Board of Trustees - Regular Meeting

I 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.

OK. May I please ask for a roll call?

Supervisor Riley. Present. Clerk Anzaldi. Present. Treasurer Eppekind.

Present.

Trustee Erta Thompson. Present. Trustee Jaffer. Present. Trustee Brabeck.

Present.

Trustee Karami. Present. Madam Supervisor, you have seven members present.

I love when we're all here. All right, May, I ask for an approval of the agenda. And I first want to go ahead and make a friendly amendment to add two things. First of all, I wanted to add in the presentation for Saline Meals on Wheels is here to present to us, as they did last year. So we're going to go ahead and add that to the agenda underneath Section 5. And then if we could also add 9.12, which is a motion to authorize the supervisor to sign and submit a letter of support for a proposal to issue a countywide ballot question which would increase the local emergency 911 surcharge. I'm sorry this is late and being put on to the last minute. We had missed the board packet deadline when the sheriff's office presented to the county and they have asked for a letter of support for this. The board members were emailed the presentation so we can discuss it. I just didn't feel comfortable writing a letter of support without actually bringing it to the board first. And the time is of the essence because, as you know, in elections, if you want to be on the November ballot, you have to get things in by mid-August, which means they need to present and have the board have a decision prior to that. So it's a little bit of a timely, sensitive matter. So if I could have a motion.

Madam Chair, I move to approve the agenda adding 5.1 Meals on Wheels presentation and adding 9.12 to authorize a supervisor to sign and submit a letter of support for the proposal to issue a countywide ballot question, which would increase the local emergency 911 surcharge. Second.

All right. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? All right. We'll go ahead and approve the motion for the amended agenda. Opening up for public comment. I do want to first of all recognize the online comment that came in This is from an individual and then you all got it emailed to you from deputy Elmecker earlier today asking for a mid-block crossing nears the Sleen rec center and We have the director of community development has been looking into it that's one of those things where you need to actually have the Road Commission look at it and make a recommendation so They haven't given us. I don't think an official One way or the other I'm not positive, but we're getting close to it After that it's funding Those things do cost money and we have quite a few areas that need to happen So we will look at some grant options and other things. It's not a not that we're opposed to it It's a you know crosswalk from a neighborhood to the Christine rec center. So it makes sense It's just a matter of prioritizing that within our funding. So I just addressed that At this point, I will open up public comment. Any person may come forward at this time to address the board. Anyone who wishes to speak is requested but not required to state his or her name and address for the record. You'll have five minutes to speak. And then after that, the board will wait for all the public comment and then respond afterwards. Is there anyone who would like to give public comment? OK. Seeing none, I will go ahead and ask for an approval of the minutes.

Madam Chair, I move to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held on June 10th, 2026. Second.

Okay. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? All right. Minutes are approved as presented. All right. I will now at this point bring up Barbara Omnismay from Ypsilanti Meals on Wheels. We did have Barbara present last year and it was very uplifting. I know we all enjoyed it. And since we do, contract with Meals on Wheels. I think it's nice to have maybe a yearly or bi-yearly presentation to keep us up to date.

Yeah, I'm so happy to be here. Now I have to do the quick scan to see. All right. I did call Caroline Sanders and I said, I am going, she's one of our best champions. And I said, I'm going to be presenting. I hope you can make it. And she said she was going to try, but I wanted to just do the quick scan to see if she was here again. Thank you all so much for having me here. I do want to give a nod to Trustee Brayback. He might know somebody on our board. Felicia is the vice president of our board and has been an absolute gift of leadership during this time. And I've seen many of you here. You and I have run into each other a lot. And actually, I'm sorry, I missed your name, but she said that she has been spreading the word ever since my presentation last year about how to support Ypsilanti Meals on Wheels. Thank you for it not just being a presentation that the relationships continue and the support continues. I'm gonna do my best to be my own tech, and I understand that all I have to do is hit an arrow, and if that's all I have to do- You need help, we have backup people who- I know, right?

