City Council - Regular Meeting

Turn your mic. Will now come to order. Can we please stand for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Am I?

Yeah. Get my mic on here. Good evening, honorable city council members, mayor, our city attorney, our chief of staff, deputy clerk, and those who are in the audience. Um, and those who are viewing tonight's meeting via our broadcast channel and YouTube live. Welcome to the city of Brown City Council regular meeting. And today's day is Monday, May 11th, 2026. Members of the public wishing to participate in this meeting may do so under the public comment portions of the agenda. Please fill out a request to speak public comment card, which is located on the back the table there. After completing that card, hand it to the deputy clerk. At this time, we will have roll call. Councilwoman Abdu

here. Councilman Bullock here. Councilman Jones here. Councilman Rosco is so noted. Councilwoman Tally here. Councilman Wodssworth here. And Councilman Willhigh here. Madame Chair and council, we have a quorum. Thank you.

Tonight's regular council meeting reads as follows. Number one, agenda. Number two, public comment. Three, approval of the consent agenda. Four, discussion of items removed from the consent agenda. Number five is petitioner. Number six is the chairperson's report. Number seven, mayor's report. Eight, clerk's report. Nine, treasures report. 10, public comment. 11, unfinished business. 12, new business. 13, warrant. 14, communication. And number 15, adjournment. And a motion would be in order to accept the regular council meeting agenda as presented.

Support I mean um so move support. It's been motioned by Mr. Wsworth, seconded by Mr. Jones for the approval of tonight's uh meeting um agenda. Mr. Wsworth, yes. Mr. Jones, yes. Mr. Bullock, yes. Miss Abdo, yes. Mr. Wilhy, yes. Chair votes yes. Motion approved.

Thank you. Number two is public comment for agenda items only. Citizens are limited to three minutes um to speak. And again, this is for agenda items only that appear on um on the agenda. Is there any public comment for the consent agenda?

Okay, we can close that up. Thank you, Madam Chair. Takes us to number three, approval of the consent agenda. All matters listed under consent agenda are considered routine by the council and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussions of these items. If discussion of an item is requested, it will be removed from the consent agenda and considered under the next agenda item. Consent agenda item A 3A, approval of the minutes from the regular meeting held on Monday, April 27th, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. Consent agenda item 3B, approval of the minutes from the special meeting study sessions held on Monday, April 26, 27, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. to discuss the special land use resoning and site plan review for Pilot Travel Center located at 10250 Bining Road. At 6:00, special meeting to discuss the proposed 2627 fiscal year city budgets and the special meeting close session which was held at 7:15 to discuss an attorney's opinion. Consent agenda item 3C for second reading and final adoption of budget amendment 2526-18 in the amount of $20,000 to cover allowable expenses associated with community and employee programs. This budget amendment was introduced at the April 27th, 2026 council meeting. And lastly, a consent agenda item 3D for approval of a study session request for

Monday, June 8th, 2026 at 6:45 p.m. to discuss updates to the signed ordinance. Motion will be in order to accept the approval of the consent agenda as presented. Need a motion. I'll make a motion to Thank you. accept and get support. Support. Thank you.

It's been motioned by Mr. Willhigh, seconded by Mr. Jones for the approval of the consent agenda as uh uh uh stated by the city clerk. Any discussion hearing? None. Mr. Wilhyde, yes. Mr. Jones, yes. Mr. Bullock, yes. Mr. Wsworth, yes. Miss Abdo, yes.

Chair Boss, yes. Motion approved. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, number four, the discussions of items removed from the consent agenda, which there were none. Takes us to number five, the petitioner. Madame Chair and councel, um, the petitioner um, was ill and was not was not able to make it this evening. So, they will contact us to reschedule another time that they can appear. Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Um, that takes us to number six, the chairperson's report.

