City Council - Regular Meeting

under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Good evening, honorable city council members, mayor, city attorney, deputy clerk, to the administrative staff that's in the audience and to all of our guests that are here this evening, as well as those who's viewing tonight's meeting via our broadcast channel on YouTube live. Welcome to the city of Brum, the city council regular meeting, and today's date is Monday, July 13th. 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 the cards are located on the back table after completing your card hand it to the deputy clerk and at this time we will have roll call councilwoman abdo here councilman bullock here Councilman Jones? Here. Councilwoman Roscoe? Here. Councilwoman Talley? Here. We know that Councilman Wadsworth is absent this evening, and Councilman Wilhite? Here. Madam Chair and Council, we have a quorum for tonight's regular council meeting.

Thank you.

Tonight's council meeting agenda reads as follows. Number one, agenda. Number two, public comment or agenda items only. Number three, approval of consent agenda. Number four, discussion. Number five, petitioner. Number six, chairperson's report. Seven, mayor's report. Eight is a clerk's report. Nine is a treasurer's report. 10, public comment. 11, unfinished business. 12, new business. 13, warrant. 14, communication. And number 15 is adjournment. And a motion will be in order to accept the regular council meeting agenda as presented.

So moved. Support. Motion by Mr. Jones. Seconded by Ms. Abdo for the approval of the agenda for this meeting tonight. Mr. Jones. Yes. Ms. Abdo. Yes. Mr. Wilhite. Yes. Ms. Roscoe. Yes. Mr. Bullock. Yes. Chair votes yes. Motion approved.

Thank you. Number two, public comment for agenda items only. This portion of the agenda, again, for those of you who are in the audience who would like to address City Council regarding the items on the agenda only, Comments on non-agenda items will be heard later in the meeting during the second public comment period, which is agenda item number 10. You can find the rules to address city council on the back of your meeting agenda. If you didn't pick one up, we do have some agendas on the table in the back. Again, to address City Council, raise your hand and after you've been acknowledged by the chairperson, approach the podium and you may state your name. Note that members of the public who did submit a public comment card will be called upon first. And last reminder is that you will have three minutes to speak and any additional time will be upon the consent of the chairperson. Madam Chair, I have not received any written requests to speak under this portion of the agenda.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Do we have anyone that wants to speak on the public comment for agenda items only at this time?

Okay.

We're going to close that out.

So note it.

Thank you.

Takes us to number three, approval of consent agenda. All matters listed under the consent agenda are considered routine by council and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion 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 3A, approval of the minutes from the regular meeting held on Monday, June 22nd, 2026 at 7.30 PM. Consent agenda item 3B, approval of the minutes from the special meeting closed session held on Monday, June 22nd, 2026 at 6 o'clock PM to discuss an attorney's opinion and a special meeting study session which was held at 7 30 p.m to discuss the five points roundabout project Consent agenda item 3C, request to authorize a no-fee permit for the use of the historical park pavilion by the Wayne Westlands Salvation Army on August 1st, 8th, 29th, and September 5th, 2026 to promote friends and family community fellowship. That concludes the approval, the list of consent agenda items.

Thank you. Chair?

Ms. Roscoe?

I'll make a motion for the approval of the consent agenda.

Support. Thank you. It's been motioned by Ms. Roscoe, seconded by Mr. Jones for the approval of the consent agenda as stated by the city clerk. Ms. Roscoe? Yes. Yeah, Ms. Roscoe? Yes. Mr. Jones? Yes. Ms. Abdo? Yes. Mr. Bullock? Yes. Mr. Wilhite? Yes. Chair votes yes. Motion approved.

Thank you. Seeing that there were no items from the consent agenda, move to number four, discussion. We will move to number five, petitioner. We have two petitioners that's on the agenda this evening. 5A, the petitioner for a special event application road closure request from the Romulus Community Baptist Church. And I believe we can call up Ms. Tanya Cofield. And the recommendation is to authorize a no-fee permit for the Ramos Community Baptist Church annual picnic for Sunday, August 22nd, 2026, from 9 a.m. to 4 o'clock p.m. And the closing of Martin Place and 4th Street to Colorado Street. to the end of the church property with clearance granted for emergency vehicles. Ms. Cofield?

