Board - Regular Meeting

Not much you can do. It's millages, but Canton doesn't look right. It says Canton has a millage of like three. It's not right. Uh this column over here, yeah, I look at this uh I it doesn't make sense. saw maybe you know how to make sense of it.

Call to order. Plymouth Township regular board of trustees meeting Tuesday, September 23, 6:30 p.m. Well, 6:34 p.m. Uh, roll call. Trusty Buckley here. Trusty Clinton here. Supervisor Kermy here. Treasure Dorsch here. Trusty Growth here. Trusty Stewart. Clerk here. Clerk Forba here. We have a quorum.

All right. Pledge of allegiance. 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.

So, we're going to start out today with a proclamation for National Fire Prevention. uh proclamation today for National Fire Prevention Week, October 5 through 11. And our fire chief will come I'm not going to read it, but our fire chief can come up here and say maybe say a few words if you want and I'll uh hand this to you also. Then then that would be Yeah, that would be a good idea if somebody could take a Well, I don't know. There's nobody here. Take a picture, but we'll maybe we'll think about it about it after you're done. All right. Thank you.

Um, good evening. This year's uh theme for National Fire Safety is uh charge into fire safety and it's concerning lithium ion batteries in your home. A few things you can do the just a few high points. I'm not going to be up here all night. I think it's going to be a long evening. Um, but uh one thing you can do is there's three things basically. It's buy good stuff, charge them right, and recycle. So, by buying, you want to buy um nally approved stuff, UL um ETL or CSA/US approved devices that have been tested and you know they're good. Don't be using those aftermarket cords you find at the gas station or anything like that. Um, when you charge, charge safely. That means putting your devices on a hard surface. Don't overcharge them. Don't do like I do. Don't leave them plugged into your phone all night and just sitting there and unplug them in the morning. um unplug them when they're totally charged. And like I say, use only cords that come with the devices. Um finally, recycle. Uh you can recycle a number of places. Battery B batteries plus takes them. Uh they charge a dollar a pound. I talked to the gentleman today. Um but you have to keep them all separate, the different types of batteries. And um you can also you er which we use here in the township and um you can contact Sarah Vissell, our solid waste director. She can guide you on that. And finally, the uh appears to be the free option is Home Depot. They have a little can, trash can right in their front lobby that you can deposit your batteries in. So hopefully that knowledge will keep everybody a little safer this year. And don't forget our fire safety open house on uh October 11th from 10 to 2 at station 1.

Thank you. Thank you. Let's get a Will somebody take a picture of him holding the proclamation? I don't need to be

He's learning fast.

You ought to be in movies. Approval of the agenda. Mr. Supervisor, I move for the approval of the agenda for Tuesday, September 23, 2025. Second. Second by Trustee Growth. All in favor? I. Motion carries. Approval of the consent agenda. We do have resolutions on here and we will also uh take item A and introduce Mr. Ted Barker to be appointed to the Veterans Commission. He can say something or he can just stand up and then we will also swear him in after this. Right.

Correct. Thanks, Ted. I have an issue with the minutes. Oh, okay.

Okay. Yep. Uh the the minutes on page nine in the packet state that I didn't feel there is a reason to have an outside senior needs assessment completed. In actuality, my concern centered around the lack of communication with board members so that we know when issues are being considered that fall within the realm of board decision rather than an individual supervisor decision. Uh, and I also stated that we're a board with seven members, seven votes, and plans being made with other communities to assess needs should not reveal themselves through watching other community videos from their meetings, but should first be communicated with trustees who are involved in making decisions on these processes.

They'll submit that to the to the clerk and then we can we can vote on that as as approved. Okay. Uh, Mr. Super. We had I'm sorry, but we had Ted stand up. Well, we need to I left him. Yeah, we left him hanging. So, let's have him stand up again. You're getting your exercise. Nobody told you you could sit down. Yeah. Yeah. Well, mother may I. Yeah.

So, um Ted is now going to be a part of the Veterans Commission. I'm the chairwoman of the Veterans Commission for Plymouth Township. He's got an amazing uh resume. He's on several boards, owner of Shaw Construction. Uh but most notably recently he was uh instrumental in putting together the veterans banner program for the city of Plymouth and that really caught my eye. I thought that was very impressive and his um enthusiasm was was much welcome for our commission since we were down a couple members. So that's we're very excited and grateful to have him.

And so Ted, after we do the approval of the consent agenda, then I will swear you in up front here. Okay. Mr. Supervisor, I move the approval of the consent agenda for Tuesday, September 23rd, 2025. Second. Second. All in favor? No, we have to do a roll call. Uh, Trusty Buckley, yes. Trusty Clinton, yes. Supervisor Kermy, yes. Treasurer Dor Chevz, yes. Trusty Grove, uh, yes, but I do have a question on the township bills. On the what now? On the bills. on the township bills. Do I have to address that now or? Yeah, you can go right ahead, please.

Okay. Um on uh when I reviewed the bills, I noted an expenditure of $32,921 16 cents for the renewal of the Office 365 subscription renewal. And I just wanted to question should that not fall within the purchasing policy under informal and formal bidding procedures? the one well it's soul sourced to we're renewing Microsoft but uh we will but yeah it's soul sourced and it is in the budget

so we will probably have to bring it and do a budget we may do a budget amendment no we I don't think we will I think we're okay it's in the budget that for it's for renewing the licenses for office 365 Five. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we historically do that. I know. We need the board doesn't need to review that. No, I don't think so. Good point, though. Not have money. Yeah. I'm just looking at the purchasing policy and it says anything over 20,000 has to go through the formal bid process. So, I just wanted to know if that was We didn't bid that because it's a sole source carrying over our existing license.

Okay. Maybe that's something that should be reflected in the purchasing policy. subscription software subscription services for renewals. Uh should be exempted like a contract work like we would but we eventually we will tune up the purchasing policy because it is maybe a little old. Okay. Well, yeah. My my my concern is that we've talked about this before with the budget. um approving a budget is not a mandate to spend and I just want to make sure that our department heads um are following the the limits on the purchasing policy because that's going to get all of us in trouble if we're not watching that.

Yes. And we're we're trying to rein that in. Not trying, we are reigning that in. Okay. because there was over the last decades or whatever the feeling that if it was in the budget you could spend it but the the board has to approve it. So we are working that. Okay. So at this point um I approved that because of timing of maintaining our licenses so that we didn't get into trouble with Microsoft um by by having expired licenses. So we're going to tune that up. So, uh, suggestion taken. Okay. Trusty Growth. Yes. Trusty Stewart. Yes.

Clerk Borber. Yes. Motion carries. And, uh, um, could could I have uh our candidate come up, Ted? And there's the oath of office. And what I'm going to I'm going to read it and you would just follow after me. I'll say hi and you say your name and then follow after me. Please raise your right hand. I do solemnly swear swear I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the state of Michigan State of Michigan and the laws, ordinances, and policies

and the laws, ordinances, and policies of the charter township of Plymouth of the Township. I will perform the duties

being ever my service is reflection on my service. [Applause] What is your copy? Thank you very much. Appreciate it. I voted no. I know you did. Thanks for serving. Thank you.

This is the time for public comment. You have three minutes and it'll be on non-aggenda items. I know some of you are here for Gray's greenhouse. Do not talk about Gray's greenhouse now. You will have an opportunity to talk about that when we come to the subject during the meeting. So, anyone can come up now for 3 minutes. [Music] Hello. Uh, Maddie Pontekch. Uh, I live in the East Law neighborhood, the one that's the driveway to the new Lith Walk.

Can you move the microphone closer to you? Um, I'm wondering if there was any update on our sidewalks because there there was a meeting last week. Yeah. And that's the thing is they didn't invite the whole neighborhood to it. Well,

and they only fixed the grass of the people that were there. And even that they told us they would they didn't do mine cuz I wasn't invited. And they told us they would like scrape out the old like gravel dirt and everything. All they did was just put top soil and grass seed over it with some hay. And like I said, the sidewalks are there's tarp markings all over them. My new driveway has concrete splattered all over it. There's a big gap between my driveway and the sidewalk. I don't think that'll get fixed cuz I wasn't invited to the meeting even though I told them all this. There are sidewalks that are all like bumpy and just horrible. And you can say you didn't pay for this, but it reflects Plymouth Township when your neighborhood looks that crappy. So, I was just wondering there's an update on

The update is I authorize spending 5,000 incremental dollars, taxpayers money to fix the sidewalks. I authorized $5,000 of taxpayers money as part of the project to fix the sidewalks that were wavy. The person who came here with a ponytail, I don't know his name. His sidewalks are the target and maybe your neighbor to the my Yeah. Okay. That's what those will be fixed. What about the new sidewalks that are the new sidewalks are what they are? But why should Can't we tell them no fix it? Like I don't understand you guys represent us. Why can't why can't

they are deemed acceptable within the specification to according to engineering and that's the judgment I have to take. But so there's like massive gaps and it's like horrible work. In fact, mine they came to smooth out after working hours one day. Opened a can of sparkling water to pour it on there and smooth it out. They didn't lay gravel under my driveway. Oh, that dirt has some rocks in it. It's gravel. Why can't we tell them no? We're We're at the our limits of You know what the sidewalks look like? Yeah, I've walked them. They're perfectly acceptable to me. But I What you got is a very improved neighborhood?

No, it's it's that's BS. Well, you got a great neighborhood. We increased the value of your property massively at taxpayers's expense. Your group would not pay to pave your roads. You refused. We did it. I didn't vote for it. I inherited the project. The project is an overwhelming success from appearance and durability. Not from appearance. All right. So, anything else? I got I got the message. I'm ashamed of Flim Township to accept that quality. All right. I appreciate your comments. Anyone else? Uh, hello. My name

Get it up to your face there a little bit. Uh, is that better? Yeah.

Okay. Uh, my name is Max Mills. I'm a resident of Plymouth and a father of two young kids, ages three and one. And, uh, I'm here to request an ordinance change to require pool fences around all inground pools within the township of Plymouth. Uh, this summer, our next door neighbor built an ingground pool and they did not put a fence around the pool. In lie of that, they put in a uh pool cover that meets ASM standards. These pool covers um the way that they work, they have a a mechanical motor on them. You have to operate them with a remote to open and close the cover. And that is the only barrier on their pool. The problem with those types of covers, they are safe when the cover is closed. But once you open them now, there is no barrier between children, vulnerable people like my my little kids that live right next door and and an open source of water. Um, and it can be something as simple and innocent as a trip to the bathroom or a quick restroom break and the pool's left uncovered. We have already seen this happen two times since they put this pool in um, and they filled it with water one month ago. Um, and we've seen it uncovered and unattended. Uh, so I I I and my wife have already experienced children drowning twice. My wife and I both have. I was a lifeguard at the Summit Aquatic Center and in 2011 uh myself and a couple other lifeguards performed CPR on a four-year-old that drowned in the pool and uh we used an AED on him and luckily he survived. Uh my wife um there was a 2-year-old boy, his name was Alexander Petco, and uh he drowned in a pool in Plymouth Township in 2013. My wife was a teacher at Redbell Preschool at the time and um she had Alexander's older brother in his in her classroom and she saw firsthand the devastation from that family and what how it impacted our township as a whole. Um, and we built a a train at the Plymouth

Township Park to honor his memory. And my kids regularly play on that train. Um, according to the CDC, more children ages 1 through 4 die from drowning than any other cause of death. And, uh, children ages 5 through 14, drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury death after motor vehicle accidents, making the biggest threat to my kid's safety just 12 ft away from our property line. Um, in May of this year, a two-year-old boy drowned in a pool in Arizona. This pool had no perimeter fence and a cover was usually in place to protect the children. The children, the child was left unattended for about 3 to 5 minutes while the father was caring for their two-month-old and uh, that 2-year-old fell into the pool. The mother, Emily Kaiser, said after his death, "One of the hardest lessons I carry um is that a per permanent pool fence could have saved his life, and it's something that I will never overlook again. I hope amidst this pain, Trigg, her son's story, will help prevent other children and families from suffering the same loss. I would like to make a motion that we investigate and pursue ordinance changes to require pool fences around all ingground pools within the township. More strict safety rules uh would protect the vulnerable community members that can't protect themselves. Thank you. All right.

Thank you very much.

I think we have a person here who stood up. Good evening. My name is Gordon DDA. The last name is spelled D I D I E R. My wife Elaine and I live at 1360 Beacon Hill Drive in the township. We've lived at that address for the past 41 years. For 10 years prior to that, we lived in Lake Point following my return from the Navy. Some of you are aware of the motor home situation which has been an eyesore in our community for much of the past 6 months. Uh many of us attended the zoning board of appeals hearing in this room back in July at which the variance was properly denied because as the applicant admitted there were no circumstances which were uh unique or a hardship in that situation. Some of us attended the pre-trial arraignment with uh township attorney Kevin Bennett uh that was scheduled in August in the complaint brought by the township. Uh the defendant did not appear after 4 hours. Judge Pla has held up a pleading signed uh in red fingerprints and said he would issue a bench warrant. Um people in the community are increasingly frustrated and concerned that this has been going on for 6 months. Uh I know that you are some of you at least are working trying to resolve it. Uh I came here only to urge you to move forward with all diligence uh to resolve this situation as soon as possible. Uh I would like to have our residents continue to support the township in the efforts we're making to enforce our ordinances and frankly preserve property values and keep the community safe.