They're the good team behind you to help.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm giving out the silver reason. All right, so let's just get right into it. So as you can see, our mission in Pittsfield Township is that we ensure older adults and homebound neighbors live with dignity, nourishment, and safety in their own homes. One thing that is interesting about what we do and what I've learned in my two and a half years there is that there are some Meals on Wheels programs that are really focused on being logistics folks. It's about getting the food together, getting it out the door, and delivering it. We are about making a difference in our homebound neighbors' lives. I'm going to be talking, I spoke to you about it before, but I'll be talking about it again tonight. That's where the dignity, not just nourishment and safety. And so our tagline is more than a meal. And I went back in our records and you all have been a financial partner for 25 years. I know, let that sit for a minute. Yeah, that's a clap. And $85,000 has been invested since 2001. And so as one of our longest standing partners and standing with us in the work that we do, we thank you so much. And I want to say that without your support, there would be neighbors that we wouldn't be able to reach, simply put, because we make sure that these dollars are tagged to directly support those who live in Pittsfield Township. And it's not about administration, it's not about fundraising, it is about making sure that they're getting their meals, and that's how we restrict those funds. Next. I can tell you that we are a trusted organization. It's funny, I was just chatting with this young woman here and she said, ''Oh, I love Ypsilanti Meals on Wheels.'' I mean, I'm talking about how it's impacted people that she knows. We've been rooted in Washtenaw County for over 50 years and we've actually been in the same place for over 50 years. and we deliver meals, wellness checks, and also those who we deliver meals to also have access to our free pantry. We do Amazon wishlists, people can give us items. In fact, I think Pittsville Township did a drive for us off of the Amazon wishlist and sent us things so that people could say, oh, I need a toothbrush. I mean, I know that sounds kind of crazy, but I remember being on route and someone saying, I need a toothbrush and toothpaste One of our slides talks about that the median income for those we serve is below the poverty level. So those just those little things make a huge difference. And then on the van the next day, in the last three weeks, we've delivered 20 fans. There's a community organizer who's on our board. Her name is Kathy Wyatt. Some of you might know her. And she has been raising money to buy fans, to get them on our vans, to get them out to people with information about how to stay cool. I got to stay to the slides. I could talk all night. And I know you guys don't want to be here all night. So our cost is $22 per client per day. And what that includes is a hot meal and a cold bag. We also do produce. We also deliver food gatherers, pantry items, And like we were talking about fans and just other things that they might need. So I believe that we operate in a fiscally responsible way. Not only do we use pay drivers for our bigger routes of 30 to 40 stops, but we also use nine volunteers daily. And we have a cadre of about 100 volunteers to make sure that we get. And so all in all, we have 17 routes every day. And some people are surprised to hear that we're a $2.5 million operation, but only 35% of our budget comes from federal and county sources. That might slightly tilt this fall or next year with the millage, but what will happen is our budget will grow and our services will grow. It's not like it's replacing anything. And so 65% is people saying, I am committed to what you do, And I want to support you. And here's my $50, $100, $1,000. And we're working on growing our impact and development as well. And one thing I want to highlight, I know there are these little taglines, but this one is really important. It's not just a line item. It's actually a lifeline. Because you think about the amount that you give, and then you think about $22 a day. Think about how many days of meals and support that you're providing for somebody who might not otherwise have it. Making sure I'm at the right slide, okay. And then, so this is an important service as you can probably tell for the community. 20% of the township residents are age 60 and older and the trends, not just for this township, but for the county, for the region, for the state, is that it's indicating a rise every year And there are limited options. We are the only service of this kind in this area. And even though that there are other Meals on Wheels programs, because we don't want to have duplication of service, we have specifically carved out areas. And our service area is the south side of Superior Township down to just north of Milan to the county line to US 23. And when you look at that service area, It's not a surprise to hear that this is the area that is not as supported and has lower incomes than the other parts of the county. And a lot of the folks are just vulnerable adults living alone. Three-fourths of those we are serving are living alone and the Weymouth driver may be the only person they see all day. And I talked about the federal poverty level and the majority of those that were serving in Pittsfield Township are actually living in apartments, doing all that they can to live independently. We can talk a little bit about some of the numbers of who we serve in Pittsfield Township. We are serving 55 people. That was the number that we shared last year. And you can read some of the statistics In addition, I realize I probably should have had another square that talks about overlapping medical conditions and other life complexities in addition to all of this. We have this chart that we could show you, but it would be like three slides of all of the medical conditions of what we're serving. And I think the average is two or more for each person that we're serving. One thing that happened last fall with the threat of the SNAP benefits being stopped is that we had so many people call us about wanting to sign up because they had medication they needed to take with food and they were worried they wouldn't have enough food to take their medication. So, I mean, it's just a very real circumstance. And, you know, every time we go is a wellness check. If we're not seeing what we normally see or if we don't see them, We're immediately contacting their emergency contact to let them know and to strategize with them if something needs to happen. And I'm going to talk a little bit about the Safe at Home program also, because I talked a little bit about grab bars. So one thing that my predecessor did that I thought was brilliant is realizing that if they can't get to the door, if they can't safely get to the door, then it doesn't matter if we can deliver a meal because we need to see them at the door. And what Safe at Home does, actually we've expanded throughout the county now. We were able to raise more money so that we could offer this service throughout the county and we're going to be going for more millage funding to reach even more people. And we do small home repairs, offer durable medical equipment. A lot of it is donated, which is incredible. hygiene supports, bidets for daily independence. And what some people don't know is that the number one reason for older adults having to leave independent living is because they can't toilet safely or in a sanitary way. And so these are small things to us, but it's a big deal for them. And just to back up a little bit, when I talk about people living independently, It's often because they have no other choice. Some of them have a choice, but there are certainly many that we serve that where they are is the only place they can afford. And going into a facility, it's not like they can just go start touring places and say, oh, I choose Henry Ford. They would be going into a situation that could be further away from their supports, and they would be maybe concerned about their quality of life. We do assessment and referral with our consultative occupational therapist who also is certified in later in life and aging issues. And we also provide guidance on how they can advocate for themselves. I mean, we certainly have case managers and students. Actually, Sean is now an intern with us, Tricia's son, and he has actually been working very hard on teaching self-advocacy so that people can make phone calls and do things on their own. Certainly we're there to help though. And we did three safe at home projects in 2026 that totaled about $6,000. And just as an example, they're not always just grab bars, but as an example, a $200 grab bar can save a hospitalization. So this is where we're serving. Just for you to take a quick look. at the areas and where you see the numbers is that means that there's multiple at that location. So the 14 means that there's 14 individuals serving there. We do consider this to be a very smart and local investment and I already talked about the how our funding works and it just helps keep local dollars staying local and knowing that you are supporting the residents that are around you. Sometimes I feel like some of the things we talk about is bummer information, but I'll tell you, there are so many of the folks that we serve that just bring a smile to our face, whether it's because they've inspired us or told a funny joke, or they're just happy. This is Judy, she's a Pittsville Township resident, And Zingerman's Bakery, which is a Pittsfield Township business, provides for free our birthday cupcakes so that whenever somebody has a birthday, we make a note on the route that the driver picks up or the volunteer picks up a cupcake, takes it. It depends on the driver's ability to sing whether or not they get a song. I always sing and then sometimes I think they were like, oh, she would just stop and just give me the cupcake. But one time I remember delivering and I was actually with Justin Hodge and Andrew DeLue delivering in Ipsy Township. We had a cupcake. and I started singing, and it turned out the guy was on the phone with his doctor, and then the doctor's office started singing to him, and then the neighbor heard us singing and came out and started singing, and I was like, Andrew, Justin, come on. They didn't start singing.

I tried.

All right, so back to, and the other effect that we have is that we're supporting families. We hear a lot about the sandwich generation. We hear about families struggling to support people that they love, And because we're able to do this, we hear time and time again, if you weren't there, I'm not sure I could work because they would be so concerned about making sure to take care of their older adult family member or they would have to work part-time. And their leaves and crises are less frequent just because they know that there's somebody there that's going to be able to check in on them. And sometimes our clients, feel more comfortable talking to us than they do to their family members about things that are going on. Think about talking to your child about toileting. I mean, it's just not something you would probably feel very comfortable with. But if they talk to us, we get them connected with Safe at Home, help them get that worked out. And then all of a sudden, the kid comes in like, why do you have a bidet? Well, that's none of your business. Or none-ya, as they say now. And local employers can keep skilled and focused workers. And just as I'm wrapping up, every visit delivers nutrition. We have to follow very strict nutrition standards and our meals are prepared by the University of Michigan Health System with oversight of multiple nutritionists and packaged in sanitary ways and literally the food is prepared at like two in the morning and then we go and pick it up like between two and six in the morning and then we pick it up around nine and get it out to our folks by noon or 1 o'clock. And we have safe handling, safe serve, and things like that. We also offer connection. We added another route on June 1 because we were seeing more and more people. And the drivers were saying that they weren't having enough time to actually sit and talk to people. And so we were able to add another route so that our drivers and our volunteers have time to talk to the folks that we're serving. We're training people to observe and report. We also, just things that we notice. And again, we might hear something before a family member does. And then we also offer other services like assistance and benefits enrollment, home safety, personal care, emergency port. I'll never forget, there was one case, one of our case managers was working on. And we have a community health worker and one and a half case managers for our 530 clients. And their home was, the person that she was assisting, their home was just caked in mold. And they had been trying to contact the insurance company. The insurance company wasn't doing anything. Eventually, they were able to get something done by having a volunteer lawyer just write a letter, and the house had to be condemned, but they got a $30,000 payout. It's not a lot of money, but it got them out of a home that they really couldn't live in anymore so that they could start again. It wasn't easy, but we were able to cobble together with our partners support for that couple. We are a daily lifeline, keeping people home, healthy, and connected. And another thing that we are often one of two phone numbers programmed into their phones because their family members are so concerned about them getting scammed, they say only answer if it's the family member or Ipsy Meals on Wheels, that's it. And so sometimes we're seen as just the only pipelines unless they're dialing out. So you're definitely getting returns on your investment, a reduction of malnutrition, supporting medication adherence, as I had mentioned. And it's proven in numerous studies to shorten hospital stays. And these wellness checks just help things. They might be bad, but not to get to worse. the safety piece with our consultative occupational therapist, um, everything from grab bars and, um, shower chairs and things like that all the way to there's this little nifty little hand grip thing you can get to help put on socks. And a lot of people that we support, um, need to wear compressive socks and on a good day, those things are hard to put on. And, um, we, and then we also have assistive devices. We got a grant from the university of Michigan to do produce boxes through the summer for 40 of our clients. And we were able to also purchase assistive devices if traditional kitchen devices weren't going to work for them. And so we do everything we can to help that. And we support the option to age in community, whether it is their choice or their only choice. The cost of not investing. You don't even need to know this slide that you know when we talk about $22 a day for two meals and a wellness check and access to our pantry and In addition we do additional fundraising for safe at home you I mean This is this is not a surprise I mean this and it almost feels so imbalanced to bring it up But it's this is the reality of it. So and you know and I I as whenever, when I became a social worker, you know, there was always this kind of idea of how do you work yourself out of a job or what is the social solution and how can we reduce the attitudes and beliefs that allow the situation to persist. I think we're actually the solution. I mean, it's, it's, I'm, I can't see Meals on Wheels working ourselves out of a job because, because we are the solution. And I'm proud to be part of it, but it's definitely a different way of looking at things, for sure. And your $10,000 a year investment prevent costs falling on residents, quite frankly, and increase the quality of life. And we do let your residents know that you support them. And if you ever want to go on a route, you get to tell that to them yourself, and I'd be happy to take you. Oh, wait. I got to keep up. All right. It's a primary safety net, like I just shared. And no alternatives exist for a lot of the residents. Can't be replicated. And it's just an important daily presence. We hear over and over, somebody not feeling well. And they said, well, I knew you were going to come right at 1145, so I thought I could wait to ask you about something. That's just such a heavy thought. What if we weren't going to be there? And they just said, I know you're going to be there. So, of course, I can't come before you without a request, and your investment matters now more than ever. We do know that we are expecting growth. At BASIC, we're hoping that you will continue your annual investment in us, that you might consider an increase when your budget allows it. Because if that happens, then we're able to explore adding more residents and letting more people know about what we do. Of course, please, please, please, if you know someone who needs support, we're safe at home to refer them to us. And I'll follow up tomorrow with an email to you all. If you want to go on a ride along, I would be more than happy. to host you and it really is fun. It's even better when you don't do it in the snow. So I'm looking at David because Felicia and I went out on a very snowy day, but we had a really good route together. Before I show a little special video about an event we have coming up on Saturday, are there any questions I can answer?