Oh, thank you. Uh, a couple of things. I do want to start off like this. Um, I got a call from our senior council person, Mr. Wsworth, the other day, and I just want to thank you for calling me because at our last meeting, um, there was a uh, a session we had for one of our gate in our gateway community gateway for uh, development that's coming to our city. and I went. I wasn't invited, but I went anyway. But since I had we had brought it up at the meeting, um I should at least extended that to the group. Even though I wasn't invited, I wanted to I should extend it to the rest of the council. So, thank you for calling me on that, Mr. Wsworth, because this is a new role for me. And so, any um wisdom and advice I can get, I'm going to take it. So, thank you. Um so, I just wanted to put that out there first of all. And secondly, um, also Mr. Wsworth at the last meeting, he brought up that, um, uh, Mr. Kraut, um, and to just say prayers for him. And so I just want to expound on that a little bit more. Thank you for bringing that to council. U, Mr. Wiseworth. Um, we need to pray for our, um, former councilman. Um, he is, he's has a passion for the city of Ramlas. He's been dealing with some health challenges. So, we want to, um, say prayers for him and keep him lifted up. um and his wife Sandy as well. I talked to her briefly over the weekend and I just want to I told her we're going to keep him in prayer. So, let's do that for Mr. uh Kraut. He's been a long forever member in our community. He's been on council um sever on several terms and we just want to make sure we're supporting people in Ramlas. So, please say prayers for Mr. Kraut and miss for Miss Sandy and that he gets better and I hear he's on the upswing. So, um just let's keep him in prayers and keep her in prayers as well. So, thank you for that. Thank you for bringing that, Mr. Wsworth. Um, a couple other quick things. Um, we had National Day of Prayer last Thursday. It was phenomenal. We was at

all the schools. We go to the all the elementary schools, high school, middle school, and it was um, fabulous. So, thank you for everybody who participated at the flag pole here at the city hall. Uh, thank you, chief of staff, for setting out the message, Vanessa, everybody who helped um, put that message out. It was a great event and we had a great turnout at the flag pole this year. So, thank you for that. Um, we had a the court day. Um, that was the uh on May 1st, Friday. Um, it was a little chilly, but it was still a great event. So, I want to thank the courts for putting that on every year. It seems to be very successful. And what I love about is so many kids out there. So many kids. And that's just really a blessing to see so many kids out there enjoying all the activities and they stepping it up each year. Um, so just all the activities they have going on, the kids that's involved. So, thank you to the courts for what they're doing with their community court day. So, thank you for that. Um, and then um I think Oh, oh, um, Colleen had a party, our our recreation director. Um, I wasn't able to attend, but I heard it was uh went well. Did you go, mayor? You didn't go. Okay. So, I heard it went really well. So, I just want to shout out to Colleen. Uh, it always her it always falls on a day I have to work. So, um, shout out to Colleen and what she does with the her events and particularly the part T. Um, I heard it was a great event. So, thank you for that. And then, uh, person of the year. What an event. Don't even try it. Um, we going to say something about that person of the year. Boy, it was a great event. Thank you for the chamber for putting this on every year. Um, what a selection. We have the people that have been selected for person of the year. Um, it's just been, I mean, totally deserved and Ellen is no exception. So, thank you for what you do. Um, and like Reverend Willis said, I love to use the Reverend Willis. He just put it out there. If you're looking to be person of the year or you shooting for it, you might as well hang it up.

It's nothing that you shoot for it. It's something that you just do. I mean, you just out there doing what Ellen does. She's out in the community. She's volunteering committees all over the place. just all over the place just doing things to advance our city and not she was trying to earn it just was bestowed on her because somebody saw what she does in our community and thought it was worthwhile to nominate her for it. So congratulations and so with that being said um we're going to go ahead and go to um our board report. So I'm going to start with um Mr. Wsworth. I know you say you guys don't meet till September for the retirement. Um so let's start with uh Miss Abdo. Hi, I just have some announcements from the library. The library will be closed on May 23rd and May 25th. It's to get the Memorial Day weekend. And uh the other thing they wanted us to mention is that the Friends of the Library will be having their annual more than annual book sale the 28th, 29th, and the 30th from 9 to 7:45. And if you're a reader, it's a great place to go. We have lots of books, other trinkets, and it's

it's just a great event. So, please feel free if you if you don't want to if you want to donate, you can bring stuff to the library and they'll put it in the book sale, too. All right. Thank you. Um Mr. Willha, you said you got you don't next week. Next week. So, we'll get that next time. Mr. Jones, you said you guys don't meet till Thursday. Thursday. So, we'll get it for the next appointment. Um for the pinchion.