Hi there. Tanya Cofield on behalf of Romulus Community Baptist Church, 6200 4th Street. And just want to know if we are able to do this again this year. This is an annual thing that we do for the community, and we just invite everybody out to have food and fun. So, yes. All right.

We can take it home.

I'll make a motion, Madam Chair, for a no fee permit for the Romulus Community Baptist Church annual picnic for Saturday, August 22nd, 2026 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the closing in Martin Place from 4th Street to Colorado Street and Colorado Street to the end of the church property with clearance granted for emergency vehicles.

Support. It's been motioned by Ms. Roscoe, seconded by Ms. Abdo for the approval of the no fee permit for the Romney's Community Baptist Church annual picnic for Saturday, August 22nd, 2026 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the closing of Martin Place from 4th Street to Colorado and Colorado Street to the end of the church property with entrance granted for emergency vehicles. Any discussion? hearing uh... ms roscoe yes that don't get this to go yes it's a lot yes it's a little high yes it was yes most of the group thank you so much i think that thank you shouldn't either for the for a second petition we have mister uh... mr jason riley uh... podium and uh... council uh...

Mr. Riley is here regarding a special land use, requesting approval for special land use. This is SLU 2026-002, Project Geron. I hope I pronounced that correctly. Again, special land use approval for a 257,950 square foot cold storage facility.

Thank you. Good evening, Council. Jason Raleigh with Interstate Capital. 260 East Brown Street, Birmingham, Michigan. As mentioned, looking at just over 257,000 square foot cold storage facility, it's a Jenron Court, Warman Road. It's across from the Kroger facility. The image you see on there to the back of our facility, it has frontage on 275 as well. uh we met with the planning commission and we've worked with uh city planners city engineers and the city um in great detail to navigate through this uh this property has been vacant for a number of years there's been a handful of projects that have been proposed at this location We've got good traction and we're really looking as stated here. We're looking to break down very soon. So we're excited about the opportunity the special land use aspect of this is due to Planning based on the size of development planning requiring a traffic study So this isn't an overlay district in that overlay district traffic study generates the requirement to go to a special land use Planning Commission, a recommended unanimous lead to approve. We'll go to a couple of the sheets. So as you can see on this side layout, Genron Court is to the south, the bottom of the screen. You can't see quite all of it. The east side, Warman Road, west. uh... back that is a two seventy five here to answer any questions you may have and say excited about the opportunity to bring this project forward thank you any questions from council

Okay. None. Thank you. Thank you. Madam Chair. Ms. Roscoe.

We need to take action on this, so I'll make a motion to concur with your recommendation of the Planning Commission and approve the special land use for SLU-2026-002, Project Genron, Romulus Cold Storage, located at 15670 Warman Road.

I second that motion.

It's been motioned by Ms. Roscoe, seconded by Mr. Jones. For the approval of the... Special land use for 2026-02 Project Generon approved unanimously through our Planning Commission for the site located at the northwest corner of Warman Road and Generon Court, the western property line of the site above I-275 Zone M2. At 15670 Warman, any discussion? Hearing none, Ms. Roscoe? Yes.

Mr. Jones?

Yes. Ms. Abdo? Yes. Mr. Wilhite? Yes. Mr. Bullock? Yes. Chair votes yes. Motion approved. Thank you. Thank you.

Number six is the chairperson's report.

All right. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Clerk. The first thing we want to go with, we have a, someone wants to come forth and speak from the Wayne County. Is it Wayne County? Yes. Hey, Chad. Good.