I did get a message from Commissioner Sanders. She was trying to get here, but she was unable to, but she's backing you. She's like, oh, Barbara's going to be asking. Yeah, so she did say something.

Any questions from anybody or comments? You know, I would just like to make a comment. You know, we appreciate the work that you do because it is really hard work, and it is really critical. And I know Pittsfield, you know, it's weird because we don't, Think of the, you know, we don't have big swaths of areas where this would have an impact on, but we do have areas where, and so it's kind of... And we know we could be serving more. Yeah, and it's kind of eye-opening to just understand that, like, you know, a critical thing such as food and safety is, you know, still... you know, needed by many people who cannot otherwise afford it. So thank you so much for your work that you do, and I know it's really hard work, so thank you.

Well, I consider it an honor to show up there every day.

We are lucky to have you in our community.

Oh, thank you.

Oh, they've been on the ride long, and it is, yeah. It's touching, it's touching.

Yeah, I also like this comment. I mean, I'm intimately aware of the work that you do, the efficacy of dollars that you guys make, You guys do a great job of being very efficient with your spends. I really also want to impress upon a couple of details you have there that it's beyond just food delivery. Like you're saying, these are the daily wellness checks cannot go understated the value of those. Because when you're just about the return on investment and talking about from a financial standpoint, it's not just nursing stays that are over $12,000 a month. I mean, if you're looking at even assisted livings and things of that nature, they are in those dollars that you're talking about. And it's, the entries into those systems a lot of times can be something like you were just talking about, cleanliness and bathroom support. And as you said, a lot of those folks that are your clients may not talk with family members about them, but a simple UTI for somebody that's in a compromised health position ends up in a hospitalization, ends up in these situations, and having this type of community resource is very, very valuable. So I just want to say thank you. And I'm looking forward to when I get the email because I will be wanting to do a lot longer as well. Okay, great.

I would love to have you. That would be great. Thank you. Thank you.

I just wanted to add, Barbara, I still haven't got my ride along.

I know, and I'm, yeah, we're gonna do that, aren't we? And we're gonna do it for the snowflies, right? Yep. All right.

Yes, all right. Yeah, thank you so much.

Yeah, now, I don't know how to get to the video. She said she was gonna help me. This came up, like, this is late breaking news. Oh, okay. We're very fortunate to have some very creative staff And we have a food truck rally on Saturday to raise money. And I can leave a couple of the flyers on the table when I leave. But we just had a video.

I know that big feller. I know that hair anywhere. That looks like a park commissioner to me.

Sean always gets the like tough part.

And that's going to be on our socials tomorrow. I do love your socials. They're really good. I would be like posting studies and reports and articles. I'm like, I don't even know how you guys come up with this stuff. All right. Well, thank you. And you know where to find me. And I'll leave a couple of cards as I leave. And I'm going to need to head out. But thank you all and have a nice evening. Thank you.

Always nice and warm and fuzzy. Thank you. Okay, moving on to communications. We do have a communication in the packet from Director West that we do receive top honors for our environmental leadership. We received gold from Michigan Green Communities, so it's always a good thing, and I know that Director West and her staff worked very hard on doing all those and moving us in the right direction, so thank you for that.

Madam Chair, I'd like to make a motion to receive and file. Second.

Okay. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? All right. We'll file them. Receive and file. May I have a motion for consent agenda, please?

Madam Chair, I move to consent agenda 7.1 to 7.15.

Second. Okay. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? All right. Consent agenda is approved. Department report and updates. We don't have any at this time. If I could please ask for a motion for 9.1.

Madam Chair, I move to adopt a resolution for the Appointments to Township Boards, Committees, and Commissions, Resolution 26-21. Second.

OK. Any discussion? This is just taking Teresa Topaz, who is already on our Your Own River Watershed Council, and reassigning her again to the River Raisin one. So when you're on one, you should be on the other to make sure it's all there as a representative. All right.

If I could have a roll call. Supervisor Riley. Yes. Clerk Anzaldi. Yes. Treasurer Epikun. Yes. Trustee Erta Thompson. Yes. Trustee Jaffer.

Yes.

Trustee Brabeck.

Yes.

Trustee Karami. Yes. Madam Supervisor, you have seven yeas. All right.

Thank you. The resolution is adopted. And I will throw over 9.2 over to Treasurer Epikun.

Yes. Thank you. All right. Good evening, everyone. Supervisors, members of the board, Tonight I'm presenting the Treasurer's Quarterly Report for the period ending March 31st, 2026. Rather than walk you through the report page by page, I'd like to just simply highlight five accomplishments from this first quarter. First of all, we successfully completed the 2025 winner tax collection cycle on February 17th with a 98.8% collection rate. On March 31st, we completed and submitted the township's winner tax settlement package to Washtenaw County, successfully closing out one of our most significant annual statutory responsibilities. Third, the township maintained a strong financial position as usual with more than $61 million in cash and investments total. Fourth, our investment portfolio recorded approximately $323,000 in investment earnings during that first quarter, while continuing to prioritize safety, liquidity, and compliance with Public Act 20. Finally, I would actually like to recognize Deputy Treasurer Kimberly Johnson, Department Coordinator Ingrid Douglas, both of who were very new to their roles, and Treasury Specialists Robin Cohen and Michelle Grill. It's their work, their professionalism, and dedication that's instrumental to yet another successful tax season.