Thank you very much. Are you saying, sir, that they they haven't moved the motor home? Pardon me?

Are you saying that they haven't moved the motor home? And the motor home has come and gone for periods of up to 3 weeks over the past 6 months. It has been there as of today for 3 weeks and one day most recently. So it comes and goes, but it's there for long periods of time. It sits on the corner of Beacon Hill Court and Amesbury. It is completely exposed to public view. If you stand across the street at Garrick Lee's house, you can look at the graphic and it says outlaw on it. And yes, it's an outlaw. This defendant has a record that's on the public record of the insurance commissioner of three prior uh convictions for uh criminal cases in which she plead guilty. Uh we're dealing with someone who seems to have no respect for uh the law or authority as evidenced by these red fingerprints on the pleading. But yes, the I walked by the motor home at 5:20 this evening. It's still there and it's big. It's 40 ft long, 13 ft high, and 8 ft wide and has a beautiful graphic on it.

Yeah. Yeah. And what are we It's a ongoing case. Kevin's got the ball. I've been providing him regular direction for weeks. He came here to ask us to help. So, well, Kevin, well, I don't know if you want to, we may not want to speak about this here because of some legal action we're taking. I I'm not asking for answers. I'm just encouraging everyone to proceed with all due diligence to move forward on this case and resolve this situation. People stop me in the street whom I don't even know for reasons that aren't clear to me, I guess, because I've lived there so long and say, "What's happening? Why is this still here?" So, people are genuinely concerned about this conversation with him. I'm sorry. No one has conversation with him with the lady.

Well, the lady the res she came she came before the the uh ZBA to ask for a variance. It was denied in an open meeting and uh then subsequent to that uh she continued to put it there. There were violations issued and my understanding is she didn't after the violation was issued she didn't appear in court and so we're at that point. So last ticket was issued on Friday of last week. So So it's a matter of due process that's going on right now. We encourage you to continue with what you're doing to ensure that she's doing the right thing.

Thank you. I appreciate your time. Thank you. Wayne, the lady there is next. Go ahead, ma'am. You You were first. Fences are not required around pools. Not if you have an automated Not if you have an automated um It's a It's a retractable top. It's a Yeah, it's a state law. Well, I do think that's something we should talk about. No, you can.

We have talked about it. We've analyzed it. Uh we don't want to waste people's time here, but the building official recommends not because it's too we would totally deviate from the building code if we did it. We're following the state building code. There's some intric intricacies of it. Um but it's not it's a hard no. It's not a well, so far it's a hard no, but it'll take some minations in the building department that would be very creative deviating from the state building code.

But I don't know all the details. What? Sorry, just wait a minute. I don't know all the details and I I don't want to get into the details here. We don't have the building official here, but I've discussed this at length with the chief building official, Ken McDonald, for months. This has been going on since at least I think I first heard about it in June. And this is a subdivision that I think country club fences. I think it's Country Club acres, right? Country Club Village. Yeah. And they don't allow fences. It's in my subdivision. No, no, we're talking about two different things. Okay. I'm talking about the motor homes still. We're we're confusing pools and motor homes. Okay. They're both fun. One one quick thing. Uh she was issued another ticket and as far as I can tell

the mic toward you if you would. She was issued another ticket and it looks like the next court date is October 25th. So, we can probably expect it to be there till then. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Navina. Um, I'm here for as a pool with a fence problem as well. So when I learned uh the ingground pool doesn't require a fence uh by Michigan law, I was quite flunkly stunned to hear if it has a Yes. And then I if it has a retractable cover, it doesn't.

Right. But uh their neighbor is talking about 16year-old to be responsible for that. Like you know please imagine your children or your grandchildren under age of four living next to them and you cannot be eye on them 24/7 even you want to you may fall asleep caring for other children. So, I want you to think about it and um something happens now. You all know that that's the problem. If God forbid something happened to their kids, my grandchildren who is going to their house or Mr. George Fitz. Maybe your family member in the neighborhood can wander around and drop in the pool. You found you heard somebody died in the pole. How do you feel? What you you could have done something and you didn't. How do you feel? It's it's not statistics. Somebody's child's life so precious. But it's only one or two cases who doesn't want to have a fence and because of that and because we adults didn't act on it something might have happened. How do you feel after that? So please please I am not here to blaming you. I want you to really consider I don't care about the mission law but as a prim which is beautiful town. I love living here for 21 years. You have a chance to change something, something important, something important like some of your kids or some of your grandkids life, not just our neighborhood. It

affects all township. And I I can't believe those people living next to them refused to build fence around the pole in ground pole. and the people around them without pull we cannot build fence that's in our law so it doesn't make sense to me I I beg you please consider t take this very seriously you're talking about somebody's life so I beg you please

most likely if we were successful in changing the ordinance the it wouldn't apply to this situation because it was under a previous building code. So anyway, we've got to we've got to get into this, but just passing an ordinance will not force that neighbor who did it completely legally to the building code to build a fence. Nothing is impossible, right? We can work on it. Well, we're not we can't work on going backwards. That's my point. I know the grandfather rule, but what about like this is not like little things you're talking about lives. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else that wants to take a swing? All right, up the bat. Yeah, just really quick because everything's already been set, but these are my grandbabies that are living there.

Pull pull the mic toward you. These are my grandb babiesies that are living there and I understand the laws in place and that that um the pool cover is a safe mechanism when it's closed. But but what we're struggling with is the fact that we are counting on a 14 or 16 year old babysitter that's going to close that every single time they take a child in to go to the bathroom. Um leaving my grandbabies vulnerable during those minutes. And that's that's the problem. We understand when it's closed it's safe. Um, but it's not safe when it's on when it's open and we're relying on a teenagers and 12 year olds and that live there and the babysitters or the older sister that's just going to run in for a minute, get a phone call and that's when those accidents happen. We all know that. U we've seen too many reports of children dying all summer long and I don't want that to be my grandbaby. So we I do ask that you reconsider it.

So I urge you to also speak with the neighbor Thanks.

Hi there. My name is Courtney Mills. I'm the mother of the situation that's going on. Um, we have talked to the neighbors plenty of times. We've expressed our concern. Um, like I said earlier, I was the teacher that worked at Redbell at the time when the child drowned in Plymouth Township. Um, and I've expressed that to them. My husband was a we were we we grew up in this in this area. We were both we actually met on the Salem swim team. We were high school swimmers, um high school sweethearts, everything. And um we are not allowed to put a fence in. I've been fighting with my HOA to try to allow me to put a fence in and they are still blocking it. They thought that you guys would not approve the fence or the they would they thought that you guys would make them put up a fence, not realizing the law did allow for these safety safety covers. But again, the safety cover has to be shut. It has to be in place for it to be used. We've already witnessed it. My husband's had a month that this pool has been open. It's been less than a month. They've already they've already had it open twice without any adult outside. They had their 13-year-old out there once and then their seven-year-old by himself once. We've went up to them by up to her to the wife and asked her and said, "You know what? Can you The law says that an an adult needs to be outside when this is that's what it says in the law because I was the one that talked to Ken actually starting in June because when as soon as I figured this out this didn't make sense to me. It didn't add up. Um and the wife was very defensive, very upset with us and doesn't understand our position at all. Um which is shocking to me as a mother. I I don't quite understand it. I wasn't planning on getting up here so I apologize to all of you. I'm a little shaky. I don't like to do this. Um so I appreciate you all listening to me. But I know you said that it does take a little bit more creativity to work with the law, but there are communities within the our area that do not allow this. So Michigan is one of only eight states in the United States that allows for these covers. Most of these states require two barriers being a safety cover along with a fence that's at

minimum of 4t high with very limited gaps. There's a reason for it. There are kids that are drowning. There are it is I am watching my kids. I am on I was a teacher in Plymouth Canton for years until I had my children. Now I stay home with them and I am on them like you wouldn't believe. But they can run in every direction. I'm sure all of you have had ch experience with children in one way or another and you know it just takes a second. I've already talked to the neighbor. We've talked to them multiple times at length and express your concern and they have little to no care for this for our safety for our children's safety. Um and and that is it. and they know that they are within the law and therefore that is the end of it. We ask you to please look deeply and to get creative with it. Thank you.

I have I do have a I do have a question um for for council. So the law states that they have that that the pool is legal if they have one of these covers. What if it's shown that the pool is open unattended? Is there any consequences to that? pass an ordinance uh confining them that or is there in the existing law let's just talk about the existing law first and then subsequent to that your point very well taken can we pass an ordinance to say if you leave it unattended that there's some sort of remedy $500 fine

that would be a regulation of private property which would fall within the purview of the zoning ordinance I'm looking at the zoning ordinance right Now, it does contain a provision for swimming pools and residential districts. I have not checked the Michigan uh residential code yet. That one would be a little more intricate for me to look at, but the zoning ordinance does require a fence in accordance with the regulations of the state of Michigan. So, depending on what state law says, if state law says a fence is not required, if they have the automatic, that's what it states. Yeah. I haven't I haven't

I know you haven't, but I know our building in inspector has and and talked to a couple of us about So my charge to you then is is if the law says that it's legal for them to have this in this fashion, but what if it's left unattended? Is there a remedy or for for the municipality or someone to to take action whether it's civily or that's my charge is to find that out. Okay. Okay. No, we can't answer it right now. No, I know we can't. I can give you some thoughts that I have right now. It could be deemed a private nuisance by the neighbors, which would be an attractive nuisance. Kind of like the RV. Yeah.

But the RD is specifically precluded by the zoning ordinance. The swimming pools are permitted by the zoning ordinance. Okay. So, you will look into this for us. Thank you. All right. We will follow up on it, but there are no guarantees or promises. In the meantime, I'm I'm distressed that your neighbor is that insensitive and callous. It's too bad that we have people like that living here.

So, all right, let's go to the next item, which is the budget, I think. Let me look. General F1. Yep. the 2026 general government proposed budgets. Uh Brian Cameler from Plant Moran and Carol Rashan, our finance director, will be supporting us here. This is our uh uh annual road to approving a budget by the end of December or earlier. [Music] Here we go. Um, good evening. Nice to see you again. Um, a couple weeks ago when I was here, we covered the public safety portion of the general fund, uh, as well as some other public safety related uh, less significant funds. Today, we're going to cover the rest of the general fund as well as the opioid settlement and the capital improvement funds. Those will be quite quick. uh related to the general fund. So we've already covered about 65 70% of general fund by talking about public safety. 16 million and change of this $23.5 million budget is related to public safety. The rest of general fund is made up of the predominantly the folks that work out of this building. So, uh, all of the the supervisor's office, clerks, treasurers, some DPW activity, etc., etc., uh, predominantly wages and fringes. As you can see here, 71% of the general fund is all people cost. uh with the majority of the remainder being made up of various

professional services whether that's uh outside engineering or building or accounting or audit or uh anything else um that the township would have to outsource. Uh a much smaller portion uh is related to capital outlay. Uh although the capital projects this year are uh about $800,000 less than what's in the current 2025 budget. Next slide, please. So in total, the proposed 2026 general fund budget is $458,000 less than the current budget for 25. Uh but as I mentioned before, $800 and some thousand dollar of capital outlay was included in 25. That's not recurring in 26. So even though in total it's going down the the total expenditures down by 1.9%. If you just adjust for that change in capital outlay, it's a 1.7% increase on everything else, which is still substantially less than inflation has been for the past year. Uh so this is evident of the township uh proposing to tighten its belt a bit as it were and and do what it ca do what you can in order to control costs. Next slide please. So it mentioned 71% are people costs. That is uh perfectly normal for a municipality this size. I would expect it to be anywhere between 65 and 80%. Uh the salaries, wages, and employer taxes uh $1.6 million. Uh an increase is included for 3% pay increases. On the

health insurance side, 5.7% increase over the current year is one of the lowest that I've seen of all of my clients this year. Uh the medical community is is really uh ratcheting up the cost of insurance. And so, uh, I would be quite pleased with, uh, only 5.7%. Before you leave this page, yes, the two new positions in police department. I'm having a hard time with that. We didn't add any positions. So, help me out, Carol. How did is this an accounting reconciliation?

We added them current. We had them in the budget. We filled them this year. So, those two new hires are going to carry into next year. So, when we put this together, they hadn't Right. Yeah. So, it's not two additional people to be added in 26. They're already here today. The headcount allocation was there, but the people were not in place. The expenditures have not been incurred until now. All right.

Uh, your retirement benefits, your contributions to the defined benefit plan are dictated by MS. So the uh they have an actuarial valuation every year and they tell you what you must contribute. So there really isn't any uh any debate or discussion on that. Uh for those employees that are part of the defined contribution plan, uh it is set at 15% of their salaries and that totals out to a little over $900,000 for the year. Next slide, please. But right in this budget, we're not proposing to put any more money in OPED. Correct.

No extra. Correct. You'll still be paying your OPEDB real costs, the the retirey health care for existing people. Right. No loss without an additional contribution. But in the past, we've always in the past six, seven years, we've paid extra into the OPED. Correct.