Good evening. I'm Adam Kerr. um city council this is an opportunity for me to be back in front of you i was back here uh last on april 13th and some things have changed i wanted to give you an update like i owe you an update but first i just want to thank this board for all that they do and for the hard work and for their collaboration not only on this project but all the projects that we work on together Since I last spoke with you, we've made a change in direction. But I want to give you an overview of why this change has occurred, and then hopefully give you a better understanding. Back in November of 2024, when we first started this logistics building that we were seeking permission to be granted back on the 13th of April, Everything was working well with Delta Airlines and their their Their sky chef kitchen During that time after we started this process there were issues with that kitchen which required them to take the kitchen down out of service and then they had to temporarily go off-site and build a kitchen so that we could bring food into our passengers and It was a temporary fix. Anyway, we're working on the permanent solution now. I am very pleased to let this board know that we are in the process of designing a 100,000 square foot facility on the airport property that was going to replace our former kitchen. The day after I met with this board, I went back and one of our team members asked me, Why are we considering when we finally are able to get rid of the old kitchen, why can't we repurpose that location? It never occurred to anybody on our team until that next day. The site is actually perfect. It has the docking systems already in place. For the money that we were going to spend on the old building, we can actually spend the same amount of money on this new building and get three times the space It will help some of the issues that this board is concerned about as far as traffic The traffic will stay on the airport primarily obviously as they get to the airport, but it is the perfect location And you know sometimes I think about how things happen in such a way that if if we had gone forward with this and everything Just went as according to our plan We would be invested in a project that we're really not interested because there's a better solution out there Not only better for the airport, but also better for on us I just wanted to come before you today and just talk about the fact that I appreciate your your leadership and Your support. I know that we have not always had a a great relationship. And when I say we, I mean the airport and city council. Those days are over as far as I'm concerned. If anybody on this council ever calls me, I will answer the phone immediately. You can ask the mayor. I don't miss phone calls. But if you choose to reach out to me for anything, if there's any investment in the city that you think we can partner on, if there's property that we own that is better suited for something else and you want to partner on that, we're just a meeting away. We're just a phone call away. But I wanted to come here today and address you personally and let you know that this change is coming. It will benefit the city of Romulus. There will be two huge projects that are coming up where we will work together through our permitting program, and I think we're going to be as good, if not better off. So if there's any questions, I'll be glad to take any questions, but I just wanted to come here tonight and personally tell you this information.

Thank you for coming, Chancellor. No hard feelings. No. Thank you. Not for me. Not for you. And then the second thing, did that guy get a promotion? Because after all that, I mean, he should be promoted, right? Who was that, the guy who brought the idea to you when you went back after you left here? It was the employee? He said, we should just use that same space that the kitchen was at?

I'm sorry. I'm at a loss.

Did I get it wrong? So who gave you the idea about using that same space?

Oh, yes, yes. Oh, it was my chief operating officer. Oh, okay. No, she can't get promoted. Excuse me, my chief financial officer, and then she'll all rank me. But we are going to celebrate that. I told her that we do this employee recognition with CEO point. And I said, once we break ground, I'll recognize her for it. It was a great idea. Anyway, I just want to thank this body for all that you do for the city. You don't get thanks enough, so thank you. Thank you, Chad.

We appreciate that. Mr.

Chair? Mayor? Just a quick comment. I want to thank you for taking time out of your business schedule. Being CEO of one of the biggest airports in the country is not an easy job. So I appreciate you coming back to this board and talking to us about it. Being a member of the community, we've always had a great, open, and honest relationship. And I think that that's important because they take up such a large portion of our community, and sometimes the things we're doing are going to conflict with your best interest and vice versa. So we have to have the relationship to work these things out. And I'm a firm believer in every negotiation, there's a 50-50 deal on a table that's going to be equally beneficial. And when it wasn't going the way, you know, that night that we had the transaction here, It was clunky at best, and it wasn't favorable. But now council looked out for the best interests of the community. We had good conversations with the airport. You guys went back to the drawing board, came up with a better plan that's going to work better for the airport and the city. So well done on both sides. I'll meet you tonight, and I want to just thank everybody for their efforts here in figuring this thing out. Thank you.

As I shared before, I believe things happen for a reason. And the delay that we experienced was meant to be and it gave us an opportunity to look at other options. So I just wanted to say thank you and look forward to our next project working together.

Yeah, thank you. And like the mayor said, you didn't even have to come back and tell us that. You could have went on with your project and, you know, went on. But thank you for coming back and sharing that. I appreciate that a lot.

Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, moving on, we got reports out there. I'm gonna go out through our boards and commissions report. Gee Jones, Councilman Jones, anything for pension nothing? No, it's not until August. August, gotcha, okay.

Ms. Abdo, cemetery, libraries? Library. Okay, just wanted to tell you, the Friends of the Library have a book sale coming up the 23rd through the 25th. There's numerous books for sale. If you want to donate some, feel free to bring them into the library. They also have a table of knickknacks they sell, and if you want to donate something, just bring it to the library. Thank you. Thank you. 23rd through the 25th. Thanks.

Ms. Roscoe. I haven't had a Planning Commission meeting since our last meeting, so I don't really have anything to report.

Okay, no, thank you. And last but not least, Councilman Wilhite, police, fire, and safety.

We haven't had a meeting until it's next week, so I'll give a report the next meeting.

Thank you. Okay. So just a couple of things for me, not a lot. Just a great retirement celebration for Chief Allison. His wife does an amazing job. She's just great. Ms. Julie Allison. And just want to... wish them all the best blessings on them as they go into the next phase of their life, particularly Chief Allison and his retirement. So great celebration of that. And then we had a great music in the park this past Friday. It started out raining and suspect at best, but that turned all around, and we ended up having a great music in the park. So thanks for everybody that showed up. Had a nice crowd of people. even with all the rain. So thank you, everybody, for supporting our music in the park. And we got one more in August. So, yeah, keep that in mind. Great showings at these music in the park. So keep coming out and supporting our city and that. Jerry, good job, and his team for keeping those going on. I missed a couple of events in our city. We had a car show yesterday.

Didn't we have a car show on Beverly at the Coleman Center?

Yeah, I missed it. So just want to thank, who put that together? APA. APA, great. I passed by there. I wasn't able to stop and attend, but it was massive. So great job for pulling that car show together over on the north end. And then they also had a movie in the park that I wasn't able to attend at the Coleman Center as well. So good things going on in our city. And last but not least, I just got to do this to represent on the north end as well, the Dexter Block Party. Please represent Dexter Block Party. They did a great job. They came. And I want to thank the city clerk for working with them to get a solution to get them their permitting in at the last minute. But it's a spectacular event. I thank them for doing it. They know how to throw a block party over there. They really look out for the kids over there. So many things for the kids to do. So I just want to thank you, Jennifer and her husband, Jennifer the Madisons, Jeff Warren, Con, all these people on the north end who make sure to keep that thing going and making it safe. So thank you for keeping that tradition going on. It was a great event, and I'm going to wear my shirt. And then I do want to say... I talked to Ms. Sandy Kraut, and her husband is doing really well. So good job for Ms. Sandy and everything that's going on with her husband. He's doing great. So blessings on him and covering him that he continue healing. I think he's doing physical therapy now. So that's our former councilman, Councilman Harry Kraut. Blessings on them.

Anybody else have anything to add before I close out my report?

On that note, I'm closing.

And Chair, I'll make a motion to accept your report.

Support. It's been motioned by Ms. Roscoe, seconded by Mr. Jones for the acceptance of Chairperson's report. Ms. Roscoe? Yes. Mr. Jones? Yes. Mr. Bullock? Yes. Mr. Wilhite? Yes. Ms. Abdo? Yes. Chair votes yes. Motion approved.

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 tuning in at home. Just a quick update on one of the most important topics in our community right now is the DHS warehouse that we have. that was proposed to be used as a detention center. I think everybody's seen the announcements right now where we've been able to have them sign a document saying they would not use it for a detention center. However, the administration is going to continue to be laser focused on this topic until they no longer own it. As long as the DHS or federal government owns that building, we're not going to rest you know and we're going to be vigilant keep working with them and we've had great open communications with their attorneys through our legal counsel i'll continue to work on that and like i said i'll report out to council but we're going to stay focused on this until the building's actually sold so i'm happy for the progress we made however we've learned in romulus that it's not over until it's over so we're going to continue to stay focused on that one also in a meeting we had about four years ago with wayne county talking about the drainage problem on ecorse road It was abundantly clear to us they weren't really focused on the quality of Ecorse Road, whether the traffic flow or the construction there. So Kevin and I went to work on a plan. I'm going to let him update you on it. We got great news today out of Lansing. It was really, we talk about cooperation with other communities now. Where Romulus used to be siloed, we've been focused on relationships. We worked on a relationship with Aeropolis, Van Buren, Taylor, and the city of Romulus. And I think we've a plan that's going to be transitional in that area, take care of a lot of issues. I'm going to let Kevin Krause update you on that.