Thank you. Thank you. Your team is friendly and efficient and a good face for the township as well.

Madam Chair, I'd like to make a motion to receive and file the quarterly cash balance report first quarter 2026. Second. Okay. Any discussion?

Comments? All in favor? Aye. All right. Received and filed.

May I please have a motion for 9.3? Madam Chair, I move to authorize a waiver of late penalty charges for property tax payment for Sally Spies, resident of Pittsfield Charter Township.

Support.

Okay. And this is a discussion just We've had Ms. Spies come to our meeting last couple of times. I'm not recommending this, but I think we looked at the process, and she does have the right to come to the board and ask it to be overridden for the late charges itself, which is like $101 and change. I think it sets a precedence. I'm not in favor of it, but I do want to open for discussion and see if anyone else is in favor of it, and we can go from there.

Madam Chair, I would just like to say that I am not in favor of it, actually. Taxes are given every year. Everybody knows about them. And actually not receiving it is not an excuse for just because you didn't receive the notice doesn't mean you don't have to pay. Now, I understand There were unusual circumstances between selling, buying, inputting, or whatever. But those situations exist every single tax season. And unless and until we have some kind of, if we were to consider this, it would be my thought that, hey, if you're going to consider this for future, that there are some guardrails or guidelines that are put in place. Like, I feel like it would be wholly unfair to sometimes say, oh, yeah, we're going to waive it to one person, and then the next person doesn't ask for the waiver and they have to pay it. So if we were to do it, I'm saying that there should be some kind of policy or process put in place to do that. But as far as I'm concerned, on this specific issue, I am not in favor of it.

And keep in mind, too, Treasurer Epican is correct that it cannot come out of the treasurer, so it would come out of general funds. We're also using taxpayer general funds for this money. It's another reason why I'm not in favor of it as well.

I'd just like to add, and thank you, as far as O'Reilly and Claire Canzaldi. The treasurer's office has had... a lot of, quite a few residents for a lot of different reasons that have had, you know, delinquent taxes. And, you know, basically, yeah, to your point, there have been some very valid reasons, if you want to speak, and we haven't been able to do so. Also, to add, most residents amongst you guys would have also received a courtesy notice this tax season from the treasurer's office. A lot of cities and townships already did that, but we didn't do that. So just trying to make sure we assist our residents in closing all possible gaps. We now give them the exact copy of their taxes that the mortgage companies receive. And we have been inundated with calls and messages from residents, but for good reason. So at that point.

Nothing against Ms. Spies. I appreciate the fact that she came and did this. I don't think she was being nefarious in any way, shape, or form. But yes.

I would also like to add, I am in agreement that I do not want to make an exception at this time. Because to me, we should reflect back on what the process is for communication and what that appeal process could potentially be. But in the absence of that, this turns into an equity issue. And there are people that don't have the ability to come in here or communicate with us or meet the way that And I'm not saying that we can't be better with our communication, because we can always be better with how we're communicating. And we should evaluate, from my point of view, what an appeal process can be. But in the absence of that, it does turn into an equity issue for me. So I would not be supportive as well.

All right.

If there's any more discussion, I'll go ahead and ask for, I guess, a vote.

All in favor? Aye. Oh, no, no, no, sorry. All in favor? Quiet.

Yeah, all in favor? Supervisor Riley, you can call for a roll vote. I'm going to call for a roll vote.

That'd be easier. That way it's easier. So you know.

So you're saying yes, I think, yeah. But to be clear, what we are voting in, if we vote in favor of this, this would actually be to provide. To do it, yes.

So we want to, well, you want to vote, we want to vote, but if you're not in favor of this, it's going to be a no.

Thank you.

Clerk Anzaldi. No. Treasurer Epikun.

No.

Trustee Erta Thompson. No. Trustee Jaffer.

No.

Trustee Brabeck.

No.

Trustee Karami. No. Supervisor Riley.

No.

Madam Chair, you have zero yays and seven nays. All right. Thank you. Motion does not pass.

All right. Moving on to 9.4. May I place a motion?

Madam Chair, I move to authorize a payment to Garage in the amount of $67,000 for the deposit on a potential purchase of a 2013 Pierce platform fire truck.

Second. All right, and I love how quick Keith Debra is up here and ready to go. So anybody have questions or would you like to explain anything?

Sure, if you guys want to know the back history, November of last year, I'll back up even a little further. We took on delivery of a used fire apparatus to prolong the life of the current apparatus that we had and thinking that it would last us enough time to purchase a brand new one. November of last year, the crews were responding to a three alarm fire where catastrophic mechanical failure happened to that truck, causing major damage to underneath the vehicle. The estimates have come back that the vehicle is a total loss and unrepairable to basically the damages. We're working diligently with the insurance company trying to get some sort of payout from that loss, which would then apply to this used vehicle. It's newer than the one that we purchased back in 24. And the thought process behind it is that it would last us up until 10 years and give us enough time to be fiscally responsible to buy a purchase a new one. So currently just asking for a deposit for this used piece of apparatus until we can figure out what is going on with the insurance claim.

I'd like to also point out that Chief Chevrolet and I all did the end, Joe, Firefighter all did the Ypsilanti 4th of July parade for the first time ever. Pittsfield was in the parade. That was a first for us. So just want to point that out why we're here. So kudos to our new chief. But any questions or comments on this topic?

I'm just curious, how many fire trucks do you already have?

We currently have, well, so we have engines. We have four engines, three frontline engines and one reserve engine. We have a tanker truck that's used for our rural fire operations that has a bigger water supply to serve our community that doesn't have hydrant access. And then we have two, we did have, we had two aerial devices. One is a ladder truck and the one that we're requesting is a platform truck. Platform trucks are bigger, it has the basket, able to do more operation capabilities.

We have some requests out for grants and also to U of M to see if we can get some assistance in this. If anybody knows anyone over at U of M and wants to, the government relations, we have put a request in for some sharing on this cost since we do back them up on things.

I do have a question. How long, I know it's like looking into a ball of future thing, but how long, because this is a 2013 platform truck, so how long are we thinking or imagining it might possibly last?

So NFPA, which is guidelines that we typically follow, they say a front line piece of apparatus is usually 15 years. this aerial truck is not a frontline piece of apparatus that responds to specialty calls, um, fires that are multifamily dwellings, commercial buildings, um, mutual aid assists, things of that sort. So it's not used on every single run, like an engine would be used for. So with that 20 years is kind of the threshold for that, um, non frontline vehicles. Um, So obviously it's 16 years old. Where it's coming from is from a department in Tennessee that was formed in 2013. So when that fire department was formed, they bought this aerial truck and it was not frontline. As of four years currently, they are using it as a frontline truck. With that said, it's not exposed to all of the elements like Michigan is. Salt, snow, grime. So it's definitely in mint condition.

So this is for the potential down payment and this is no guarantee that we are going to buy it.

Correct.

This platform... truck is, the total cost is going to be $670,000. How much, do we have any idea of how much a newer version would be?

$2.2 million. Okay. And it takes roughly two to four years to make.

And I do want to throw kudos out to T. Chevret and his whole entire team for finding creative ways to make these things work and not just saying, I need $2.5 million. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you very much.