In order to stay right with the state. Uh well, as the we put a plan in place years ago that said $250,000 through the 2024 calendar year. We did another extra year last year of 250,000, but we are not do we are doing zero this year. My only concern with that is that we don't fall short going forward. That's a you know, it's one of these things where like, well, I'm just going to kick the can down the road. Am I doing what I need to do in order to stay solvent going forward? Yeah. I I'm not sure what your current funding percentage is. That's something we we can look at and get back to you. It's 29, isn't it? I think it was the answer.

I don't remember exactly the numbers. It's 29. Right. It's just a concern. That's all. By by the year 2035, you've got to get to 40%. Right. Right. So, as of right now, it's like 30. Yeah. Yeah. No. So, right now you can continue to go interest interest and at the end of 2035 if you can hit 40%. That's good. I mean, to me, I I would rather have a lot more, but 40% is okay. Well, that that keeps us that keeps us cool with the state is what that does. That doesn't mean that we're fulfilling our obligation, and that's my concern.

We're fulfilling our obligation to pay benefits, and we'll continue to do that. I just I'm concerned about pay as you go and um and then falling short. That's all.

Okay. Uh moving on to capital outlay. These are all items that were discussed a couple weeks ago as part of the uh public safety portion of the budget. Uh the largest one there under fire, the EMS plus program. So that is a variety of equipment. So we'll be expensing the whole thing, but we're financing it over 5 years. So there's proceeds from debt that offsets the capital outlay this year that nets to zero. Uh 2026 through 2030, you'll be paying debt service on that amount 15 per year. Now, on the revenue side, $23.3 million. Um, you'll see on a subsequent slide where that compares to the expenses. Uh, but you're, this should come as no surprise. You're predominantly funded by property taxes. Uh, with, uh, funding from the state and from the federal government uh, being the number two portion. There are a variety of uh charges for services here and there um for things that you do for certain uh parts of the population uh within the township, but predominantly you're being funded by property taxes and Michigan state share revenue uh which comes from statewide sales tax. Uh and as we'll see on uh another slide, um I I believe you're all aware that the state budget is still being debated. Uh depending on which group uh you're listening to, some are supporting an increase to state shared revenue. Some are supporting a decrease. They have 7 days to get this figured out uh before the end of the state's current fiscal year and the beginning of the next. Uh the intention I'm sure is to get that worked out, but where it will stand

seven days from now, uh your guess is as good as mine. And so um all the things we're putting forward here is really contingent on us getting revenue sharing and then of course the legislature is talking about making cuts in other areas and then are we going to get the necessary funds to fund like elections? I mean, we still don't know. In the last goound, we received a lot of money for elections because of new changes in the in the election laws. However, we don't know if that's going to go forward. Correct. So, we could we could end up two, three, four, $500,000 less in revenue than we thought. Yes.

Carol, let's let's take a pause here. We're not booking any revenue for elections reimbursement from the state of Michigan. This budget assumes we're going to pay it all and 50,000 is at risk on a tenative basis with the current calculation if the state decides to do the blow me up scenario. But it's still part of negotiations for the from now till 7 days, 7 days plus, right? So we are not in grave jeopardy with this budget if the state upends the table. We're planning for that. Well, we we have the fund in the

general fund. We have we have we have money in the the uh in the fund balance that for some reason if they don't come forward with stuff or this doesn't this budget of course doesn't talk about emergencies. I mean, you can end up with another two, three, $4,000, $100,000 in things that you unaccounted for expenditures that's not being allotted for in this. Like there's no money in this for building. There's no building maintenance money in here. Carol, come up to the podium here, please. We still have money in the improvement. Is it called the improvement revolving fund for buildings?

Yes. There's 50,000 for fire, 50 for police, 50 for township hall, and 50 for water and sewer. It's sitting in the fund. If something comes up for each of those areas, we can transfer from the township revolving fund over to the general fund to cover. It's allocated. That's you just rattled off $250,000. Okay. So, we are protected. Yes. And there's still fund balance in addition to that if there's something catastrophic that happens. Yeah, there's about 8 million. If something bad happens, we'll still have 8 million left.

Next slide, please. So taxes, your number one source of revenue, 3 and a.5% increase uh over today. Um you can see on the slide how that is split uh between the operating police and fire millages. State revenue sharing. We've just discussed charges for services. We're probably being a little on the conservative side, but I think that's appropriate. 2025 has been a very good year for these particular services. Uh what is being budgeted for 26 is consistent with 2024. So, you know, realistically, I don't think it's uh unreasonable to expect that we would do better than 24, maybe not as good as 25. And then that extra uh revenue can offset any of these other expenditures uh that that could pop up. Uh for interest income, uh the budget is for 650,000. That's more than the current budget for 600 uh than for 2025. And you might say, "Well, Brian, I just heard that the Fed is going to cut interest rates. How is this possible?" Well, the current budget for 25, you're going to exceed.

Yeah. So, the fact that we are budgeting more than 25, it's still probably going to be less than the actual amount for 25. And that was intentional. Yes. Say that again. So 2025 budget 6. We budgeted 600 and we we're coming in at 650. No, we're coming in considerably higher than that. I don't have the number in. I think it was over 800, right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. I have a question on the taxes. Yeah. The Could you explain the 3 and 12% increase on millages that are fixed? What am I missing? Well, that's the increase of your taxable value.

That's okay. Headedley, not Headley, proposition. So, you're going to see you're going to what you're going to see later tonight is our millage rate actually decreases because of Headley, but the value of the properties across the township went up. So, that's why that goes up. Okay. Thank you.

Next slide, please. So compared to the current year, uh revenue is expected to increase one and a half% $344,000. But as we discussed there, there is definitely some there's still some swag in this today uh related to the state and what they end up doing as well as what the the federal government ends up doing. There's there's talk of shutdowns at both levels. So, uh, there is still much debate to be had at both the state and federal level, and we just have to sit and wait until they sort it out. So, really, this is the grand finale for the general fund. What does all of this mean to our fund balance? So, uh, the 26 budget does include just a little bit, uh, $170,000 more of expense than revenue. uh that is significantly down from where we started uh a couple months back. Um once there's uh the the cutting and the negotiations etc etc. Um that is the lowest that you would have used in the last 3 years. Uh if you do end up using that although I do like to look at budgets for expenses and just know that we'll finish some amount under that. you're not going to spend 100% of your budget. So, you're authorizing your department heads to be able to do what they need to do, but the expectation is they will come in under budget. So, I would say 170,000 is probably within the statistical margin of error, and this is pretty darn close to being a a balanced revenue equals expense budget. Pretty darn close. uh the resulting fund balance if this were to happen exactly as budgeted which of course it won't but

if it happened exactly as budgeted you would end up with fund balance of 7.8 8 million which is 33% of the annual budget. Uh and that is in excess of what the GFOA the government finance officers association would recommend as a minimum of fund balance. So u 33% to me is is comfortable. I don't find it to be an affluent number but it's certainly not a number that I would sweat or lose sleep about. So I would be very comfortable if you were to maintain 33% uh going forward. What is the minimum 15 uh 2 months of general fund expenditures? So 2 divided by 12 is 16.67.

Yeah. So uh I think for the past six years when I used to be the treasurer we always at the end of the year we save money. Then in 2024, we lost money. In 2025, we're losing money. And what you're suggesting is in 2026, we're going to lose money again. Correct? Mhm.

Okay. So, my question is, we've got roughly $8,000 uh in the funding. That's the last one we're going to have for $8,000. We're starting to lose money is my point. My suggestion is next year or actually the following year in 2027, we're probably going to lose about 1.2 million. What do you say? That's my prediction. What do you say? 1.2 million. We're going to lose money because this keeps going up and up and up. Yeah, we're using fund balance. Yeah, but the the fund will continue to go up. I know. So my whole point and I don't have the exact statistic everything. My whole point is which the number that will go up is

the expense. The expense number, right? Yeah. Because that's what you're saying. You were saying the fund balance was going down, right? Yeah. Actually, could we go to the next slide? You'll see a graph of this money next year. My whole point is going forward we're going to continue to lose money and get until we get another mortgage. Millage, a millage, excuse me, a millage which is a tax increase. My question is at one point, well, at one point, do you think we're going to need a new millillage?

I have not gotten into that at all. We've not done any kind of forecasting, but if you'll go to the next slide, please, you can see the last four years in the the budget here for five.

So, uh, excuse me, for 26. So, in 22 23, um, you the township's general fund had a surplus for the year. That's the green line is revenue. The bar graph is the expenses. Starting in 24, you're right, I started to use some fund balance. 25 is projecting to lose some additional fund balance. But you'll notice that that amount, the the amount north of that green line, uh, is where you're spending greater than your revenue. The planned 26 budget is significantly less than the budget for 25. And as I said, within $170,000 on a $23 million budget, that's within the the margin of error. That's basically break even. You should be expecting your department heads to come in somewhere between 1 and 5% under budget. So those expenditures should and we're being conservative on the revenue side. Um, so barring some kind of state level catastrophe with state funding, I would expect that 26 would end up in a surplus. It's that close.

But Mark's point is well taken. We're at some point where uh you're going to run out of money. Yeah. Because revenue is not growing. Expend expenses are out the growth in expenses is outpacing the growth in revenue. Um and that will happen again in 27. Y uh largely because of uh collective bargaining agreements and the cost of them. Yep. That's why that what you're seeing as well. Excuse me.

It seems like there's there might be some difference of opinion. Are you seeing that as well? Well, I would say almost every community in Michigan, the cost of people is growing faster than the property tax revenue that is generated. That's the problem with proposal A and Headley interaction. Um, most communities that I work with are absolutely having to tighten their belt every single year. um where you're at with fund balance of 33% it's approximately double the minimum recommendation. I would never want to be at the minimum. I always being conservative. I'd prefer to have approximately what you have. But you're going to have like most communities every single year you're going to have dis difficult discussions during the budget and deciding what do we have to have versus what would we'd like to have. And there will be a negotiation as to is it something that we need or just something that would be nice. And so 26 as proposed to me is very strong. The fact that you have reversed the trend of 24 to 25 is a positive to me. But absolutely, you're going to have to constantly watch all costs because the way our system is set up here in Michigan, it's set up to put that pressure on you. Revenues are not allowed to grow at the same rate as expenses. That's just the way our broken financial model works.

Yeah. the two two major amendments to our constitution. Headedley in 1978, statewide referendum that put a complex cap calculation on taxes and Proposition A of 1994. You're welcome. are are designed to slow the growth of taxation and allow people to maintain their farms and their homes so that they can continue living here and not be taxed out of their homes in an effort to grow the size of their local or state. Well, state government's going crazy. So what you're saying is that when your house doubles, your taxes don't double.

Exactly. They used to. So prior prior prior to prop% prior to Prop A, when you see the the information on your tax for where it says your assessed value went up X, your taxable went up that much. And then when I was in the legislature, we froze them in 93 uh so they wouldn't go up and people would be taxed out. And then in '94 we did Prop A, which the public overwhelmingly voted for correctly. And uh so that keeps the property taxes property taxes low. The Proposition A cut residential property taxes in half half and then started over again,

right? And so the only time they go up is if you make a major improvement or you sell your house or go buy another one. But what what this indicates is that that because of that slowing down, you run into this dichconomy where your cost can go up more than what you can actually actually tax for for three years that went up to the maximum 5%. And now it's more at the CPI which is about 3.2 or whatever. So as the CPI goes down, which we would love for that to happen, the money you bring in goes down along with the fact that our investments then as the economy improves, you get less interest. And so you end up with the situation that Mark is talking about where you're more than likely going to have expend expenditures go above what your what your ability to to bring in revenue is. And our job is to manage that without always asking for more money.

At least that's my job. Okay, next slide. Yes, please.

All right. The uh opioid settlement fund. So, um, as a result of many, many lawsuits, there are many, many pharmaceutical companies that are paying a settlement, uh, related to the opioid epidemic. Uh, the township receives a piece of that settlement. That money can only be used for what is listed here, uh, on the screen. Um, to date, uh, next slide. So to date, you've received uh approximately 50ome thousand dollars. Uh but it's coming in chunks. It will continue to come in chunks uh over the next several years. This year, each settlement has a different timetable with a different spread. Uh state of Michigan does provide a schedule for all of the settlements for all of the communities. so you can see what you are currently set to get over the next dozen or more years. Um there is a plan this year to spend some of the money uh approximately $14,000 on some community outreach and other assistance to the community uh related to uh opioid responses. Next slide, please. So, here's the approximately 50. It's almost 54,000 that you will have received uh so far. There's another as as of now $150,000 coming through 2038, but it is very restricted as to how it can be spent. Uh do not think that this can go anywhere to general fund to offset any of your normal operational costs. It cannot. Next slide, please.

Uh the capital improvement fund. Um, I it's it's more for emergencies uh or it's that couple hundred,000 that has been set aside, $50,000 per department uh in order to handle uh certain things that end up being uh considered critical things that weren't part of the original general fund budget. Um if you'll scroll to the next slide, please. So you can see that as of today there are no budgeted expenditures because we don't know of anything at this point in time that's not already included in general fund or one of the other funds. So there's approximately $250,000 there uh that can be used can be drawn on uh in the event that one of the other funds has some kind of uh financing issue or unknown expense pops up. um certainly would hope that there would be other ways of of absorbing that within the existing fund, but it's really nice to know that that a quarter million dollars is sitting here just in case. And so that concludes the three funds that I was planning on discussing today. Is there any other questions from the board?