For the pinchion. though. Okay. So, we'll get the rest of the port report out for the next meeting, um the fourth meeting in May. And then just to close this out, I just want to say I hope all mothers enjoyed Mother's Day. Um I enjoyed my weekend and I just pray all the mothers enjoyed their Mother's Day on yesterday. And I'm going to close my report on that note. Can we get a motion to accept the chair? I move that we accept the uh um mayor's prom report. Support. Thank you. It's been motioned by Mr. Jones supported uh seconded by Mr. Wsworth for the approval of the chairperson's report. Mr. Jones, yes.

Mr. Wsworth, yes. Mr. Wilhy, yes. Mr. Bullock, yes. Miss Abdo, yes. Chair votes, yes. Motion approved. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Number seven is the mayor's report. Thank you. Good evening, city council, madam clerk, deputy clerk, those in the audience here today and those are tuning in at home. Uh I'd like to draw your attention to the monitor for a quick announcement from the mayor's office and Miss Vanessa Talib.

Hello, I'm Vanessa Taliviver and here are some events happening in Robus. The spring free citywide yard sale will take place this weekend. You can find a listing of participating addresses on our website and Facebook page. Free dumping days for excess trash for up to three bulk items will return this weekend in the south lot at DPW building on May 14th to May 15th. The hours are 8:30 a.m. to 300 p.m. May 16th is community shred day from 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon in the city hall parking lot. Shred your unwanted papers and recycle your old electronics. Please join us for the grand reopening of the Veterans Memorial Monument on May 25th at 10:00 a.m. at the City Hall complex. Let us come together as we honor and celebrate this special community landmark. Thanks everyone. Remember to like and share us on Facebook and YouTube or visit our website for more information. Have a good night.

Thank you Vanessa. Great job as always on that. I'd also like to remind our residents that the latest edition of our community connector should be in the mailbox this year soon. So hopefully they're watching for that. But it's got a lot of details about the things going on in our community. U but also more specifically there's information on project R Street for 2026. Um we know nobody likes construction barrels. Nobody wants to be diverted, but there's a lot of construction going on right now and it's going to make a little bit more worse with I94 and that construction's kicked off. So watch out for uh city social media. will be giving information, trying to gut information out, make sure we're sharing it. Um, but I'm excited about the progress we're making. It's long overdue. Um, but it's also a pain. So, we apologize for the short-term inconvenience for the long-term goal. So, stay tuned on that. And also, like I said, watch your mailbox for latest uh edition of the community connection. Uh, first item I have up for action tonight is a um a DDA a board appointment. And uh I am hereby requesting uh approval to appoint Brian Merkel to the downtown development authority with a term to expire February 27th, 2027.

Madam Chairman, Mr. W. I'm going to move um that um we approve the appointment of Brian Merkel to the downtown Development Authority and his term will run till February of 27. I'll second it. Okay. It's been motioned by Mr. Wazworth, seconded by by Mr. Wilhy uh to concur with administration approve the appointment of Brian Merkel to the downtown development authority with a term to expire February 27th, 2027. Any discussion hearing? N Mr. Wsworth. Yes, Mr. Will High. Yes, Mr. Jones. Yes. Miss Abdel, yes. Miss B, Mr. Bullock, yes. Chair votes, yes. Motion approved.

I just want to add on that that uh Brian Merkel was an easy selection. So, thank you. He came here today. He was an easy selection. Um he jumped in with both feet as soon as he bought the old uh bomb crane funeral home. Uh so, we've been hard at work over there with capital improvements and taking care of that. And also, he didn't hesitate when we asked him to get involved um at the next level and be a member of the DDA. So, he shares that positive vision for growth in our downtown. Um, you want to come to the podium and say a few words to introduce yourselves for those who don't know? Well, thank you, mayor. Thank you, council, for the opportunity to serve the community. I had a lot to learn about this, but it's been very welcoming and we appreciate the opportunity to be here and to just help bring any knowledge I may have to better the town and to make it a place to be.

Thank you for your engagement. We appreciate it. Looking forward to working with you on that one. Like I said, I appreciate everybody who volunteers on all of our boards and commissions. If we don't have residents step up, we don't have boards and commissions. So, thank you again.

Uh the next item I have up is a lease agreement for Wayne Metro Community Action, who is uh occupying the western third of the old court building. Um that they run programs that will benefit our residents. Um if some of them are having are struggling paying utility bills, they can go over to Wayne Metro and talk to them. If they meet the financial criteria, um they can plug them into benefit package. So, it's been a good partnership. um for us in the city of Romulus. So I'm respectfully requesting the city c city council authorizing mayor and clerk uh to enter into the attached lease agreement with Wayne Metropolitan Action Agency.