I appreciate it. All right. That being said, if there's no more questions, I will go ahead and say all in favor. Aye. Opposed? Okay.

Thank you. Thank you, ma'am.

All right. May I please have a motion for 9.5?

May I move to authorize the supervisor and clerk to sign a revised subcontract with Brandel Roofing and Sheet Metal Company for roof installation over the former fire apparatus bay as part of the public safety facility improvement project for a cost not to exceed $98,700 subject to the township attorney approval. Second.

Again, this is under the umbrella of the project next door, but items that are larger, we're just bringing them here just for more full transparency.

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? All right. Motion passes. May I please have a motion for 9.6? Madam Chair, I move to authorize the supervisor and clerk to sign a subcontract with Crystal Glass Incorporated for Phase 2 window replacement as part of the public safety facility improvement project for a cost not to exceed $41,670 subject to the township attorney approval. Second.

And we do have Kurt Weiland here too, I forgot to mention that, to answer any questions who has been overseeing the project. But same thing, this is under the umbrella, but pointing out some higher cost things and changes.

So I do have a question, Supervisor Riley. On these, I appreciate the transparency and these line items coming before the board. Is there a way that we can have more context? And this may be an open-ended question that we may want to work offline on. But just when the board's considering these items, it would be nice to know what are these in context of? Are these within the guardrails of budgets that were already there?

We could certainly bring up Kurt Weiland.

Sure, sure. That would be great.

And then we could talk about what traditionally we'd like to see. Because Kurt would be the one sort of, he's the long-term person who can't seem to leave the township, and we keep bringing this back. But he started this project, and graciously he's Can you come back to complete it so I will pass it over?

So I guess the question I'm really trying to ask is these things look like reasonable things when I'm looking through the proposals online and the detail is in the packet, but not knowing what these are in the greater context of the budget that we have lined out. What I don't want to see is we're all just saying yes, yes, yes, yes along the way and it's a death of a thousand paper cuts and we're actually 10, 20% over towards the end of this. It'd just be nice to have some type of context of how we are going according to the plan.

So there's certainly... a lot of give and take going on with the budget. And unfortunately, when we find things like old single pane aluminum windows that are just not energy efficient, now's the time to change them. And also the caulking on it needs to be removed alone just because it's got, it's either asbestos or some sort of lead material in the caulking on each window. So by the time you do that, you might as well you know, pull a window out. But this money is going to come out of the furniture budget, so this is going down while, you know, the window is going up. And so they're well aware of the fact that we only have so much, and the balance is going to, you know, have to equal out.

Kurt works with the director of finance to kind of go through this and with, you know, our director of public safety as well. I would like to add, too, that even though the HUD funding for the $2 million, we still have not received the official notice or the information with that. So that does also make it very difficult when we're trying to move this along. And it would be very helpful if we could get that information. Dingell's office and Slotkin's office are both trying to help us along the way. We just got one, I think it was today, an email from HUD saying, still haven't got the official information for you yet. So we're still waiting. To that point, Curt has been working to make sure that we're staying within the guideline and just moving things back and forth depending on where the needs are in the meantime.

They've had to give up other things in order to have these things. We will be coming to the board for another change order, a fairly large one, but it should be the last one, knock on wood, for the area that is used for the lockup. When the building was originally designed, it was built for a low budget, and we're looking at the materials that were spec'd. To keep that budget, they're just not going to last. I mean, people seem to be able to tear these places up when they're not happy and locked up. Now's the time to fix it, and so you will be seeing us again, hopefully in August, to get that approval and move forward. So right now they're working on the new roof on the apparatus bays. If you walk in there, it's pretty much wide open from one end to the other, and they are putting up steel stud walls for the interior spaces. But until we get the roof on it and get the underground plumbing done, which is the big item that's holding everything up, which will come to the board in August. Because we found that the sewer line, the old sewer line up front is deteriorated and we're no longer capable of handling the toilet room up front. So we'll have to cut the floor and remove that and replace that as well. So as in all remodeling, you know, it gets worse before it gets better. And hopefully we're almost at the point where we're done going backwards and we can start to go forward. Appreciate your support and your patience with the project.

I appreciate your coming back to finish. All right. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? All right. Motion passes. May I have a motion for 9.7, please?

Madam Chair, I move to adopt a resolution to establish the Department of Building Services fee schedule for Pittsfield to our Township, Resolution 26-22. Second.

Okay, we do have our director of building, Krasura, and the deputy director, Laura Igna, here. If you'd like to, can you give me a little background on this? I know that we talked about this previously. It might be nice to know why we're doing this and a little background on it. So thank you for being here.

Good evening. We did some research, looking at our numbers, watching our numbers over the last few years, and with the help of Corey from finance, we did a 10-year study on where our expenses to operate, and we had an increase over the last 10 years of 125%. Since 2017 is the last time that we did a fee schedule full fee schedule review Our costs went up 97% So we started taking a look at the fees also looked at surrounding communities the funny thing with the surrounding communities what I'm finding is that We're all looking at each other's fee schedules and nobody's reacting to them. So that's why we went to look at our budget and look from that aspect. So we're looking to increase our fees. Most of the fees, they range from 10 to 20%, depending on what the line item is. And then that also was based on the higher percentages or based on surrounding communities and where they're sitting on some of those items, those line items.

Any questions for the director of building?

Yes, go ahead. I would like to make a comment, just make sure I have it coded correctly. The last time we addressed this fee schedule was about 10 years ago, is that right?

2017.

On balance, this is a pretty large fee schedule, but on balance it's about a 10% to 20% increase from those rates that were in 2017?

Each year is a 9% increase annually. It was the average.

Got it, thank you. But this particular schedule, you said this is higher, probably about 10% to 20% range? From where we were at. From where you were at.

Yeah, and then we want to keep an eye on it over the next year and a half, two years, and see where we're at compared to what our balance sheets are.

Questions or comments? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Thank you. Yep.

Thanks. Thank you.

Oh, sorry. Oh, roll call. Sorry. Roll call.

Sorry. Go ahead. No, no, no. Thank you. I apologize. Treasurer Epikhin.

Yes.

Trustee Erta Thompson. Yes. Trustee Jaffer. Yes. Trustee Brabeck. Yes. Trustee Karami. Yes. Supervisor Riley. Yes. Clerk Anzaldi. Yes. Madam Chair, you have seven yays. Thank you.

All right. Resolution is passed. And if I could please have a motion for 9.8.

Madam Chair, I move to approve the emergency repair of backup generator, including radiator replacement by Michigan CAT at the administration building for a cost not to exceed $13,198.65. Okay. Second.

Any discussion or questions on this one? It's pretty self-explanatory. Thank you. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? All right. Approved. May I please have a motion for 9.9?

Madam Chair, I move to approve the Metro Act, which is the Metropolitan Extension Telecommunication Right-of-Way Oversight Act right-of-way application submitted by Cablevision Light Path, LLC, subject to the Township Attorney approval.

Second.

Okay, for this one, I'm actually going to ask Director West to come on up because I think it just needs a little explanation. My understanding is sort of like we have to bring it to the board, but we really don't have a whole lot of authority. I just want to kind of have her give you a little background on that.