Anybody?

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [Music] Okay. So, next item is the conditional reasonzoning change for what's known as Gray's Greenhouse, which is at the northeast corner of Joy Road and Lily Road at the far southern end of Plymouth Township bordering Canton Township near Metatal Airport. And this proposal is a conditional resoning and a planned unit development PUD. They have been here before. The background information is the same. Um we're going to get a presentation from the applicant and then we can discuss it and we will hear from the audience also. And then when we when that happens, we'll urge you to be as brief as possible because we don't want to be here till midnight. Although I can do that, but it's not fair to my colleagues. Um, we have the applicant here and the plan planning is going to give their pitch first. Is that what you want to do, Laura? Or summarize it in a way that makes it easy to understand?

Yes. Thank you. Uh evening trustees and supervisor Kermy uh Laura Hall with McKenna. Laura, is your mic on? It is. Yes. It doesn't come any closer. No, no indoor voices.

Um as uh the supervisor stated, this item was presented at the August 26th board meeting and it was postponed. Um the applicant is proposing to conditionally reszone um 8820 Lily Road from the R2A multiple family residential to OS office um to be developed as a planned unit development. Um the applicant is proposing multiple conditions um on the resoning to reduce impacts on the surrounding area. Uh no new information has been included within your packet. Um however, the planning department did receive an one um additional letter of support for this project. Um this is from Aaron Usman um who is a longtime resident of the township. Um she states, "I support the proposed resoning for the following reasons. The proposal helps preserve a historically significant business and property. Gray's greenhouse has been treasured by generations of residents of Plymouth Township and beyond and should remain for future generations to enjoy. The proposal creates a valuable community space which I look forward to utilizing. I support the plans for a park-like atmosphere with walking paths, picnic space, and connection to nature. The proposed resoning of this property is economically advantageous for Plymouth Township. It will create opportunities for jobs and housing, attract visitors from outside Plymouth Township, and sustain small businesses. This vibrant campus model will be a welcomed asset to our community. I strongly encourage your approval of this proposed resoning.

That letter is also in your board packet as the first page of the

Okay. get back in Mark but you can pass that down if you'd like to see that for the recording secretary. Um I'd also just like to uh clear up some misinformation that has been um shared on planned unit developments. Uh planned unit developments are not a loophole for developers. Um it is not a loophole in the zoning ordinance. uh and it does not grant an applicant special privileges. The planned unit development is a legal development option that has been utilized by the township and other communities for decades. The township um maintains control at all stages of development in a PUD. Um this includes the preparation and all details of a site plan which is based on the township zoning ordinance. The specific standards of the PUB are located in article 23 of the zoning ordinance. If you look at the site design standards in that article, they're actually more stringent than the other zoning districts of the township. This means that there are additional requirements placed on an applicant by going through the PUD process. Um, included in your packet are the two resolutions for approval. um that was recommended again by the planning commission. The applicant is here this evening um with a presentation and I'm happy to answer any questions that you have. Thank you.

Are there any questions from the board be for Laura? Now, so when it comes to uh the PUD process, if the PUD is approved, um that doesn't necessarily mean that uh the design of the site would be approved uh the proposed design. Correct.

The stage of this application um is not at the site plan level. So the the PUB option tonight is granting more of the general uses of the site. The applicant would still be required to come before the planning commission with a uh site plan and also this township board again with the site plan and the PUD development contract. When does the one-year clock start and when does it end with the PUB approval?

There there are several clocks. The first would start um upon approval of the PUB option, which is up for a vote tonight. Yes, there's a one-year clock um to submit the site development plan. And uh if the PUD uh if for example addressing issues like parking are all part of the site development plan step in the process. That's correct. All right, let's have the presentation from the applicant.

Applicants plural. So, is this going to be a full the same thing they did last time or I hope not. Hopefully, it's better. Thank you. Approve. Yeah, hopefully. Mark was here, right? Mark wasn't here. Oh, that's right. He was here.

Yeah. [Music] [Music] What is your target length of presentation? How many minutes do you think you'll need? 20. Yeah. All right. Try try to target 20 minutes. Sounds good. Or less. I don't think we want to be here late either. So, we're all on the same team. Well, this is important. So, I'll stay as long as needed.

Sure. Um, sorry. I just want to make sure this works. Okay, perfect.

All right. I don't have a lot of voice um tonight, so I have my tea next to me. We'll see how far we get. All righty. Um hello and thank you for having us back. Um my name is Rachel Nish and I'm the current owner of Grey's Greenhouse. My primary goal tonight is to secure the next step in preserving a collection of historic structures here in Plymouth Township that house the most vibrant and authentic community I've seen in the area. Community is a word that gets thrown around a lot. Plenty of people work very hard to create new things that foster community. things that require memberships, regular meetings, are built around fundraisers or causes because they know that a robust community means personal longevity, an enjoyable place to live, and a healthier tax base. But the really cool thing about the Grace community is that it occurs so naturally. And while you'd expect it to be made up entirely of plant enthusiasts, the common theme is actually the desire to have conversations just to talk in a way that is warm and real and without pretense. We have plenty of regulars who have never bought a plant. They might bring us cookies when the season changes or stop in on the way to visit their mom in Leavonia or drop off perennial starts in a takeout container. That is the sort of community that excuse me that this sort of community needs to worry about financial viability is profoundly unfortunate. But here we are. As far as I can tell, the greenhouse business cannot support 6 and 12 acres and three historic structures on its own. But I am not ready to solve this

problem by allowing the greenhouse to be demolished or at the very least sequestering it to a tiny island surrounded by a traditional multif family housing development. I've brought Adam, Kristen, and Kyle on board to develop a more creative solution. a campus of educational, recreational, and retail spaces that can generate the revenue necessary to support the greenhouse, but that equally importantly is conducive to the greatest community secret sauce, which is simply integrity. I hope that the board can take the leap and say yes to the possibility of doing things differently to protect the important things that we already have. Uh, I met with you guys before. I was here two meetings ago, but Adam Hutenstein, I'm the owner of Michigan NC Natives, which is on the site at Graves as well. Uh, we occupy kind of the eastern portion right now, east central portion of that 6 and a half acres. We've been there for two years. We've seen really, really strong growth this year, year-over-year, upwards of 80 to 90%. So that's uh you know op a very good optimistic view of the future in such you know we've only got two data points for the last two years but this is a um an area that's densely populated. There's a lot of people that frequent the greenhouse. There's a synergy between grays and our business. So um basically I'm just here to sort of represent Michigan and then the ecological uh impacts that this development may have on. So, what what is your business again?

What is um Michigan NC natives? We uh grow native plants. So, trees, shrubs, native plants, uh about 200 species, all local to our area, Southeast Michigan. Yeah, he was in Iceland last uh last trustees meeting. Good, but you got I can't hear you.

I was here two meetings ago is what Kyle was saying, but not the last one. I was at the planning meeting, sorry, but not the last trustees meeting. So, quick bio. I'm Kristen Arthurs. I'm one of the members of the property group working on the Grace campus. I'm also a pediatric speech language pathologist in the area. So have particular interest in designing and running programming on the site that will support my professional expert or allow my professional expertise to support children and families in the area in a meaningful way.

And I'm Kyle Keyaber. um with Grays. I'm one of the the partners in this group. Um I own an architecture firm locally. Um Faber Design Co. Um and I shortened this up from last time quite a bit, but I I think it's important just to um note that, you know, I have lived in rural Indiana, Charleston, South Carolina, Nashville, Tennessee, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Plymouth, Michigan. um and have done projects, professional projects, been a part of these types of meetings in all of those different locations and also across the Midwest and United States. Um you know, working on other different projects and have kind of seen the gamut as far as um um zoning and um restrictions and that sort of thing goes. Um, I've worked on a lot of high-profile civic, public facing, and historic preservation projects both locally and um, across the country. Um, and I didn't mean to leave this in here, but this is a house that we did, um, uh, Chris and I did in Nashville where we bought an abandoned home and instead of tearing it down like a lot of other people did in the neighborhood, we um, tore the roof off and added a second story to it. um as as part of a story that um you know we we had our own stories from but as a way to get our hands dirty um and you know save a structure that we thought might be cool. Um, also in my family, u, my greatgrandmother taught school at this, um, schoolhouse and, uh, has been in my family since 1883. And, um, my mom currently owns a cut flower business there. And my dad has his, uh, 2 acres of wine grapes as his retirement hobby on that property. And I have personally replaced the roof um

reut in the windows, tore off the bell tower with one of my best friends with a van um and replaced it. And um so this is just something that's kind of like in my blood. It's not it's not in my blood to just let something be knocked over. Um and these sorts of things actually create stories and um are very meaningful to me. So, I I just wanted to kind of share that as an intro to um you know, my interests in this project and what makes me wake up excited about this project every day.

Okay.

Yeah. H. So, um, again, I think we, you know, we went over this a little bit, uh, last time and, um, but for those of you who haven't heard the story of of Grey's Greenhouse, it was built in 1928, uh, by Alex Winnuk and, uh, actually stayed in his family for three generations. Um, Alice's granddaughter is sitting here tonight. And, um, she and her family had it for three generations until I purchased it in 2019. Um, so it has it has a long history in Plymouth and um and that's something you can't you can't replace. So we're looking at some creative ways to um bring it a little more support uh financially and and with some other revenue streams that that Kyle's going to talk about.

No, it's

um so this again we can go over this really quickly. This is the existing site. So, it's 6 and 12 acres and the buildings that are currently here, the 10,000T greenhouse, um the approximate 3 foot 3,000T boiler house, um sorry, my fingers are too fat. Um an existing barn, an existing house. These were both built in 1919. Um Till's Flower Farm currently operates right here. Um, and Carrie, who is in the crowd here tonight, um, is a tenant of that. And then again, Michigan NC natives, that's Adam's business that currently operates on the site. Um, and this is just kind of the surrounding area and just showing um, the uses around the site. So, we talked about this last time. These are our goals for the project. Allow continuation of grays, community, and greenhouse retail. So again, there's already a community of people that exists that are very interested in this project staying. Um, our second goal, preservation, sustainability of a historic greenhouse, barn, and house. And then to create a community asset that aligns with public and township interests. And so, as a little bit of a flip and a way to kind of maybe speed this up a little bit is um, we just kind of want to talk about our key challenges. And so like when we first saw the issue that Rachel was dealing with and we kind of the four of us put our heads together and identified what these key challenges were and solutions, I just kind of wanted to kind of like maybe walk you through that. And I think that it will also help um one of one of the things that was brought up last time was just like how is this going to work financially? I you know I don't see how this works. Well, this is you know kind of going back to our original notes. This kind of I think helps explain this a little bit. So the three key challenges that we had

were that we have a 6 and a half acre site with four buildings that has existed for 100 years that are being supported only by the greenhouse which is a money issue. We have a medium density woodlands that you know is a majority of invasive species and scrub and this we live in a a tree city and a a community that really values its trees and its woodlands. And then our third key challenge is we have a non-conforming zoning overlay that was placed on this site 10 plus years ago even though the business has been existing there for over 100 years. So I'm going to talk about the first one here. Um simplifying this down to a very key diagram. The greenhouse all the money that's going into the greenhouse is supporting the six and a half acres of site. the boiler house, the existing house, and the barn. And those are all like right now support spaces for things that are on the site. So, all the money that's coming into the greenhouse is trying to preserve and maintain all of those things. It's really, really difficult. So, currently on the site, um there is Michigan NC natives. It's, you know, since since Rachel took it over, these are things that have happened. Michigan NC natives has joined the site and pays lease to the property. Tilly's Flower Farm has joined and pays lease to the property. And Cosmos Market, which is a market that is in the um porch of the house, pays lease to the property. Again, as Rachel can attest, that's just not quite enough to support all these things and the preservation that's that needs to happen. And so what what needs to happen is, and

this is part of our development, our site plan is that right now the house is completely empty. Again, the barn is, you know, supporting the space in the property. The boiler house is greenhouse support and houses an old boiler that's close to 100 years old that doesn't work in the basement and takes up, you know, 250 ft. There's another boiler there that um, you know, is getting old and it needs replaced and is in a spot that is kind of prohibiting extra space from being used. So, what we really need is for those spaces to support the greenhouse instead of be supported by the greenhouse. And so some just like basic numbers just to kind of like show you what that might look like. There's about 9,000 square ft of space in the blue buildings that you see or sorry not the blue buildings but um the blue buildings and this barn. There's about 9,000 ft of space. And so the the average um rent lease pricing for retail, office, restaurant in this area of Michigan averages between $16 per square foot on the super low end to $26,000 per square foot per year on the higher end. And so if we get 9,000 square ft actually utilized, that's $144,000 per year that we are bringing into the site that's helping to support these things. And for reference, a greenhouse retail lease per year. So, you know, that that averages about $3 to $4 per square foot per year. So at a 10,000t greenhouse for leasing that out, you know, that's going to bring in about $35,000. So just by utilizing the things that are currently on the site right now, it's almost four times the revenue that's currently coming into the site just by using those key things.