Madam Chair, Mr. I move to concur with the administration and grant authorization for the mayor and clerk to enter into a attached lease agreement with Wayne Metropolitan Action Agency for lease of 10,000 square foot of space located at 11131 South Wayne Road 48174 on the western portion of the former 34th District Court building in the amount of $4,166. $6 through through May 30th, 2027. Just like that.

Okay. It's been motioned by Mr. Jones, seconded by Miss Abdo, to concur with administration and grant authorization for the mayor and clerk to enter into the attached lease agreement with Wayne Metropolitan Action Agency for the lease of 10,000 square ft of space located at 11131 South Wayne Road, 48174 on the western portion of the former 34th District Court Building in amount of $4,166 through May 30th, 2027. Any discussion hearing? None. Mr. Jones. Yes. Yes, Mr. Abdo. Miss Abdo, I'm sorry. U Mr. Bullock, yes. Mr. Wilhyde, yes. Mr. Wsworth, yes. Chair votes, yes. Motion approved.

Thank you. And I just want to u reiterate there that, you know, everything's a little bit pricier right now and everybody struggling a little bit more financially out there. So, make sure that our residents know if you hear somebody struggle paying utility bills, send them over. There might be a program that they can help them out with. So, make sure we share the word. It's a great benefit to have them here housed in our city.

Thank you. Um, the next item I have up is for rightway acquisition services for the Five Points Roundabout Project. Um, I think we've talked about this before, but Ramulus um did receive uh a grant in a million uh in the amount of $1 million for from Simcog for safer streets initiative and the five points intersection in our downtown did suit the criteria. Uh, so we received the $1 million to make it a safer um safer intersection for all. And I respectfully request city council authorize the mayor and clerk to enter into the attached special council services agreement with Monahan PC to coordinate rightway acquisition services for the city of Ramulus five points intersection roundabout project. Madam Chairman,

Mr. Worth. I'm going to move them that we approve the rightway acquisition services for the five points roundabout project. And I have a question. Okay. Seconded. Thank you. Motion by Mr. Worth, seconded by Mr. Will Hive to concur with administration and authorize the mayor of city clerk to enter into the tax special council services agreement with Monik Ham Han excuse me PC to coordinate rightaway acquisition services for the city of Ramlins for the five points intersection roundabout project. Mr. to ask

and if I can to the chair to Roberto uh before we approve anything further are we going to see a um drawing of this is a question I have. Yes. Good evening council.

So um this is kind of the infancy stage of this project. Uh we've met with some property stakeholders and we met briefly with the DDA. We have another meeting this week with the DDA, but we are planning to make a stop here at city council, not one time, but several times. Uh it's a pretty big deal what we're doing and what we're proposing and and what we have the opportunity for um at the Five Points intersection.

Um so next our next council meeting, I'm going to request a study session and I'm proposing that for June 8th. I'm going to kind of lay out the plans as we have it right now. It's at about 20%. So, we kind of know where the roundabout's going to go, but the the real heavy detailed engineering has not been completed yet. Um, the other thing I'll add, and I'll kind of give a little bit of a preview of the project, is the timeline is um we're going to do some water main construction in 2027 and then and that's going to be kind of like the fall winter of 2027. And then in the spring of 2028, we're planning on building the roundabout if we're all in agreement that we're going to move this project forward. Um, so we've been, you know, we we have kind of a sequence of what we're going to follow. We definitely want to meet with property stakeholders, um, government stakeholders, and everybody to kind of make sure that we're on the right track.

Okay. Fine. Mr. Miss Abdo, I don't know what's Okay, Miss Abdo, that's okay. You're fine. Um, do we anticipate that the grant money we received will pay for the cost of this or is this going to come on the taxpayers? No. So, the the grant was in the amount of I think it was 2 million and I think we we have a million dollars worth of water mane work which we do have to do and that water man work has to be done anyway. Mhm.