Good evening, board. So this is a state metropolitan act. We do technically have some authority. You can deny it, but you have to have some pretty good justification as to why. Um, this is effectively a blanket certificate for them to be able to do work in the township. Um, it's fiber communications, um, for this proposal and for the next one that you're about to review as well. Um, it's in the right of way. Um, so they have right to that right of way. Um, in addition to this, uh, Metro Act that would be good for five years, They would also have to submit a franchise utility application that has more detailed information to us that we would review. But they have to have this Metro Act on file with us. They also have to submit right-of-way permit applications through the Road Commission for approval. So the infrastructure work is being reviewed. There are really strict limitations on us denying that work, though. They have a right to that public utility easement to put lines in. We can't say yes to one, no to another, et cetera, without some really serious justification. Do you have any other specific questions?

I just wanted to make sure, kind of a general, because it's sort of a vague. I think I wouldn't have known all the detail had you not filled me in earlier.

Just generally, we have a lot of fiber applications coming in. I cannot tell you why, and it is a little frustrating for our residents, and I deal with that on a daily basis. So they are doing some serious damage. We did just recently launch off of our current projects page on the website a new map, specifically for reviewed franchise utility applications that have come through so that residents can see who's doing the work in their neighborhood and who the point of contact is with that entity. In case they have issues, they can reach out to them regarding that. They're always welcome to reach out to us as well. It's just, you know, and we will advocate on behalf of the residents in any way, shape, and form we can. We just have a limited control over the work that they're doing there.

Any questions? what we're voting on or questions for our Director West in general? All right. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? All right. And this is kind of going right with it. The next one is a motion for 9.10, please.

Madam Chair, I move to approve the Metro Act right-of-way application submitted by Prime 1 subject to the Township Attorney approval. Second.

Okay. Same deal here.

All in favor? Aye.

Opposed? All right. That's approved as well. May I please have a motion for 9.11?

Madam Chair, I move to receive the draft 2026 Freedom of Information Act FOIA Policy Procedures and Guidelines.

Second. Over to Michelle, or to Clerk Gonsaldi.

We have always had a FOIA policy. This is the last time we revised it was in 2015, and it was done in a resolution format, so really What I did is I took our current policy and read the law like a gazillion times and put it in this policy to make it more legible, kind of easier read, kind of easier to understand. I do have to say though that after reading the FOIA policy so many times this year, the FOIA law is quite messy and very complicated And I'm not really even sure why it is so complicated, but it has a bunch of cross laws that don't work well with each other, which makes it very complicated. Our policy, the township's policy and my policy is, you know, the public has a right to see our stuff. Does that mean vendors and out-of-state people, they are just neighbors curious what the other neighbor's doing? and they're FOIAing stuff, yes, that's what they do. But we don't make distinctions between why a person is asking for a document at the township. We just know that most of our documents belong to the people that live here. And so we are always really careful in satisfying these things. And I would like to say, though, that In the past couple of years, maybe the past three, is that correct, Deputy Clerk? FOIAs have increased, and they want a lot of stuff. And I don't know with the advent of AI and these requests that we get frequently, give me a list of all the payments that you made for the last three months. And we do fulfill them. It does take a lot of time. It is a lot of work. The laws are very weird and tricky, but I just thought I would give you that little update on it. This is a draft policy. I hope if there are no issues with it, if somebody says, hey, I would really like to see X, Y, and Z, I would be happy to incorporate that and bring it back at the next meeting for adoption. or if this is acceptable to people, then I will bring it back to the next meeting to approve. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for taking time to do that. That is a tricky thing and glad to have a person with a legal background to look that over because that is complicated. All right. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? All right. Move on. May please have the added 9.12 motion.

Madam Chair, I move to authorize a supervisor to sign and submit a letter of support for a proposal to issue a countywide ballot question, which would increase the local emergency 911 surcharge.

Second.

I think that the information that was sent out to you kind of explains it. There was a presentation from the sheriff to the board of commissioners at the last meeting, giving kind of a quick little overview of it. There's a surcharge that goes on people's cell phone bills, and it can be capped out legally at $3. Ours currently for Washtenaw County is 43 cents. Our surrounding counties go anywhere from 42 cents all the way up to $3. So this is a way that the Sheriff's Department can obtain money just, and it has to be used for, my understanding, for dispatch and those services there. So it can be for training, mental health in there. So they reached out asking different jurisdictions within Washtenaw County for a letter of support. For us, we do currently, to give you context, we do pay currently $205,000 for our dispatch with the county-ish. That rounded that up a little bit. That has been the one that we voted on, I think it was last month, the month before, where it was the five years of 9% increases. And we were originally told that that was going to tap out at that time, but it sounds like it's only 40% funded. So our costs will go up. And by the time that they would actually see the money, if it goes on the November ballot and is approved, we would have that offset. We're being told if they reach a certain amount, so if it's they decide on $2 or $2.50 to go on and it gets approved, we would no longer have to pay that amount. And with the charge going up 9% or more, it could be a rather large savings for our residents. But in another way, it's also going on their cell phone bill. So it's kind of in a different way. They are also talking about the idea of HVA as well, but that is not official. That's something that they're talking about. We pay for that. We pay for that service about $118,000 a year currently. So this could be well over $300,000 or more savings out of our fund balance, out of our general fund or our public safety fund, but it's just shifting it to another avenue through cell phones. So it's not unusual. Most counties around us do pay more. I believe Wayne County and Oakland are the only ones that pay less on their surcharges, if that helps any. But I did not feel comfortable doing a letter of support. And again, this isn't necessarily saying yes or no it goes in the ballot. This is just when the Sheriff's Department goes back to the next Board of Commissioners meeting, they're saying, hey, Pittsfield's okay with this kind of thing. So Commissioner Sanders was trying to be here as well for that. We could work with her as to what we'd like to see and some sort of things as they're deciding what they're going to do. But they'll need to make a decision probably at their next meeting in order to get it on the no-remember ballot. Any more discussion? I'm sorry, questions?

Yeah. I just want to make sure that I understand this, that this is not a millage. This is a surcharge.

It's a surcharge. It's not a millage.

Correct. So it would be – On the proposal language, it would be a set amount. So whether it's $2, $2.50 per.

So they're still deciding that. They're still deciding what the amount would be or if they would have it be sort of the board could change that along the way.

Is that language going to be on their proposal, like the dollar amount? will be charged to each cell phone in the township? Do we know?

That's the question. So this is just where we're supporting the idea of them even discussing it. But my understanding is that they could. They could set it. The ballot language could be many different things. It could be, hey, the first year is $1, and then second year is $2. Or they could say, we can readjust as we go. Or we can say, hey, we're just going to go to $250. So that's something the Board of Commissioners, and I think we should work with our Commissioner Sanders on that end of it. but we're just saying we're supportive of the idea of them discussing it. And so basically this is going mostly to the Board of Commissioners to say, hey, Pittsfield's okay with you guys looking at this option.

I mean, I guess I would just say that maybe for future we might want to be considering what our thresholds are for the surcharge.

It's $3. It's a max they can do.

I mean, what we're thinking as a board, for what, like, hey, maybe $3 is too much, maybe, you know, this board decides it's only $2.50. I'm, you know, when I first thought about this, I was completely against it because I was like, oh, that's just, you know, we're just adding another, not tax, but like a pseudo-tax, a surcharge onto our residents, and whether it's going to the county or coming to here, you know, it is, they're, our residents, bottom line, but it kind of does make sense to have it collected in this manner. What I would say, like, I would want to be careful about, I guess, that, hey, the residents that they're collecting from us, that is going to offset what we, this $200,000 or, you know, in five years, $300,000 of a dispatch service that we currently pay. I just want to make sure that it comes back. If it's going to come back, then it needs to come back.