And so that's when we say, you know, our our first phase is to really develop the the initial um you know, phase one and the things that we have on our site currently. That's the plan. And so then the second the north half of the site comes after that and you know that also helps support you know the park that we're also trying to do. Um so just as a as a quick diagram to describe that um there's a farm stop that we are looking at. So, I I back I went too quickly over this, but the barn and this restroom um building, we are looking at making this the farm shop that we kind of talked about last time. Um right now on the initial plan, just cuz we have not changed it, it's right here, but the idea is to like utilize that within the open barn space that's here and then include a restroom space in there. So, I'm going to turn it over to Kristen to talk about this. her and Rachel both did a workshop um you know that talks about this model.

Yeah. So this farm stop model again a creative way to bring a revenue source something that would attract residents to Plymouth Township um and to um sustain the property is um based off of the Argus Farmtop in Ann Arbor. There was some buzz over the summer where the New York Times actually did a big piece on the farmtop model. um essentially a farmers market with grocery store amenities. So we have the refrigeration, the sprayers, everything that keeps the produce sustained um so that you can shop there every day of the week outside of just you know limited hours in one season. Um the uh all of the data here is pulled from the Argus model but has been wellstied um especially with the University of Michigan right there. They have a pretty good um pipeline of students always looking at different elements of the impact of this model. So, it's built on a consignment model that's hugely advantageous to farmers. Farmers get 70% of their product sales in this model. Um, by contrast, for a farmer selling to a grocery store chain, they're getting 15 cents to every dollar. So, a huge economic impact for our farmers. Um, the model also incorporates a cafe. 100% of the proceeds, oops, proceeds there stay with the farm stop. And for Argus, that's twothirds of the revenue. So, um, this is great for local farmers. It's great for the economy. Um, Plymouth Township residents would be excited about this. Um, all of Sorry, the

Sorry.

Um, knowing that most of the produce that's uh for sale there is sourced within 50 miles of the site. Um, with very few exceptions, all of those products are from the state of Michigan. Um, uh, so these are again data points from Argus. Um, looking at seven years of data, they paid out over 10 million to local farms and food producers. Um, and that's increased the actual number of farms that are able to source the the product um, direct to consumer. Um, that the 75 top 75 producer sales range from 10,000 to 160,000 each. Um they really highlighted how that difference in a farmer's income could change their uh functioning. So they could expand growing operations over winter months through different technologies and green houses. Um and you can kind of follow the economic impact through there. It's it's good for everyone. Um and right now in particular local food is in a period of discovery. um you see more online businesses, crop share, um produce box businesses that are very commonly, you know, in demand um and Argus in the New York Times article really highlighted that communities that already have existing farmers markets, your initial thought as well, does it compete? Um the residents who frequent the farmers market would be very excited to have this resource available with expanded hours, um expanded days of the week, year round. Um, and they talked about how many of their farmers would drop off produce at the local farmers market and with the same truck go on to the farm stop. So, there's there's plenty of supply to go around and it gives them another avenue to to market direct to consumer. Um, this is looking again at additional expanded revenue streams. This is the existing boiler house. So, we have a 10 thou or sorry, the existing greenhouse. So, we have 10,000 square feet here. Um, and right now with the layout of the

boiler pipes, um, we can have an event space that hosts about 40 people max. So, looking at some renovations to this existing structure, we can create 45,00 ft of flexible use space. So, this could be workshops by tenants on the site. um thinking plant propagation, flower arranging, different, you know, um workshops that could be hosted, seminars unrelated even to the to the businesses already there. Um events that could be rented, fundraising dinners for not forprofits or other organizations, um showers, small concerts, um developmental play groups, which I'll get into a little more specifics of on the next couple slides, and then camps. So, play a graze was an idea born from this passion for um my professional expertise, speech language pathology um and hearing from families every day that I'm supporting that they're looking for these social networking opportunities. Um families more than ever, you know, want their kids to foster social skills and again this project would connect other families to each other within the community. Um it would also develop and foster a love of nature within those same children and families. So this would be sensory based play activities um divided by age group designed and facilitated by professionals in the field of child development. Um I love this quote looking at this model. So Dr. Karen Pervvis, she's a prominent developmental psychologist. Um, and she summarized that scientists have discovered that it takes approximately 400 repetitions to create a new synapse in the brain, unless it's done in play, in which case it only takes 10 to 20 repetitions. So, think about the impact on kids. It's awesome, right? Okay, that's my part. Um, so again going back to the goals, I we just want to keep highlighting this

that um, you know, being able to um, kind of turn around that model of the greenhouse having to support everything and flip it back around allows us to do these goals that you're seeing here. Um, and so I'm going to have Adam talk about this, but this addresses the second key challenge. Yeah. So, and here also the down is how you get to your next slide. You can go over to it.

Yeah. Most of the feedback that we've gotten uh at least in the sort of ecological standpoint is the removal of trees. So, a lot of the planning discussion was um you know people are picturing a development coming in clearing the the space making sort of a white board and then re adding in a handful of trees like a typical development. We're going to take a different approach. Uh we have heritage trees on the site. So you can see the big silver maple that's probably 300 years old. Um there are scattered what I'll say is good trees, native trees throughout the property. However, due to the use of the land over the last 100 years, uh we saw the picture earlier that was like an orchard or a farm field. There's been disturbance and in urban areas where there's disturbance, there's usually invasive species that come in. So, um, not unique to our site, but, uh, we've got honeysuckle, buckthorn, tree of heaven. Um, the typical usual suspects there. Oops, he told me down. So, I went out and did a a tree survey. I called the unofficial tree survey. Um, walking around identifying the species. I'm confident that I identified the species correctly, but when I say unofficial, you know, we'll have to do for site planning and actual work. We'll do a much more formal one. Uh we have less than 10 species on the property. A lot of those are early secession type species which move in after disturbance. So uh kind of overlaying that with the list that the township has on the website of non-plantable or invasive trees. We've got tree of heaven. No one would ever plant tree of heaven hopefully. Uh we probably have 75 to 100 of those on site. Uh white malberry which probably everyone has seen around. Um and then black cherry and box elder would be our better species. all the box elder pretty weedy and it's on the not allowed or not recommended for Plymouth Township but it's already there. Um then going so roughly 200 I would say invasive trees on site. Then going to

shrubs and small trees it's it's too many to count. It's it's in the hundreds if not thousands. A mixture of all those species. So the the entire understory pretty much are those species. Again, not super unique, but uh on the scale of 3 or 4 acres of a woodland, it's a lot of uh you know, a lot of actual trees or shrubs. So, I estimated about 85% of the vegetation on site. And again, that's key. I think a key understanding because our feedback has been removing trees, removing trees. And so, what I'm what I'm trying to show here is it's not just a quantity, it's a quality component to uh that we're going for. So, I won't I can't see these anyway, but I won't go into a ton of details. I think the key thing we really want to talk about is a key a keystone species is a native plant species that has an outside outsized impact on its local ecosystem. So a lot of times you see trees it's cover it they're producing oxygen they're see uh sequestering carbon from the air however they're not providing any beneficial uh food or um quality habitat for uh species of wildlife that lives here. So keystone species really if you think of a paro analysis they are well beyond their you know a handful of species will provide uh a massive amount a exponential amount of ecological value. So we want to add in 100 plus of those keystone trees 20,000 native plants to a 1acre meadow which is a a staggering amount. I don't I can't prove this, but I don't know of any other development that has added that many um specific high quality trees and native plants in at least in our area. Um and then 200 plus native shrubs and understory plants to kind of go go with those keystone trees. So, we will be in in essence reinventing this uh wooded space, this woodland, and

bringing it back to what it might have looked like 100 or 200 years ago before this disruption. So there's some species here. Again, this coincides pretty well with Plymouth Township's list of recommended trees. Those are keystone species. Those are ones, you know, right from actually I think it may be Plymouth's list. Um, but good quality trees regardless. And a fun fact here is those tree species based on the work of Doug Talamy who's a a scientist I believe at University of Delaware has put out a lot of research the last 10 or 15 years would support over 4,000 species of butterflies and moths. uh that which is bird food which feeds that entire food web to the in the upper left. So again, if we're saying this woodland is going to be destroyed or altered and and the animals living there will be disrupted, we will more than offset that probably exponentially uh by adding in quality species like we have here. Is that a bear up in the lab?

If we get a bear or a fox, we might get But if we get a bear, that'd be pretty impressive. But, uh, yeah. Yeah. Basically, it's showing plants. You know, if you have oaks, you have acorns, you have squirrels, you have hawks. We've all had middle school science. But, um, a lot of this is just lost in our day-to-day world. So, so again, just those numbers and big enough that everyone could read. 100 plus keystone trees. If it were up to me, I would plant a thousand. Like I I just want to plant as many as I possibly can. The native plants. This part for me is a really really big uh motivation and uh passion I guess of mine to to restore this property.

I'm just curious, what is the name of your business? What does that mean? Uh Michigan is the Latin name for Michigan. So like plants are often referred to as by their Latin name. So, oh, uh, the Michigan Lily is Lily and Michigan NC. That was kind of the inspiration. Well, I study Latin and it didn't make the connection. Well, Oops. It's weird because Latin obviously originated well before Michigan. So, it's like you had to invent the word or put the suffix on to Michigan, but

yeah. Uh then this one I think is probably more prevalent in at least in the news or in people's minds is I would imagine everyone's heard of the uh spotted lantern fly which is has done a huge had a huge impact in Ohio, Pennsylvania. It's creeping our way. There's been sightings already in Michigan or you know it's definitely here. Its host species happens to be the tree of heaven which we have quite a few of. Um MSU has estimated potential future losses 1 and a half to 8.8 million in the first few years. I've seen numbers as high as the tens or hundreds of millions potentially to the wine industry in the state. Uh so these things come in by the by the droves and uh come for the tree of heaven. So he

killed all of our tree of heaven on this township property in the last two weeks.

Okay. Good job. Um, so yeah, tree heaven, buckthorn, honeysuckle are also aliopathic, which I mentioned at the planning meeting. Uh, but they basically release chemicals to kill other species of plants and vegetation near them. So they'll over time will just take over and become the only thing there, which we kind of already see in our our woodland there. Another angle I think uh Canton Township has had some uh attention a little bit with rat infestation. And this is another thing that I think is a misconception. When you plant a meadow or you plant native plants, people think, "Oh, rats are going to come in here and they're going to hide in there." And it's counterintuitive because actually you're bringing in so much more of the ecosystem. We're going to bring hawks, raptors, uh predators are going to be encouraged to come to these sites uh or to our site. And that balance will if if there even were rats here that would uh you know sort of balance things out. So I just wanted to address that and the study that I cited the lack the lack of ecological diversity in urban areas is what often contributes to rats. So we eliminate this habitat. Uh predators leave. We fill it in with restaurants and dumpsters and trash and you know rats are rats like to live where people are. So um just a misnomer I want to address there.

And can I confirm that? I don't mean to take up time, but we we where I live, there's a farm um or used to be farmer Jay's pumpkin field. It's similar 6 to 7 acres, and it's been um overgrown now for the last year because we're waiting for this Plymouth Farms development to come in. Meanwhile, you know, the plants are like this tall. And when I go out and garden, I consistently feel like I'm hearing seagulls. And turns out I actually looked up and they're hawks. And I'd never heard them before, never seen them before. But to your point, I think they're finding stuff. There's some some new ecological pattern happening in my backyard apparently. Absolutely. So

a high pitch kind of screech. Yeah. It sounded like I was at the beach. It's a Cooper hawk or a sparrow hog. Yeah. Mhm. Cooper hawk or sparrow hog. How are you going to do all this on such a small parcel? because most of the parcel is taken up by buildings and parking and that's only I know we're about to get 19 homes in my backyard on six acres.

I think um well I think one thing and Kyle can jump in if he wants but I think the the rendering is a little bit uh deceptive in the sense that the buildings are more prominent there so you can see them. So if you were to put these trees into that you would kind of block the view of it. Um, but really a forest for 100 trees, 200 trees, and Carrie can jump in. She's in the forestry division of the DNR. 100 trees will fit in a half an acre and naturally occurring. So, you know, us having even spaces are on this diagram. I think like 60 or so.

See if I can get back. So there we've got above four in the bottom right. Okay. 221 like 200 around 200 I think scattered across. You're going to have you're going to have an entrance off of uh off of Lily and one off of uh off of Joy. Right. Joy. Correct. Yeah. And did that change from the last presentation or is this the same? No, it's the same. Same. So, what what is uh the talk about an amphitheater? What? I'm sorry. What? An amphitheater? You're asking what was Was there talk about an amphitheater? Yeah, it it I think I don't think

it was mentioned in the rock that you were going to put in a 3600 foot amphitheater. I think it's in the did not come from us. No, but but there is up to in in the um Yeah, and that's where I saw it as well. It's 3600 of covered pavilion for events for schools, libraries. It it would go in the meadow and that I think on the next slide that you had. We were just going to talk about the actual park aspect of the that center of the site. It's a pavilion. It's not an uh it's not an amphitheater. Is it tiered seating or you don't know yet? No, I mean amphitheater was not a word that I don't think I don't think any of us have used, but

John John, what do you need? What? I'd like to make a comment. Oh, all right. I've listened to all of my colleagues. So, are you done? Well, hold on. Is your question answered? No. Bob, I'm not sure. Do you don't have plans for an amphitheater? I mean, I So, I say that one more time. Um, we we don't we don't have plans specifically for an amphitheater. You know, I think I wonder if maybe that was taken from comments we've made about, you know, having event spaces or having, you know, park space for music or gathering spaces, but we have not designed an amphitheater or I don't talked about an amphitheater. Do you would you like an amphitheater?

