. Um I believe as uh Laura Lei um pointed out that we should probably go a little further with this. I think we have to um you know we should tell residents what to do in practical situations if they see an ICE raid going on or somebody being harassed or beaten up etc. But this is a start and um we are just one among many cities that are grappling with this issue. So thank you for coming out and good night.

Council member Solomon Rner.

Thank you Madame Mayor. I want to echo what everybody else has said so far. Thanking you all for coming out and for caring about the process. Obviously, it's very important and making sure that there's a council that's going to listen and and hear what you have to say and listen to your concerns is obviously important and it's part of the democratic process. There's a few points that I wanted to make in response to some of the concerns that were raised tonight. And some of this is based on my training as a city councilman and some of it is based on my training as a civil rights lawyer. For those of you who don't know, I'm a civil rights lawyer. have done that nationwide in more than two dozen states. And there's a few things that first and foremost, we're all susceptible to misinformation. As much as we want to think that we're not, we are. There are things that are being shared that sometimes they're true, sometimes they're not true. If you see something that somebody posts and it's a friend of yours and you look at it and it's it outrages you as it should and then you share it and then somebody else shares it and then it turns out that it was all based on something which is not true then obviously a lot of people are going to get this misinformation. So like for example there was some conversation about that tonight something was being shared a lot of people got nervous and scared about it. Turns out it wasn't true and that was what we were doing with ICE or what we were not doing with ICE. Um, another very important thing that we have to understand is that we as a city cannot control ICE. We have absolutely no authority to control them, to regulate them, or to control anything that they do. If we tell them to wear masks and we pass an ordinance that says you have to identify yourself, they can take that ordinance and and use it for toilet paper, they can they don't have to listen to us. It's called the supremacy clause. You can Google it later, find a website that's not full of misinformation, and you'll see that this is this is generally speaking the truth. Another thing that I just want to point out that city manager read is the difference between an administrative warrant and a judicial warrant.

These are very, very important differences. Our law enforcement officers definitely know the difference. I see that we may have a judge or two in the back over here. They also know the difference. They also love speaking to residents afterwards, and I'm sure they can explain the difference to you as well. the difference between an administrative and a judicial warrant. Okay, very very important. Um, there were some other issues that came up that that have been discussed, but I never talk this long, so I'm going to stop now. Thank you all for coming out and uh feel free to come back another time. Absolutely. Council member Stephanie Crawford,

I just want to say that I'm so glad that everyone came out. A lot of your concerns were addressed this evening. This was a very important council meeting because this is a very scary uh time that we're in and we all had questions. So, we'd like to again invite you to come anytime you have questions or concerns. That's what we're here for. We were elected um to represent you, to answer those questions um and to make sure that your best interest as far as residents and visitors in the city is always addressed. So, thank you for all coming out. You're always welcome. And with that, sign up for that mural DIA. Um, you can go online uh for that event hub. Uh, just like one thing in this city, we love and value diversity of all our residents and we one thing I always said with Oak Park, we do that well. Um, as far as addressing diversity and representing all of our residents, every neighborhood and every voice. So continue to be involved in this process. Uh we have commission vacancies. We would love to see a lot of you sign up. Um you uh all have some great input and we would love to have that on some of our commissions. And uh I just like to say everyone to stay warm and once again good night and be kind to one another. Thank you. Stay warm. Be well. Being there being no further business to come before this council, this meeting stands adjourned. And

here's a couple copies of the statement if anybody wants to see it. Yeah.