Our attorney did look over the letter that we're doing. If you have changes to that, we also can look at that as well. It's kind of a general support and asking them also to look at the healthcare part of that because some of the things that the sheriff said in her presentation was It would be nice when people call for 911 that you actually have a social worker there to help people through, and that clearly would be at their discretion. We're just one in many.

Well, they're still collecting the mental health millage, right?

Yeah, that's for just different services, though, yeah. Just because this money that comes in can only be used for dispatch, and so what they do to that, we don't really have a whole lot of say in that part, but we are basically saying our take on it is that We are supportive if our residents are no longer paying for the other services, meaning the dispatch and possibly the HVA service calls. And then also we're in support, if you are all part of the fact that they would be adding some more crisis intervention and mental health services within the dispatch as well.

But that's all I know. Thank you.

I was going to say, I'm not an expert on it in any way, shape, or form. I watched the meeting. I noticed at the presentation. I have talked to our commissioner about it, talked to our finance people. I'm going to agree with you. Back and forth, it is another extra cost to people. But it's not a millage. It is a surcharge. And it would, I think, even out and still be benefit to the township. Any questions or discussion on it? Because I know it's I would just like to see I cannot do the support letter or I can do the support letter so it's one of those I just didn't feel comfortable doing that on behalf of the township and I think they went to our public safety director directly and he didn't feel comfortable either without because I really think it's something I'm going to ballot is not just something that we should just be doing by ourselves I would just like to say the letter and because we didn't have an opportunity to get it in the packet when it was done so

And even though the letter and slides from the county were sent out to the trustees, it will be included in the minutes for those people who are wondering what we're talking about. Yes, yes.

And yeah, the presentation has been recorded at the county for the last meeting that they had. I believe it was the working session. I believe. Yes.

I agree that it's, while it's not a millage, it is another form of tax. And, you know, one of the things that they also approved at the county in their last meeting was putting another millage on the ballot for this fall.

Did they approve it?

They did approve it. Okay, I know they were back and forth on it. Yes, so to me, I'm taking pause of, I'm concerned about our ability for our, particularly our seniors to age in place as we're including increasing the tax base. Because this is, while this is not a millage and it's not a direct tax, landlines and things of that nature don't exist. This is a per line charge. For a family of three, four cell phones, we're talking hundreds of dollars in additional fees per family per year that was coming out of this. It just gives me pause and things that we should be thinking quite a bit about. I think I don't want to put words in the mouth of Clerk Anzaldi, but I think there is a part of me that I would like to think about this a little bit more thoughtful or put more thought on this before I would endorse a letter of support for this just because I am sensitive to the fact that we are going to already have a millage on the ballot this fall.

Can I ask you, I know that they were talking about the millage and they said that they were looking at the option of offsetting the other millage so they cap out. Did they end up deciding to do that? Because the last I heard, they were deciding whether or not they were going to offset it. and make it neutral by taking a mill away from something else. Did they decide on that?

I don't know if that was decided the way I understood. I certainly wasn't there. Yeah, I was only watching. Yeah, I was only watching as well.

I didn't see the last. I thought I saw the last minute. That's why I'm confused.

Yeah, so there's the point to health care access mills that they're talking about for. Right. And that is something they did advance. But I did not understand there to be an offset with that. So that just gives me pause as we all know that we're reaching close to how the amendment thinks.

Six miles away, yeah.

I'm cautious.

I understand.

Supervisor Riley, I'm sorry to take the floor again. Of course, I've only been talking once. But, you know, although I'm not. you know, I'm kind of flip floppy on this because I am like you also, like, is this another amount that we're pushing to our residents and the people that live in Pittsfield? But at the same time, I think we should be supportive of any municipality trying to figure out how to pay for their own cost or any governmental unit. And it's not like we can tell them, no, you can't kind of you know, yeah, no, you're not allowed to. We don't support it. And because what Supervisor Riley is saying is they're now exploring it. Yeah, they have some numbers or whatever, but I don't, I'm not sure that they're, I'm not sure if, you know, I'm not sure where they're at. Are they wanting to increase it $2, $3? So I am okay with the support. Like, hey, yes, explore it. but let me know when you got some numbers.

Yeah, and that's the thing. We're saying to explore it, but we obviously have our commissioner to, as we go on from here, to negotiate it and pull it out if need be. I mean, I think this is just that we're looking to support it. And I will say, and this is no surprise to our board after the last millage that we did pass for public safety, it's still an uphill battle. We were doing that just to keep services as they were and with prices going up the way they are, there will be a shortfall, and anything that can help us is gonna be helpful. To your point, we don't wanna go back for a millage, so we're, as Chief Chevrot did, I was looking for used vehicles. We're looking for every possible grant we can do. This would also help us with that as well, so. Okay. All right, if I could go ahead and, I mean, actually, I'll ask for a roll call on this one as well, just because I think it is a little more, you know, I don't want people to feel uncomfortable with it.

Trustee Erta Thompson? Yes. Trustee Jaffer?

Yes.

Trustee Brabeck?

Yes.

Trustee Karami? Yes. Supervisor Riley? Yes. Clerk Anzaldi? Yes. Treasurer Epikin?

Yes.

Madam Chair, you have seven yays.

All right, thank you. Again, we'll go ahead and I will... Pass along the support letter, but in the meantime, please look into this, follow this closely, work with Commissioner Sanders to see how it goes along. This is definitely something that would have been nice to have it a little earlier and understanding that the deadline for the ballot for November is coming close, but it needs to be really vetted out a little bit more, and so hopefully they do that. All right. Moving on to liaison reports, trustee reports. Are there any?

Yes. Madam Chair, I do. I'd like to share a summary of action from June 18, 2026 Planning Commission meeting. The Planning Commission held discussion on draft zoning ordinance language for data center. No action was taken at the meeting, and township professional staff will continue to address public comments received as part of public survey conducted. The next Planning Commission meeting will be July 16. I would like to say thank you so much, Trish Raleigh, your presence, and to support the commissioner meeting, as well as, I believe, Trustee Hendra, Trustee Thompson, Trustee Kim, and Commissioner Sanders, she will be there. So I would like to special thank you to your support and your presence. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other reports? I do want to share that we did meet with People's Express. I know that we talked about that being a new partner. We're six months into the service, the new service. We've had some online comments. It's very pleasant to actually know that every time there was an issue, they were on top of it. They are looking into things, whether it's a personal... had a problem getting through for a ride or something happened, they were on it. We also have some residents that are nonverbal, and they don't have an app yet. And they are in the process, and they will have it complete by the end of the year. So again, the response of us saying something and them being so welcoming to us making their system better is how they said it. So I'd like to commend them for that. And they also are putting out a survey so that they can actually gauge more of what people who don't use the service and do use the service do to make their service better. And so if you have questions that you think you'd like to have in that survey, if you want to get them to Deputy Allmaker and we can pass them along to the People's Express, they ask for some input on that as well. They're going to try to keep the survey short, but they're looking at some questions. By the end of the year, and they're also doing a transit need assessment, working with WAVE, Watts, and AAATA. They have a notice of award and a grant from the state of Michigan to do that. So we're also very excited to hear that they will be working with the partners in transit and looking at the county as a whole. Right now I think there are so many better ways they could do to work together and looks like they're taking that seriously and we're pleased about that as well. So just wanna share that with everybody.