No. Okay, got it. It won't be Pi Knob for the west side. Well, that's what uh well, the article that was in the rock yesterday uh um said you were including a 3600 square foot amphitheater, so they he got it wrong. Okay. It it didn't have Adam in it either. So, they got a few things wrong. Okay. All right. John, go ahead.

Okay. I have spent about 11 hours reading, researching, and walking the grounds for two hours. Um, Katherine Gotchall English set up an appointment with me, with Rachel, and with Kyle, and I walked the grounds. I even walked into the barn where the right Reverend Father Charles Kermy will preside over weddings. Um, but let's go to the legal heart issue. Kevin briefed us on this, and I don't like to have people repeat things to me because I was taught, you know, a word to the wise is sufficient. But the conclusion of his three-page memo is that a POD sh may approval may be revoked by the township in any case where the conditions of such approval have not been or not be complied. I'm excited about this project. I'm voting yes for it and in a few minutes I'll be glad to offer a positive motion for saying I'm surprised you haven't recruited the DDAS who know Ann Arbor who know Mati Gardens and who know Grand Rapids. Um and speaking of that I mentioned to you the Nellis Farm. Christian has asked me to recruit you to drive over to Holland, Michigan to see a development that is probably about 20 times larger than this at the Nellis Farms of of Holland. Now, let's talk about criteria. A very nice person, very bright lady asked me to read a 159 page book and my wife sat down and said, "You're going to read it." Okay. Written by an MBA. The criteria for a development like this are you're going to be attracting

business. You're going to engage youth. You're not going to deceive yourself. You're going to provide a shopping area. You're going to paint. You're going to cooperate with the community. You're going to be living into the future by acknowledging the past. You're going to include seniors. And you're you're going to do some new and innovative things. You're going to break out of your shell of the complacency of this community. And finally, you're going to accept responsibility for enhancing our quality of life with this development. You are moving the entrance as you indicated to me on the board. I'm used to boards as a lawyer, you know, and and I wish you would have brought that board here tonight.

It's all right. It's right here. But I this I'm excited. All right. Um, you guys are done with what you have to say or you have something to wrap up. I'm glad to offer if you would like me to read. We can wait a minute. public is we can be take two minutes and just summarize and then

yeah I think I think the I mean the last piece of what Adam was going to get to was just that like obviously he's extremely knowledgeable about the plant nature ecology side of this but also the park is you know we're providing a park to the public with private money that's that's the goal and um you know it's a place where people can come the plays with grays will, you know, have things there. People can come lay out a picnic blanket. Um, you know, bring their family. People can sit there, read a book, um, walk around, exercise, etc. Um, it doesn't I mean, an acre and a half or acre and a quarter is that dotted line there. So, there's going to be pathways throughout the whole rest of the site. Um, you know, that's that's the goal. So, it's going to be more than an acre and a quarter of technically park land. Um, and I I guess the very last thing that I just want to say is like, you know, this business has existed for, you know, hundred years. And by no fault of its own, there was a non-conforming zoning overlay put over the top of it. And, um, you know, at least 10 years ago, this is just from the 2015 um, you know, master plan. And then also in the like similar master plan documents, I don't know why this isn't working. Maybe I got cut off for time here. Um, but there was that quote that I I showed last time about how preservation was very very important to Plymouth Township. Um, and the only option that we really have is Oh, boy. Yeah, I'm shut up for time. The only option we really have is is a PUD that, you know, when we first sat down with Laura and we said, "This is what we want to do to try and, you know, make this site work and to create, you know, preservation." um a PUD is the only option that we have due to the

restrictiveness um of the zoning laws that we have. And so um you know, we've done everything within our power to try and show that we have a ton of public support um both within the township and outside of the township. Um and we're just hopeful for your support.

All right. IL. Um, do we have any questions from the board now other than what we've had? Otherwise, we will go to comments from the public. Well, I just wanted to emphasize what Laura said that that the the PUD, I think it was alluded to at the last meeting in regards to this is that it's some type of loophole that we've gotten entangled with in the township and gotten in trouble with in in other uh developments, but it's just it's just not the case. Um, and there's no special privileges being, you know, granted here. And I would point my colleagues to pages three uh and four of the findings of fact. And I mean it's just inarguable uh that the development would otherwise um not be achieved without the put option um and that it's following everything that we have uh in our guidelines for it. So to to not approve it, you you have to have a very substantial reason, not just emotion, not just because you don't like the project or

so. Uh I'd like to go to the um conditions if we could. Uh what page? Uh I'm trying to find it. We're we're working on two hours, right? We're We'll take a break. Thank you. At 8 Wait a minute. At 8:30. We'll wait till we finish this. Okay. Five more minutes. 145. Pardon? It's page 145. B 145.

Yeah, you got it. Um, number five, for events held on the property of over 150 people, a parking and shuttle plan will be coordinated with the township to mitigate cars parking and surrounding business through neighborhoods. We don't want to do that. We don't The township doesn't want to take responsibility for figuring out how to solve a parking issue. No. How was that uh mitigated at the live golf event with shuttling? Was that private?

Yeah, that that was all private and they paid for the police coverage or if like a church asked for uh police to, you know, do traffic, you know, they'll pay for that. Yeah. We don't we don't want to we don't want to have any part of being responsible for a parking plan for an special event they're having. Anything else, Bob? No, that's my only objection right now. I I have I have one legal question. Go ahead. Did you

Well, I just I read the free press this morning. Um and it all looked very good, but at the what they said was uh they need to generate revenue. Okay. I still I've been reading this now for a couple hours. I still don't understand how we're going to gen generate revenue, right? I mean, the they said, "Well, maybe you could have a coffee shop, maybe you can have a a a department store, maybe a restaurant,

maybe some event for a wedding, maybe a few cottages." You've got all over the map, and I still don't know specifically what you're talking about, how to generate the revenue. So phase one is getting tenants in those existing spaces that can generate revenue. So they're paying rent or they're assets of businesses that are already there. Just diversifying how they're already making money. Then the other ideas that you're talking about, the more commercial spaces, that's like a second phase, the north half of the site. So they showed there would be near $180,000 in re revenue from the greenhouse and the the barn

stop tenants on site. Yeah. And that's and that's you know again the north half is a mixed use and the you know what we tried to outline from a plan was to give us a little bit of flexibility but we feel very confident that we can generate that and and be able to stabilize the site and pay for the things that need to be preserved and stabilized on the south half of the site with the numbers that we just showed you. And I don't I I would bet there's not many people that come up here and show you numbers to validate like the amount of um things that they're putting on the line. And so I think that um I don't know. I just feel very confident in that. So that's it.

Well, I I just want to say also I mean you you kind of are saying it's all over the place mentioning lots of different kinds of uses and that that's exactly intentional. is it is a mixeduse plan. So it's meant to incorporate multiple uses from residential to commercial to agricultural and otherwise we would be you know applying for a zoning requirement that was a single use but the point of the PUD is to make a mixeduse work. Go ahead, Jerry. Is um just across the street we denied a PUD um about the same size. Spars greenhouse. Almost exactly the same size.

Almost exactly the same size. Are we getting in a situation here if we approve this that we're opening up the door for some other I' I've asked MMRMA which has handled that case and they say it's an in it's each property stands on its own I understand they don't anticipate a rub off that was a completely different proposal I understand so maybe a PUD though Maybe. Yeah, it was a PUD and and it's on it's being appealed. Yeah.

Uh so it'll be another year or two before we know the answer. Uh do you want to weigh in Kevin on this at all? What I would add is that a property owner does not have a constitutional right understand to a reszoning or to a PUD. Yeah. And I want to leave it at that. Okay. because of the ongoing litigation. Yeah. Yeah. I just Well, we found that the this situation was not a community benefit, but Well, we haven't voted on this yet, but we we don't want to talk about it cuz it's pending litigation. No, I agree. I'm just

So, you're going to have a you're going to have a market there to sell stuff to sell fruit and foods and stuff like that. I mean, just right down the street, you have Schmidz. Schmidtz. Yeah. Which does the same kind of It's only open six months of the year. Yeah. But I know that. But is your plan? It's on Joy Road. 365 7 days a week. Yeah. So I I would encourage you to stop by um Argus in Ann Arbor or Agricola in Chelsea. They're both uh the farm. Okay. So they're both farmtop models. So they're they're grocery store hours. They're 7 days a week. They're not seasonal. They have a radically different pricing approach than Schmidz. Schmidz is more of a traditional grocery approach.

Yeah. Um the whole purpose I mean the um Argus is a I think it's a it's like a L3C or something like that. It's a limited profit business. Um an LCC, right? So So they're they're a missionbased you know or uh grocery. Their purpose is to empower farmers and to create sustainability with our agricultural system and that's why they do rely heavily on their cafe component. So that's why we keep mentioning the big coffee shop term. Um but that you know coffee shop baked goods those those are a big part of how they support themselves with their revenue. And of course there's the farmers market in downtown PL.

Well and I would also say I mean Ann Arbor has a very robust farmers market that's not threatened at all by Argus. I'm just just talking. Yeah. No, no, no. And I'm just I'm just responding. I'm really just responding that um you see a gas station on every corner. You know, there's a reason they do that. More places with more groceries and more options. Do you end up benefiting everybody? Well, I would like to have a some groceries on this side of the township. I would too. We thought we were going to have one. But Well, but so this locally sourced, you're going to have locally sourced places providing you stuff year round. Correct. as opposed to big big farms. Correct. So, you're probably not going to get a lot of pineapples, you know, you just won't No, no. I

So, I mean that but that's what I'm saying. There's more seasonality, but yes, the commitment is to local sourcing. In the case of Argus of Ann Arbor, it's within 50 miles. I'm not sure what what our version of that would be, but it but it's some kind of local sourcing. Okay. Okay. Okay. You can generate revenue from a gift shop, from a farmers market where you have a small grocery store. You can generate a lot of money from flowers, tulips. This is Nellis Farms. It is not Meyer Garden with an amphitheater. For God's sakes, I'd love this to be a focal point of Southeast Michigan. Okay. What's your pleasure? You want to take We'll take a take a break and then come back

for the public. The public then can speak. Yes. Prepare your talks very succinctly. It's 8:30. So, we'll go away for 5 minutes. So at 8 uh 40 we'll be back here.

We ready? So, anybody that wants to speak, come forward. Be civil. Uh, be succinct and short. Um, so some be respectful of other people's time. Try not to repeat more than you have to. Um because other people may have said it already. Just use your use good judgment.

All right. Good evening. My name is Carrie Gray. I'm no relation to the grays of Grey's Greenhouse, but I've been a Plymouth Township resident, voter, taxpayer, and homeowner for the last 16 years. Um I also own Till's Flower Farm, as you all know. Um and I'm a tenant at Grace Greenhouse. This year was my first year growing at Grace, having begun the site prep last fall. Until now, I could only grow flowers in my home garden. So, having access to the space at Grace has been a game changer for my business. So, it has allowed me to quadruple my growing space, which has helped me increase my sales. And it's also given me the ability to provide my flowers weekly to local stores and florists. And this is just the beginning. I really anticipate being able to grow um and in increasing my flower production over the years ahead. So that means more dollars are staying in our community and it also means more support for other small businesses. There's simply no other place in Plymouth Township where I could access the space, resources, and horicultural community I get with Rachel and Adam um than Grace provides. So at the last meeting there was discussion by the board of trustees and I think a little bit tonight about whether this project is economically viable. But no one asks if it's economically viable to add another pharmacy or another car wash or storage facility when there are already many of those in the community. Yet, those who've been approved over the years, and this project deserves the same opportunity to prove itself. This isn't a developer looking to maximize a site. As we know, it's a small business owner working alongside other small business owners to activate and preserve a historic community treasure. The plan ensures the greenhouse can remain economically viable. a destination that attracts visitors and benefits the township. Losing this property to a residential development would not just harm Grace, but also other small businesses like mine and Adams that rely on this site and plan to continue growing here if this proposal is approved. The plan being proposed is

thoughtful and phased, preserving and rehabilitating the greenhouse first, then carefully expanding in ways that strengthen the property and the community. It also has strong support from nearby residents and other Plymouth Township residents who recognize the value this property and project brings to our community. The proposal reflects the uniqueness of Plymouth Township. People often visit the city of Plymouth, but this project could help draw people into the township, boosting our tax base, strengthening our small business community, ensuring our township residence continues to be a vibrant, attractive place for people of all ages to live. So, I strongly encourage you to approve the resoning and PUB overlay. Thank you. [Music]

So, we can put the sign in out there to speed it up and make it sign up. Yeah. That way they can be pre-signed.