Um that intersection in and further on down Grant Road, we do get water main breaks, but we wouldn't want to build something like this without addressing the infrastructure underneath. So you might even see out like in the next month or so that we're out televising the sanitary sewer, the storm sewer. We're looking at all that infrastructure to ensure that it is it has integrity and it can stay um intact after this intersection is built. The the other kind of benefit to this project is um the roundabout will allow kind of like a bookend to the downtown. So there's a lot of amenities that could be put in that roundabout. It could be vegetation, trees, a statue, brick work, landscape, whatever whatever the case may be, whatever the city desires. But, you know, like I said, it's it it's a slowm moving process and we're making stops along the way with everybody involved uh to to definitely solicit input on uh what what that kind of final version and vision would be.

So, through the chair, so eventually our tax dollars are going to pay for this too. Does it look like it? It it probably Yeah, there there I can't tell you how much. Um I I think the road portion is going to be roughly about $2.5 million and we have a a grant in the amount of 2 million. So maybe like a half million. But the one thing I want to point out because you've mentioned it is we get a lot of pressure from the taxpayers to do something about that intersection. Yeah.

So this this is this is a a needed uh improvement. Um we have uh residents on Facebook that send us pictures of near collisions. There's a lot of confusion with a five-legged intersection of who has the rightway. And a lot of times people going cell phone down OSA don't understand they have to turn turn right. They go straight through as oncoming traffic wants to go straight through because they have the right of way. And the same thing like northbound Hiron River Drive. That traffic wants to go through to Ozga while traffic is coming down south Gddard. So, I there's not I can't put another sign out there that would tell the motoring public what to do. We've run out of the the amount of signs we can put out there.

Yeah, I agree with I agree with you. I live right there. I see it every day. Okay. To the chair. Just additional details. So, you talked about the tax dollars that will have to help offset some of the cost here. that's going to be for infrastructure improvement or the the water manes and the and the old old o over it's uh life cycle use of the of the utilities they have to be replaced as well. So those are the things that water and we were supposed to pay for upgrading and maintaining our system. So uh like uh Roberto said why would we replace a road and repair road and not take care of the infrastructure below it. So okay thank you.

Quick question what is NEA NEPA? It's an abbreviation for an environmental natural history history impact study. Okay, that has to be completed with federal dollars when a community receives it. Okay, so they're out there right now. They're looking for native artifacts. They are looking for any history um that the that might be on those properties uh that we might have to preserve during construction. Okay. Okay. Any other questions? Thanks, Roberto. Yep. With that being said, Mr. Wiseworth,

yes. Mr. Wilhyde, yes. Miss Abdo, yes. Mr. Bullock, yes. Mr. Jones, yes. Chair, yes. Motion approved. Thank you. The next item I have up is for continuation of Product R Streets for 2026. I respectfully request city council award ITB bid ITB25-26-21 for the Wade and Superior hot mix ashfall paving project to the lowest most responsive bidder Cadillac ashall Madam Chair

Mr. Jones. I move to concur with the administration and award bid ITB25/26-21 for the way and superior hot mix asphalt paving project to the law responsible and responsive bidder Cadillac asphalt LLC in the amount of 1.1,314 314,18 $5.30 with an additional 10% contingency for a total of 1,00 1 million445,6383.

Okay. Thank you.

It's been motioned by Mr. Jones seconded by Miss Abdull to concur with administration and award bid ITD25/26-21 for the weight and superior hot mix asphalt haven project to the lowest responsible lowest responsible and responsive bidder Cadillac Asphalt LLC in the amount of $1,314,18530 with an additional 10% contingency for the total amount of $1,445,6383. three cents. Any discussion? I have one question. Roberto, can you just really quick just for transparency sake? Um Cadillac Cadillac Asphalt was the fourth lowest bidder. Um can you just kind of speak as to why we went that route with Cadillac? Just a summary, please.

Sure. For transparency sake. So, we've used um most all these biders that were on this particular project. I'm not going to I I don't want to get into each individual no issue, but there's a couple of the biders

um that lost certain certifications due to some legalities with bidding that we don't feel comfortable with at this time. That doesn't mean we're not going to use them in the future, but just right now it's we don't have that comfort level. And um there's other biders that uh we hadn't had great success with and that doesn't mean that we're not going to use them either in the future. Right now as we're looking at this project, we feel comfortable with the tight margins with all the biders uh and we're choosing to elect uh Cadillac uh for this particular project. Thank you. Thanks, Roberto. Um Mr. Jones, yes. Miss Abdo, yes. Mr. Mr. Bullot. Yes.