Is there any more updates or the exam report or anything?

At this point, I will go ahead and open it again for public comment, too. Any person may come forward at this time to address the board. Anyone who wishes to speak is requested but not required to state his or her address for the record. You have five minutes, and then you'll speak for five minutes, up to at least, and then the board can respond afterwards.

Good evening. I apologize for being late. I thought the meeting started at 7.30. I don't like to be tardy, so forgive me. I understand that you voted, and I would love to hear the count, but not until I'm done speaking, if you don't mind, if you can. So I'm just going to talk like I was going to talk at 6.30, okay? The question for me tonight is, is Pitfield responsible for the $101.72 fine? If they're not, that's no problem because I paid it in January of this year. But if they are, I think that you should vote yes to reimburse me for that amount. When I stated last meeting, I'm starting to shake again, you guys. When I stated last meeting that the assessor's office was changing their policy because of my protest against this fine, Chris informed us that the assessor's office had already been in the process of considering changing the tax mailing procedure. I didn't know that until that meeting, okay? But then I started thinking about it and I thought, well, so they knew that there was a problem before they met me. Okay. And to me, it feels like the assessor's office took too long to implement the change. So why should I suffer? I don't think I'm responsible for, I think, I formally and respectfully request the board to approve, to vote for a fine refund of $101.72. And thank you. I want to add a couple of side notes to that since I've been here. One is that, or last week, one is that I was told that my tax bill would come July 1, and I was ready. It was on my calendar. It didn't come. It didn't come the 2nd, didn't come the 3rd, didn't come the 4th, didn't come this month, 5th, didn't come the 6th, 4th of July. The 7th, I called, okay? And I said, hi, I didn't get my tax bill. Is it supposed to be delivered the 1st? And it was, okay? So the answer was most people got it the second. I got mine the eighth. So that irritated me a little bit. And I also want to say that I've only been a resident here since October 29th of last year. I didn't move into Pittsfield Township because I thought it was a great community that I wanted to be a part of. No offense. It is a great community. My kids live close to here. And I am seeing some really good things that I wanted to mention. I'm not sure I understand them all, but like the survey that you sent out about the REC, it's excellent. It took a long time to fill out. I was really glad I got one. And I can see you guys are starting to think about things in a way that I never would have thought about, number one. And number two, the first meeting I think I was at, maybe there was a lady that was the permit department. Okay, and she was really, she was giving a report, a monthly, I don't know, whatever you do. And she was really, you know, happy with, you know, all the permits and the short time period. And you guys, everybody was like glowing from that, you know. And I was like, well, I'm not sure why that's good, but it sounds like they're trying to raise money. And that's really great, and that's why they should refund me my money, because this is not my fault, is what I thought at that time. But in perspective of tonight and my being late and all that, I wanted to tell you that as well. So if you would all vote and change your vote, which I'm sure it's not legal to do. Have I changed anybody's mind? I would love to know that, whether you can vote again or not.

I'm just gonna ask for any more public comment and then if nobody else.

Okay, so if anybody feels comfortable telling me that, whoa, you know, what you just said makes a lot of sense, you know, like you could share that. So I think I'm done. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you. And we'll let other people speak and then we'll respond.

Should I go sit down?

Yep, yep, go ahead. And then we'll go ahead. Does anybody else want to speak during public comment? I'll open it up. Okay. I'll start with the response if it's okay. I know that when I called you to let you know it would be on the agenda, I did say I was going to be voting no. And my reason basically is because it comes out of general funds. So other people are paying for that. And you are responsible in setting a precedent. I didn't understand that last thing. It comes out of general fund. So which means that basically other taxpayers are going to be the ones. Because it's a late fee and it's not at the treasurer's office, we looked into the process. It comes out of our general fund, which is basically other people's tax money to pay for that.

So I did not feel comfortable with it for that reason and for setting a precedence and the vote was Unanimous not to but I will open it up for other people to reiterate what they said during that the time frame if you'd like I would just like to say, you know I I understand and you have been a good self advocate and I really do appreciate that but I did though that not to give the refund and you know, I My thought process is taxes are due every year and we can't control the post office or the way things travel through the mail. If you didn't get a notice because of timing of things, that does happen and it does happen a lot. For me, it's more important that if we do decide in future to do waivers based on a special circumstances, that action must have some guardrails or a policy or a process in place. That's how I feel about it. And I would just like to reference our permitting process and the turnaround time and the way that we do permitting. I think the building department in the township has worked really hard to not have these outstanding permits and it really doesn't have to do any, you know, the reason for the increase in permitting fees or whatever is because we had let it stay very low for a very long time. And as far as your tax bill coming on the 8th instead of on the 1st, you know, hey, I don't have control over the post office. But I do appreciate, I have to say, I do appreciate your advocacy in this matter. And whether the treasurer's office brings a policy forth to say, hey, we need to make a change, you have to understand that I don't think legally they were required to. So for me, They're not legally required to say, oh, we have to make this special circumstance policy based on what happens to one resident unless they are legally required to do so. So that was kind of my position, but I thank you for speaking up. And when residents speak up and they bring these issues to us, Sometimes we do make changes. Sometimes it's a change going, but it's normally a change going forward, not a change going backwards. So not only are you an advocate for yourself, but you're an advocate for other residents in the township, and I appreciate that. Thank you.

Hi, Sally.

Do you want to say something?

Go ahead.

Yeah, please.

I've heard a couple times tonight about permitting and fees, and I just want to make sure the public's aware that the building department does not operate on a general fund. The state requires it to generate its own fees and pay for all of its own bills. So if they don't generate enough fees from permits, then they have to either lay people off or do other things to cut their costs. So it's not a matter of... living high on the hog by raising fees. I've tried to be responsible, and I was the one who said it in 2015. It lasted a while, so hopefully this will last for a long time. Thank you.

Utilities and building department are dedicated funds. Those are separate, so that is true.

Enterprise funds. Just a follow-up for Sally and reiterate both what Michelle and Trish said. As you know, we've had a a lot of great discussions over the last few months within you, I, and my department. And I want to say to every member in the treasurer's department, you know, they've appreciated, like, I'll steal from Michelle's word, your advocacy, because it's allowed us to go back through every procedure before just to basically recheck, reaffirm, and make sure, yes, we have been on the right track. So it's not the, this is the kind of, we actually wish we had more with our residents. The residents either just come in and pay their taxes, accept anything, sometimes without even knowing how we feel about it. We've had a lot of conversations together, as well as almost every member of my staff. So I think you've also been able to experience their point of view and how they've approached this matter. So I really do want to thank you for, as the young kids would say, standing on business. I think whether it's reviewing the situation and policies from state level down to township level, it has been a benefit. I hope you continue to be that kind of resident here in Pittsfield Township for a long time.

You can count on it. Thank you very much, everyone. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. If there's no other public comment or board response, I will ask for a motion to adjourn.

Madam Chair, I move to adjourn.

Second. All right. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? I'm guessing none. We are adjourned at 7.58. Yeah, that's right. It's a longer one.