There we go. My name is John Boris and I'm a Plymouth Township resident, taxpayer, and voter. And I'm here again tonight to support the proposed conditional reasonzoning and preservation of the historic gray greenhouse property. At the last meeting, I heard main three main concerns raised about the request. One, the theoretical risk of a future rogue developer acquiring the property. two, one trustee stated opposition to PUDS based on past constituents feedback and three, some apparent confusion about the potential number of structures in the proposed concept plan. I'd like to briefly share my thoughts on those concerns. On the first concern, this request is for conditional resoning with many voluntarily offered conditions which must be met to secure final approval of the site plan. Any future owner would be bound by them. The risk of a bad actor exists with every resoning request. If that risk alone is grounds for rejection, then all resonings would have to be denied, which is unreasonable and I believe illegal. On the second, community feedback on prior PUDS cannot prejudice this proposal. In fact, over 80% of the feedback to the planning commission on the proposed resoning was in support. And the residents in attendance at the last meeting, including those living in close proximity to the property, overwhelmingly voiced their support of the petitioner's plan, and they suffered through a very long agenda in order to make to do so. Every ressonzoning request must be evaluated and approved or denied based on its own merits as well as relevant

community feedback on the request, not biases on past experiences. Finally, as to the third, at the last meeting during the presentation of their concept plan, the petitioners referenced multiple potential uses for the same structures, not multiple structures for each potential use. For example, the greenhouse could serve as a growing space, event venue, workshop venue, or community gathering space, all within the same structure. Hopefully after further review of the concept plan this misunderstanding has been resolved. So in closing at the last meeting I also heard unanimous praise from the trustees of the concept envisioned by the by the graze greenhouse and in preservation of this this historic site including those trustees who stated that they were still not going to vote to approve the request which was somewhat confusing to me. I respectfully urge the board to put aside any personal biases as the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act requires and approved this thoughtful community focused proposal based on its merits and the planning commission's recommendation and demonstrated community support. Thank you for your time.

Excellent. Thank you.

Good evening. I'm Rick McCoy. I've been a lifelong educator in the Plymouth Canton schools. Taught in Plymouth schools for 40 years and I've been a a supporter of Gray's Greenhouse for 25 years. Um I just want to say if you're talking about books, there's another great book, Last Child in the Woods, and if you haven't read that, you ought to read that one. Um the at a time in in our existence where we have lost so many natural areas around here to the sprawling developments to developments of of of uh you know subdivisions and other things. This is a very refreshing kind of a thing. Any plan that's going to preserve and actually enhance natural areas in our area sounds fantastic to me. Um, as an educator, I am a and I'm also a tree hugger, admittedly. And I've I've spent years in the district putting kids on buses and taking them out to like Howell Nature Center, taking them outside of the district to places where to Mati Gardens where we could get them exposure to outdoor areas and to outdoor learning. This would be a fantastic thing for this community to have a a site like this for outdoor learning and education right here in our own community. Um, and finally, because I'm going to make this quick. Finally, I know these people, they're putting this thing together. They're not philanthropists. Um, I think that they've they have several clear plans for profit when they're putting this thing together. I don't think I've ever seen anybody come before a commission that doesn't have a clear pretty clear idea how they're going to make some profit from the project they're proposing. Thanks for your attention.

Hello. Finally made it up this long meeting. Maddie Pontek again. Uh I live in Pilman Township uh kind of close to Grace. Um and before I say this, I was watching the owners. We really all would appreciate when we ask questions or just have concerns or criticism. Don't roll your eyes and get huffy. It doesn't look great when you want to bring the community in, but I was watching that. It wasn't that great. Um, I really like Graves and the historic part of Graves. Uh, I'd always go out and visit like Isabella or Jessica or Alice. Uh, got my plants there, all my tomatoes this year. I like the historic aspect of what I think some of the dirt floor is still there, but it is kind of funny. Um, I mean it would be interesting to know. I mean, I know it's like in litigation, but like could it change as far as litigation at all if the courts decide they can have, you know, they should have been approved if you approve this? Just a just a thought, but it doesn't seem like a super concrete plan. Um, even the presentation it was, I know it's community based, but there's not like this is what we're gonna do. You mentioned a bodega, which by the way, we don't have here. That's a regional term if you're not from Michigan. Um, but you don't have that here. Wellness spa, uh, distillery, brewery, tap room, hardware store. There's so much listed. It's just like I don't know. It seems like very rushed. Maybe if you came with more the I know the community wants to save the graves part, but we might be in more in support of the rest of it. So, it's nothing against that I don't like graves or anything. It's just it's very rushed. Even the presentation. Also, as a side note for the rat thing, I live right off I think live near Hines. I have hawks and owls in my

neighborhood. Plymouth still has a rat problem. It's just how it is when you live uh in neighborhoods. So that's just my my little piece. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Jeff Brady. I am a resident of Plymouth Township and uh I have done a little bit of reading and research on this project and I want to say I'm in 100% full support of this vision. I think it would be a a tremendous asset to the Plymouth community. Um, I'm grew up in Ann Arbor and so I'm familiar with Argus uh Farm Shop. It's a phenomenal model and a a wonderful business there in Ann Arbor. if they can do anything even close to that and I think it could be better even because of the additional acreage, the educational factor, the nature preserve, um the community events that will help with um just all sorts of, you know, connection to nature and connection to community, connection to learning. This is all really, really good for our community and I am in full support of this initiative and I hope the board can uh see the vision. Thank you.

Good evening. Trustees and supervisor Maryanne McLaren, almost 30-year resident of Plymouth Township. I will not repeat what the other speakers have said. uh especially the first two three speakers said an awful lot of what you what is true and what I believe too. What I will say though is you're going to preserve something historic. You're going to create something sustainable. The community is looking for more parks. Here's an opportunity for more green space. Also, as just a kind of reminder, when Central Middle School wanted to be turned into park, the millillage failed. And yet look at the success that has turned into through the years of them doing this privately funded. And I think Grace can do the same thing. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Janet Brady and I'm a Plymouth Township resident. And again, I'm not going to repeat what everybody said who's in support because um I would really love and welcome the opportunity to see what can be done at that property. I've um shopped at Grace. I've attended small workshops and anytime I've gone, I've brought friends from outside the area and they ultimately end up staying in the area and supporting other businesses at the same time that they're there. So, I just wanted to say I thank you and I appreciate the opportunity to voice my support.

Hello, Wendy Harless. Um, I'm here representing my family's home and property at 8959 North Lily Road, which is right across the street from this property. Um, I'm also the chairperson of our historic district commission here in Plymouth Township. Um, I want to say that I am in support of this proposal. Um, if you talk to Rachel, the other proposals that she has gotten when she put up the for sale sign are developers and they would demolish everything, every tree, every bit of historic building. We would lose all of that and it would be condos and it is zoned multifamily. So, if that happens, that's what's going to go in there. There's no legal way to stop that. It would be condos and they would have every right to put condos in there. So, I want us to think about what do we want there? What do we as a community want to see? And I, for one, want to see a a park-like space because we don't have that on the southern side of the township yet. And community building like let's keep building on all the great things that we already have going there at Grace. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Elaine Dier and I'm a 51year resident of Plymouth Township, which is a little scary. Um, I was initially in support of this plan when I first heard about it, but even more so in support after this evening's presentation. Uh, the last time I watched this board meeting on Zoom and so we didn't have great visuals uh available to us by that. Um, through all the years I've been a regular customer of Mrs. Graze. I'm a gardener and a pruner. Used to be and used to really really enjoy doing much more than I can now. This proposal reflects a very

creative evolution of this property rather than just a mass dense housing uh development. As was mentioned, this will maintain a very, very unique nursery and improve uses and especially improve all of our access to flora, unique flora and fauna, uh, which I hope people realize is very, very special to grays. It's not just an ordinary seasonal uh, location and it's been very very precious in this in this community. um it offers a very very much better uh adaptation of this property rather than a dense housing development which is horrifying. This is especially important in terms of its location which has high traffic volume and even with the move of the access I can't imagine dense housing and children on bicycles in and out of that uh they would be trapped within that area with no ability to get to a broader neighborhood. So it is not suited for dense housing at all. um if Grace Greenhouse ceases to exist, it will be a huge loss for all of us. Um and for the entire region and I think this idea of a year-round farmers market, the Argus model, um I'm a longtime person in with the University of Michigan, I'm very very familiar with that. Um as well as the uniqueness of the plant materials that are offered uh make this a tremendous asset for the community and I really urge this board to approve this proposal. Thank you.

I I professional moment. Were you not curator director of the Gerald Ford? Would you like to brag a little bit? Right. I'm the uh I was for 16 years till I retired was the director of the Gerald Ford Presidential Library and Museum. The library is in Ann Arbor. The museum is in Grand Rapids. And before that, I was with the University of Michigan and also Oakland University driving across town from Plymouth. So, um, yes, I understand I understand the the the cultural environments on both sides of the state. Yes, sir. Thank you,

June Cure Cutter. I'm a resident of the township and I visited Greenfield Village a few weeks ago and was surprised to see a building there from Plymouth, Michigan. The Plymouth carting mill was taken from the township. It was at one point somewhere along the Middle Rouge River and transplanted to the village. I would hate for our children and grandchildren to only experience the history of our township's commercial buildings by going to Dearbornne. Tonight, we you have an opportunity to preserve some of our community's history right here, right now. I'm referring to Grace Greenhouse and the adjacent um buildings. It's not every day or every term that our township board has an opportunity to make a legacy decision. Some decisions made by our township boards in the past have le left legacy of another kind. For example, Meyers that has a 20-year tax-free gift incentives granted that they don't have to pay to our township. I'd like to think the board will make more positive legacy decisions. The team behind Graze is seeking a PUD to help preserve the 100 plus year old barn and greenhouse. The PUD granted to St. John's helped to preserve that historic gem. We have only a few other historic commercial buildings left in our community. Burroughs is an example, but too many others have been demolished like the old courthouse on Plymouth Road. Even the silos that had remained for several years at the old Tohoko site have now been removed. I urge you to think about the legacy that you are leaving in our community while you're on this board. Do you really want to be the people who brought about the loss of one of the oldest commercial structures in our community?

Or is your legacy to preserve the wonderful nuggets of history and community at Grace? I look at the granting of a zoning change as a quidd proquo. the community gives up something in exchange for gaining something. In the case of Grace, the community gives up the potential of 27 residential units jammed into six acres across from an airport. But we get in exchange by granting a PUD is, I think, more valuable and deserving and desirable of our residents public green space at no expense to the public and taxpayers. and an amazing concept for our residents to enjoy for years to come. So before you cast your vote tonight, please think about the legacy you want to leave. And remember, a yes vote comes with a bonus, historic preservation and green space for the public to enjoy without anyone having to take a trip to Greenfield Village. Hello, my name is Cindy Hogensson. I am not a resident of Plymouth. I am a resident of Canton. I've lived there for 38 years. For 38 years, I have shopped at Grace Greenhouse. It's my go-to place, my favorite place in this area. The group that has put together this presentation is looking to the future, not to the past. They want to keep what is here so that we have it for the future. kids that are growing up now who will find the joy of gardening. And if we don't do something about that, we're going to all be in trouble. The bee colonies are all dying. They need the native plants that these guys are proposing to stay here so that we can support them. So, I 100% back their

proposal to put a PUD here and allow them to progress. Thank you. I'm Dale Burnernhard. This is an important corner. It's a gateway into our township. We really want to get this thing right. As we know, PUDS have eight objectives. To be approved, you have to meet all eight. One of them is traffic. If we look at the site plan rendering that was put up on the screen, if all those buildings come to fruition, we're going to have a traffic problem. There's no doubt about it. So, I asked the board, how can we approve this without having some sort of traffic study? We have no idea. That's important, you know, to all the residents. traffic. Now, don't get me wrong, I like what you guys are trying to do. I I would like to see a really great development on the corner. I'm I'm I'm not trying to say that your plan is bad. I'm saying that there is problems with traffic. And the other question I have, couple weeks ago, we had a uh young couple come in and they reszoned, they asked for reszoning of their property from residential to agricultural. And the question was asked tax implications, property tax implications. So I'm asking the same question here. What is the property tax implication? Especially since we went through the budget right now tonight. So I'm wondering what happens to property taxes going from residential R2 to what is this mixed use or OS? I I don't even

know what what it is. But um so that would be one of my questions. Thank you. Thank you. Uh commercial properties pay 18 mills more than residential, right? So that's about well I don't know percentage wise most people pay six mills for school tax but they pay that on they pay that now just because it's zon resial. property value will I assume they're going to add value. So, the taxable value will increase hopefully, not decrease.

Um but it it isn't it isn't based on the zoning. It's based on the use on use because if they put um residential in there, well, if they put well, if they put um new residential, you're going to get the new value of it. And then if they put uh uh some sort of income property there that gets 18 mills also. Yeah. The right currently they're paying commercial. Yes, we are. Yeah. All right. Any more? Otherwise, we're ready. The board have any other questions? Otherwise, we're ready for a motion.

I would like to um ask one more question. in these conditions. Um, if the conditions I would like to have the number five stricken out of here because it tends to imply that the township would be obligated to um solve a parking plan issue when they're having an event. And we have lots of places in the township that have events and we don't we don't solve their parking issues. So, can we have a an opinion from the attorney? Yeah, I don't think we can do that. The conditions have to be unilaterally imposed by the applicant.

What does that mean? That means for a conditional reasonzoning, all of the conditions have to be given by the applicant alone, not with any input from the township. The township can't request any specific conditions. Right. That's a that's a problem.