Mr. Wilhy. Yes. Mr. Wiseworth. Yes. Chair votes yes. Motion approved. Thank you. And that will conclude my report for this evening.

Thank you. Number eight is the clerk's report. I have one action item 8A. It is requested that council concur with the planning commission's findings and approve the second reading and final adoption of RZ2025-00001 Ramulus Trade Center North to conditionally reszone approximately 108.48 48 acres including parcels 80-011-99-00006-702 parcel number 80- 011-99-00006-704 and 32630 Henry Ruff road from an R18 single family residential and C2 general business to an M1 light industrial subject to the conditions imposed by the planning commission and finalization and execution of the conditional resoning and development agreement by the city attorney. This second reading, I'm sorry. This was introduced at the April 27th, 2026 council meeting.

You need a motion. I move.

Thank you, Mr. Jones. I move to concur with the planning commission finding and approval of second reading and final adoption of RZ-2025-00001 Ramy's Trade Center North to conditionally reszone approximately 18.48 48 acres including partial uh 800-1 80- 011-99-00006-702 number sign 8 0-11-99-0000 D-704 and 326 03 30 Henry Ruff from R-1A single family residential and C and-2 general business to M1 light industrial subject to conditions imposed by the planning commission and finalized the execution of the conditional reasonzoning and development agreement by the city attorney. support.

Okay. Thank you. It's been motioned by Mr. Jones, seconded by Mr. Wsworth to concur with the planning commission's finding and approve the second reading and final adoption of RZ-20225-001 Rhymless Trade Center North to conditionally resone approximately 108.48 acres and the rest as uh read into the record by the clerk and councilwoman uh Councilman Jones. Any discussion hearing? None. Mr. Jones. Yes, Mr. Wsworth. Yes. Mr. Wilhyde, yes. Miss Abdullah, yes. Mr. Bulot, yes.

Chair Boss, yes. Motion approved. Thank you, council. That concludes my report and again, I would like to say thank you to everyone who supported and attended the person of the year event. Um, very humble, humbling experience. Um, but again, just heartfelt thank you to everybody, those in the audience and this council for your attendance.

Congratulations. And that will conclude the clerk's report. Um number nine, there is no treasures report which will take us to number 10, public comment. And this is the portion of the agenda for those who are in the audience and who would like to address the city council. You can find the rules to address city council on the back of your meeting agenda. To address city council, raise your hand and after being acknowledged by the chairperson, approach the podium and we ask that you please state your name. Members of the public who submitted a public comment card will be called upon first. You will have three minutes to speak and any additional time will be upon the consent of the chairperson. Madame chair and councel, I do have four written requests to speak.

Thank you. The first written request is from Lawrence Peoples. Oh, sorry. He just left. Okay. Okay.

The next one is Aaron Seammens. Did I pronounce that correct? Or Simons? Seaman. Okay. Hi, my name is Aaron Seammens. I'm a private citizen and a resident of Ann Arbor and a frequent visitor to Romulus. I'm also a volunteer with the Coalition to Shut the Camps. The Coalition to Shut the Camps are a grassroots coalition of private citizens and more than 35 different immigrant rights, interfaith, and advocacy organizations who have come together to stand against the opening of an ICE detention center in the warehouse located at 7525 Cogswell Street here in Romulus. We have been protesting at the site every Saturday at 3 p.m. for the last 11 weeks. Our volunteers have been working to educate the public about what the DHS is planning, the potential impacts it will have on Romulus and the surrounding communities and what the government took from the community in terms of respectable jobs and tax revenues by spending our tax dollars to outbid the Toyota supplier who had intended to buy and develop that warehouse. We have also been working to lobby the agencies who are responsible for connecting services that will be required to convert and open the facility. First, I want to thank the mayor and the city council for your resolution against the planned detention facility and for signing on to the lawsuit AG Nestle has filed against the DHS. Second, I want to thank the members of the Romulus Police Department who have been very supportive and respectful of us and the exercising of our First Amendment rights these past 11 Saturdays. Finally, I would like to request reassurance that the city will not allow the planned street construction for Cogswell to be used by the federal government as an opportunity to make the infrastructure modifications that they will require to make that warehouse ready to imprison between 500 and 1600 human beings. We have been observing what looks like construction

activity and preparations at the site, including a contractor for AT&T who came by a week ago Saturday. We also see the markings that would indicate that there are some preparations being made to connect sewer and septic sewer and and uh water lines rather. So that's why we are here today to request these asurances and also to request any up other updates you can provide. Mayor McCrae, is he here?

Hi, Mayor McCrae. Thank you. Mayor McCrae, I've copied you on an email to Attorney General Dana Nestle with some of the indications that we've seen along with photographs because we assume that they are in violation of the temporary injunctions that were requested in the state's lawsuit. And that is all I have. Thank you, council. Thank you. Next one. All right. The next written request is from Aaron Liippard. council. Uh Mr. Liippard has uh provided um I believe there were handouts handed to you. Is that correct? Oh, okay. The deputy clerk will um pass those out to you. Okay. Good evening, council.

Good evening.

Uh I spoke uh at the last uh study session to reszone uh the area on Vining Road um so that a pilot travel center can come in. Um, as I stated before, I worked for Pilot Travel Center for the better part of a decade, uh, managing 12 stores in seven states in the time that I was with them. I referenced three stores that I specifically ran, um, across the country that somewhat mimic this exact situation. Um the lefthand turn coming out of the travel center should it be built there is going to create accidents and death uh pretty much like you wouldn't believe. Uh so one quick minute uh I was a brand new store manager at Sturbridge Massachusetts that has the exact same setup in relevance to where the highways at what the semi has to do to get out of the parking lot. Um it was my first week on the job and a semi pulled out um obviously going less than 5 miles an hour and a family was coming down the road, a family of five um at 22 mph. The family went up under the semi and all of them lost their lives. I had to go out onto the street and be witness to this scene, which is why I'm passionate about this not happening here. I am not anti- truck stop. Uh, I believe professional drivers are the reason we have clothes on our back, the reason we have food in our kitchens. Uh, they run our country and I thank them for it every day. I am anti putting it there. Uh, so I took this time, it's my wife's birthday today, to come up and speak to you all. Um, and she granted me permission to do that. So, I just wanted to give you a little bit of her birthday time to to go over the 20 plus hours um that I studied some specific factual

data uh that already exists in our city in this area. Um so, all of my site references are from SECOG, uh Michigan State Police, and Michigan crashs. So, again, it's not just me throwing numbers out there. This is factual data. So before I get into this, I'd like to start with this page. Uh essentially what this shows is accidents involving uh semis in the state of Michigan. And it breaks it down. The longest semi at top um is injuries happening in a risk, right? And it goes all the way down through fatality. Um, I know it's hard to read, but I only have so much money for a printer at home to to print regular copies. So, um, if you flip behind that page to the chart, this is straight from Michigan crash facts, and it lists that we have 41 counties or 41 cities and townships in Wayne County. Of that 41, um,

Okay, we had three minutes. Um, did you need more time? Please, can I have some more time? How much time you need? Uh, maybe another five. Five. We got to cut it down. Okay, I'll I'll do my best. Can we do three minutes? Yep. Okay.

So, out of the 41 cities and townships in Wayne County, uh, Romulus was in the top 10 for crash volume currently and has the greatest percent of crashes to population, uh, even greater than the city of Detroit. So, Romulus has 24,429 citizens as of the last sens census and they're responsible for 1,178 crashes um in the year 2024, which is the last published year so far, which equates to 4.8 crashes per citizen. So, this gets into um my chart here. Uh, as you can see, each one of the dots up there are a very are a accident that happened. Um, including three fatals already right near um where they want to put the truck stop in. So, you can spend some time on it. I put a heat chart up there, too, to show you that 46% of all accidents that happened in Romulus during the time frame of 2013 to 2025 happened right between the Wayne and Biden corridor. So any semi coming down to try to get off on the highway merging right there and backing up the ramp and the deceleration lane that pilot spoke about which will not house more than two maybe three semis is going to multiply that number substantially and it's going to affect our citizens. So with that said I mean I'd love to get into the data that I spent the time on but I guess I'm out of time. So, please read over it and and understand that if a truck stop goes in there, people will die. Plain and simple. I've seen it happen time and again. And that's why I'm passionate about it not going right there. And again, I'm all for Randulus. I'm all for truck stops. I'm a citizen of 5 years now. And I just want us to do the right thing for our citizens. Thank you.

Thank you. Um and yeah, if next time I would love to have you on my report where you have more time to speak without three minute limitations. Okay. Thank you, Madam Chair. We have uh the last written request is from Todd Baron.