Well, I would um I mean I would just say like we can change it because I don't think that's the that's what we were trying to imply. I think we were just trying to imply that if we do have something that, you know, has over 150 people that we would make sure that cars are not being parked in neighborhoods and and that was also something I think Laura and I had talked about in a meeting um that just with other properties that have had larger events that that's something that they have offered and um that's kind of the reason for being there.

What would be the example of that? Um a similar example would be um the Phoenix Mill redevelopment, adaptive reuse. The what one? Phoenix Mill, the old Ford plant. Okay. Um they uh proposed to uh coordinate with the township for shared parking agreements with adjacent or nearby hotels um for larger events. So the township wasn't responsible for coordinating that. It was just the onus was on the applicant, the developer to provide information to the township on how that shared parking would be coordinated should they have larger events. Okay. As long as we're clear about that, we're not uh we're not uh

facilitator facilitator. And and I think I think the thing is that that way I don't come up here as a resident and say, "Hey, why didn't why are people parking in my right thing?" But um if you have an event with more than 150 people, you know that's going to be a lot of people and a lot of cars and you're going to have to figure out where to put them. You can't come to the township and ask us for help with a parking plan. I think how it reads Bob's picking up that somehow we're helping shuttle people. Yeah. As a township, but it sounds like your intention is something different.

Correct. And I would unilaterally um change that or we you know we could change that on our own accord to a little more. It has to be a Can he cross it off? No, this doesn't have a good smell to it. He's he's offering to change that after a board member has has uh asked that it be changed, which helpful that he just clarifies the intent. All right. the shuttle and also the conditions have to be in writing. So that change would have to be done. Now most I was I was just saying like we could clarify the intent of it not change it.

I don't think that the applicant can require the township to do anything anyway. I think I've got it though. So this is lowercase township. This is the area not the legal entity uppercase township. So that trust you should have been an English teacher. Uh, you didn't say witch yet. Well, my recommendation would be if you had a big event, the best place to find parking is Metatl airport. Oh, they have a very large yard. And even they even have a large parking lot and and honestly what is on site right now has over 150 parking spaces.

And we we've coordinated with him in the past. Yeah, the owner. That's property that's easily parked on. Yeah, we share park anymore. Are we ready for a motion? And go ahead. I I would just uh really like to see a traffic study. I mean, they said that if if it was desired, they would offer a light touch traffic study. So, we desire it. Yes. Yes, like number six. When they come back, if this is approved, come back for the contract. Hopefully number six will be fulfilled. Whatever light touch means.

Yeah. Well, I don't know what that means either. Uh, unfortunately, traffic studies in the Plymouth Township area now are distorted because all of the traffic load that's being diverted and redirected because of M14 and Ann Arbor Road uh, construction projects is totally mixing up the real natural traffic patterns. In fact, if you're going to do it, the best time to do it will probably be like March, early March before they restart the programs, but still distorted.

So this So there's going to have to be two resolutions here. Can they not can they not be offered seriatum? I I don't I don't care. Laura, tell us how I think do we need I think we need to vote on each separately. I think so, too. Okay. But well, you can tell. And the conditional has to go first. Pardon? the conditional resoning has to go first. So that's on page 137 and and when 138 138

138 move to adopt resolution number 2025-09-23-77 authorizing adoption of a map amendment to the zoning map of zoning ordinance number 99 to conditionally reszone the subject site at 8820 Lily Road to the OS office service district as recommended by the planning commission. Support. Okay. Um, Trusty Stewart, yes. Uh, Treasure Dorchettz, yes. Clerk Forba, yes. Trusty Buckley, yes. Trusty Clinton, no. No. Uh, Trusty Grove, no.

Supervisor Kermy, yes. Motion carries. So, is that 52? Yes. 52. All right. So now there's another motion. It's to adopt the PUD option. Move to adopt resolution number 2025-09-23-78 authorizing approval of a plan unit development PUD option for the subject site at 8820 Lily Road as recommended by the planning commission. Second. Supervisor Kermy. Yes. Trusty Groth, no. Trusty Clinton, no. Trusty Buckley, yes. Clerk Borbetta, yes. Treasure Dorchevitz,

yes. Trusty Stewart, yes. Motion carries. All right. Now, now you got to go.

Now the work begins for you. Please make us proud. All right. Uh, now we're doing an annual event that's required by state law to establish our tax rate and submit it to Wayne County by September 30th. Bob, go. This is your bag. Yeah, I'm trying to find it here. Uh, page 197.

197. Yeah, this is self-explanatory. Um, our our rate is reduced by the Let me rotate it here.

Let's see. Our headley millage reduction fra fra f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f fraction this year comes out to.9995 which means that we reduce the um each of the um five milliges by a small amount. So our total goes from 5.1276 um to 5.1248. Is there any questions? This still remains, from what I can tell, the lowest in Wayne County.

I believe it is. Sumpter is really close. Um, all right. Mr. Supervisor, I move to approve resolution number Hang on. I got to rotate it. Let me see. Resolution number 25 2025-909-23-79 what he said. So somebody needs to make a motion to

I got it. Uh I move to uh approve resolution number 2025-909-23-79 hereby approving the attached 2025 tax rate request form L 40 4029 as completed by treasurer Dorschitz with a mill rate of 5.1248 to be levied on December 1st 2025 and to authorize the township clerk and supervisor to sign the form and submit to Wayne County equal equalization division prior to September 30th, 2025 deadline. Second. Okay. Um, Trusty Stewart, yes. Supervisor Kermy,

yes. Trusty Grove, yes. Uh, Trusty Buckley, yes. Um, Treasure Dorchettz, sorry. Yes. Clerk Borba, yes. Trustee um me Clinton. Yes, Clinton. Thank you. Yes. Motion carried. Boy, that was difficult.

Now item F4, which is uh the fire consulting service that we are uh considering. Um we had a tie on September 9th, which means we did nothing or can't do anything. and the one of the um people from September 9th, Stone Productions has withdrawn their proposal and no longer wants to be considered. So, I respectfully request that you take uh or authorize the fire chief and me to uh negotiate a contract with ESCI in the amount of about $35,000 and that way they can start before the upcoming holidays and work on this in a logical fashion uh to give us some data points for future decisionmaking. We need a resolution.

Do we have a motion or or discussion? One one second. I have something I want to say. Um I noted in reading this that there will be one site visit and I just want to make that point. We will also utilize uh they'll be here when they need to be and then we'll also make sure that we have we're using Zoom or whatever if we're having meetings with them.

It it doesn't matter. I'm voting for it anyway, but I just want to make the note because there were there was a lot of question about why decisions were made in the past and that is a concern to me. I just want to make that note. It spells out in here one site visit. In other words, make sure they come at least once. No, make sure that I that they know I I don't think that's adequate and it is is a concern to me. If you want to do the job, you should be here to do it for that price necessarily true. Consultants work uh all the time, right?

But it's a question of whether you have an effective visit on the site and that depends on your preparation, you prepare properly. The auditors come out for one what two days, Jerry? They came out for last time. Yeah. And they did everything else remote and they did and that's an audit of our entire finances. And will will they be speaking with the trustees? Like are we on will we be notified? Like how does that We'll make sure that they speak with the right people. Um and who will determine the right people?

The fire chief, me and you. I mean you everybody will have input although remember they're consultants and you know they have a specific scope of work so you can't sit down and talk with them for six hours. They have a process. Uh I'm sure they have a well- definfined process. I make a motion if if we have is everybody done with their over

pursuant to your recommendation. Move that the board authorize the supervisor and fire chief to execute an agreement not to exceed 35,000 with ESCI to conduct an independent evaluation of fire and EMS EM staffing and call by and to provide recommendations for improving operational effectiveness and resource allocation. Second tied. I I get the tie. Okay. Uh, clerk Borba, yes. Trusty Stewart, yes. Supervisor Kermy, yes. Trusty Buckley, yes. Trusty Growth, yes. Trusty Clinton, yes. Treasure Davis,

yes. Motion carries. Okay, any more? Let's see. I think we're at the end of the agenda. So, we can take comments on anything. You can say anything you want as long as it's reasonably civil and not a personal attack. Well, you can do that with me, but other people I can do a personal attack. Sure. Anybody else in the audience? No. All right. Board comments. We'll start with uh Jerry Borva. Nope. Hold on, Bob Davez.

Uh, so tax uh collections um were actually down a little this year. There were more people that did not pay by the deadline than there were in the previous two years um by about 150 taxpayers. So I don't know I don't have an explanation for that. Um, we send we sent reminder letters which would have hit their mailboxes probably yesterday or today and I don't know if it's a sign of the economy or people just forgot or you know what happened but um but it but um it was it was it was significant number uh a significant number of uh delinquencies um

mostly residential. Yeah, residential. Now they pay personal was about the same as it always is. They pay pay a 3% penalty if they pay by September 30th. 1% 1%. Yeah. 1% per calendar month until Mar until February and then February 15th it's a 3% plus one. Thank you for your efforts and your your team day work. Yeah, it was pretty couple crazy days there, wasn't it? Yeah. And you got to chat a lot of people up. That takes a lot of time. Yeah. Well, you know, never losing miss an opportunity to chat up a voter. Yeah.

Uh Jennifer Buckley. Oh, sorry. If you're not ready. Yeah. Can someone go to Sandy Grove? Just very briefly, I just want to make the comment that um the entire tax bill that we all paid that was due by September 16th. Um not I want to make the note that not one penny of that money came to Plymouth Township. People complain a lot about their taxes and how high they are. None of that money came to Plymouth Township. We that's part of what we do. We collect taxes for everyone else. So, I just want to make that point. John,

I'm glad to see that the state legislature has scheduled sessions for this Friday and next Monday, which is out of the ordinary because they usually only schedule Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday to allow travel for upper peninsula legislators. So, I'm hopeful that we see a budget agreement. Uh, a shutdown serves no no one. Um, scouting of Michigan came to my law office and it is a lifetime honor and it's very humbling. There will be a fundraiser for scouting, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts. Wade Meyers in my office is a longtime scoutmaster of an e excellent troop. Seven Eagles ready to go when they should have attend a local government meeting, but they're waiting for everything to be civil. But um Scouting America will have a fundraiser on October 7th at Auburn Hills and the lowest price ticket is $300. The highest price ticket is 25,000. The guest speaker is Mr. in the end zone. David Montgomery, an Eagle Scout from the Detroit Lions, and I will be introducing him. If you want a joke, I'm 5'11 and 220 pounds, which is exactly what David Montgomery is.

I like him. Or can you run like him? Mark Clinton. I'm all set. Jennifer Buckley. Yeah, I just wanted to thank uh both uh chiefs over there for another successful 9/11 ceremony. It was very beautiful uh very memorable. Great guest speaker just so happens to be my husband. Um, and then just secondarily, I want to point out something that Dale Burnernhard

said when this new um, regime, whatever you want to new board came in, that you wanted there to be more transparency in our voting, like how we voted. And I just think in this particular instance with Grace Greenhouse, I respect my colleagues very much, so please don't feel offended, but I just think we do a disservice for the time that these people put in and the citizens to not at least give them an explanation as as to why you voted no. And I just want to make that point um with that transparency because I think most of us deliberated quite at length and so it was kind of obvious where we were going with our uh votes but it didn't seem as obvious with others and I think we've some of us have learned too from Northville Downs how important it is to just continue the conversation and talk um as to what we're doing up here, right? It's not necessarily some political motive uh behind it. So, and with that, thank you.

Okay. Yeah. Just because somebody asks questions doesn't mean they're opposed to to it. They're just asking questions. Right. Exactly. Right. I will be gone for six days beginning Monday and be highly unreachable. It's all possible, but um so hopefully things will run well while I'm gone. And when is this? I'm sorry. Uh, beginning Monday to Monday. Oh, Monday to Monday. I think we're going to revote. You can vote while I'm gone. We're going to close for 6 days.

Close for 6 days. Uh, you will see about on October 13th, we will have a herd of goats that will be mowing down the pond grasses. We're going to give this a shot. The one drawback is goats don't like standing in water. So now that it's filling up, we can't maybe do as much as we would like, but we're experimenting with the goats. Uh it's a easy environmental thing. Uh we've we've tried over the years, we've had a lot of quotes, 150 to $200,000 to clean it up. This is going to be hopefully a four or $5,000 goat job.

Like this guy that gave the whole presentation about his his innovation is right. So we're not doing that. We're going with the goats. Uh, this thing was for the township part. Talking about the backyard. That was where the where there was real water. This is just 6 in of mucky water in in the in the front. It's our detention pond. The other one was a real pond at the country park. This is a detention pond. So, we're going to try the goats. It should be somewhat interesting to see how it works. Uh, DTE is using them widely. Huntington Park is going to use them a week before on Powell Road, right across from your subdivision. Yeah. So, tell them not to eat too much.

Yeah. They they uh one thing interesting about goats is they kill the seeds they eat, whereas birds don't don't. They spread them around. So, uh so you better warn dispatch that there's going to be calls about a herd of her goats goats. Uh, are you going to say Kermy's folly? Uh, any other wild news? I don't know. I'm getting a little concerned about some of the uh progress on the Salem pipeline. I don't know. Articles in the paper, whatever. We'll see how that goes. It ain't over till it's over.

Okay. I move to adjourn. All right. All in favor? I Oh, hey.