Good evening, Mayor Council. Um Todd Baron, resident of Romulus on Grant Street. Um I'm also wanted to address with regards to the not the pilot truck stop specifically, but the location um um as Mr. Libert before me stated, uh I'm not against truck stops. I'm not against putting places. And I think Pilot would be a great addition to the community. I think they would build a worldclass facility. I think it would contribute uh as they presented in their presentation at the study session and I appreciate the opportunity to see that at the study session. My concern as stated by the individual who spoke before me is with the location and the traffic. Um I did take it upon myself. I wrote a letter addressed to mayor and councel last Wednesday sent over the clerk's office. I don't know if it got distributed or not. I do have copies uh of that letter. Um, and basically what what that letter outlines uh in a nutshell is my concern with the left turn out of the pilot location for the traffic that has to go northbound to get back onto I 94. uh an unprotected left, a 53 ft trailer with a tractor in front of it making that maneuver. If there's traffic heading north or southbound on mining, it's a dangerous combination and I appreciate we're putting in a roundabout at five points. One of the reasons is we're want to be cognizant of traffic safety and that's a hot spot for uh near misses. Uh, and I don't want the city to make a make that correction and make the mistake of creating another problem over there. Pilot has said the trucks are

already here. The trucks are already here. We want to service them. I stood I looked out my backyard today and I saw a cardinal over there and there was some robins over here and some other uh birds and they're in my trees. The birds are in my backyard, but I know if I put up a bird feeder on my back porch, I'm going to have a mess. I'm going to p have a pile on my porch. The birds are already there. My concern is are we building a birdhouse or bird feeder with this truck stop based on the location only? It's only on the location. Pilots uh traffic engineers were uh I thought they never answered that question that left turn question even at even at the planning commission phase. And then ironically I looked on May 8th there was an article published on Fox 2 and it just happened to pop up in my news. Romulus ranks number five in the state for crashes per capita and only behind the city of Detroit and the city of Southfield for number of failures and that was on Fox 2 uh reporting. So just keep that in mind before you make your final decision.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. That was the last written request madam chair. Okay. Do we have anybody in the audience that would like to speak at this time? All right, close that out. Thank you. Uh, number 11 is unfinished business. Mayor, did you have anything you want to address under here or no? Okay, madam to the chair, I just want to thank these two gentlemen for for for coming here tonight because this truck stop will be a nightmare for this town if if it pops up here and that's my only comment. Thank you. Thank you.

Any other comments? Unfinished business. All right, move on. Thank you. Number 12 is new business. Number 11 is for approval is warrant 26-09. Through the chair, I'd like to make a motion we pay warrant 26-9 in the following amounts. General fund $146,58986. Major street fund $3,7125. Local street fund 2,93126 Public Safety Fund 26,62189 Cable TV $588.82 82 Marman Rose special assessment $3,392.77 Street Lighting Fund $44,23824 Community Employee Activity Fund $3556 Garbage and Rubbish Collection Fund $979.72 Tax Increment Finance Authority $32,862 2 Downtown Development Authority $26,9685 Michigan Defense Fund $23,3164 911 Service Fund $9,69.70 Law Enforcement Federal $2683 Library Fund $7,16728 CIP Bonds court building $282,000. Ecourse and vining capital improvement bonds $17,822.

Water and sewer fund $448,16928. Motor vehicle $30,82628. Technology services $31,93153. Retirey Insurance benefits $14,3004. Revolving fund $3,410 Impress payroll fund $32,5168 totaling all funds $1,279,35182.

Support. Thank you. Motion by Miss Abdull, seconded by Mr. Jones for the approval warrant 26-09 for checks presented in the amount of 1,279,35182 cents. Any discussion hearing? None. Miss Abdo. Yes. Mr. Jones, yes. Mr. Wilhigh, yes. Mr. Wsworth, yes. Mr. Bullock, yes. Chairs, yes. Motion approved. Number 14 is communication. Okay. takes us to number 15 adjournment and the time is 8:21. So move support.

Okay. It's been motioned by Mr. Jones, seconded by Mr. Wilhigh for the adjournment of this meeting. Mr. Jones, yes. Mr. Wilhigh, yes. Mr. Wsworth, yes. Mr. Bullock, yes. Miss Abdo, yes. Chair votes, yes. We are.