Good evening again, council. Good evening. You know, really excited to share this news. We had a good study session prior to this sharing some good projects here in the city and then share this news. As the mayor was saying, he legitimately hijacked a Wayne County meeting with with the roads and about drainage and sewer along Ecorse Road about four years ago and put the issue that we had been hearing from the citizens here in Romulus on their agenda because we know that Ecorse Road is a bottleneck here in the city. It goes down two lanes in a lot of places. We have storm water issues. We have some other utility issues. and it needs to be improved. And what we heard loud and clear was that Wayne County wasn't aware of the issues, but the mayor made a point to make sure that they understood that the issues were here and that we weren't going away until they were resolved. So we went to work and started discussing this with our community partners. We know in Taylor, they have some issues on Inkstern and Ecorse Road. In Van Buren, they have issues along E Horse Road with sewage and sewer water as far as having enough capacity because they have to discharge to two different systems, one to the north, one to the south. So that takes a lot of underground infrastructure to do that. And then here in Romulus, we know that we need better safety mechanisms at the intersections, at the crossways. We need to expand the road to three lanes throughout the entire community. So we partnered with Chris Girdwood at Aerotropolis. You've heard us talk about Aerotropolis and the benefits that that brings to this community and that region. We partnered with the City of Taylor, the City of Van Buren, and the City of Romulus. And we put together a proposal for a Land Development Funding Authority, or an LDFA. You've heard me talk about this LDFA. It came from that Ecorse Road corridor study I talked about earlier in the study session. And I'm proud after three years of work, getting the plan approved by all three locales, getting it through the Aerotropolis Board, through Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and as of today through the State of Michigan Treasury, we have been approved for that plan, which will raise somewhere in the conservative estimates of $26 million to put into Ecorse Road from Inkster all the way to Hannon to make those improvements.

I think me too.

great news it was great news I want to make sure we share it you know it's gonna we knew when we started down this journey this is a five to ten year development but we know it needed to be done so we're not gonna put our head in the sands and now we go to Wayne County we can say by the way we have X amount of dollars here to help on this program so you know that we're serious about it so looking forward to what comes here in the next few years but it's really about that ecourse corridor for Romulus and opening that up at reconstruction and take care of the drain so

Yes, thank you. No tax impact to the citizens.

Exactly. What's that? No tax impact to the citizens at all.

No tax impact to the citizens. That's raised through the mechanisms through NABC at the state level.

Thank you.

Yeah, that's great. As you saw in the State of the City, no new taxes. No new taxes. So we're trying to be creative and find partners and keep working. And like I said, collaboration. is the new currency, right? We've got to keep working with our partners. And every time we do, we get a win. We partnered with the surrounding communities. We won the radioactive waste lawsuit. We partnered with Dana Nessel. And so far, we won the DHS lawsuit. So stay tuned for more information. The next report I have on that is from one of our young ladies. It's around Ramanasala. It's one of our young Girl Scouts. Give it up for River. She has a presentation for you.

Hello, my name is River Lipkowski and I'm with Girl Scout Troop 77984 and I'm working up to earn my bronze award for Girl Scouts. To earn that award, I need to do something for my community and I choose to help the animals of the city. I am building a pet pantry to help people get supplies for their pets and if they need some. I have had the building donate and now I need donations for shelving and pet supplies. I am also accepting pet supplies donations.

Hey! Where do they have to donate to? Where do they take donations to?

We have a QR code in you can use the colored bronze account or in City Hall, go in City Hall and use the bronze accounts. Okay, great.

Anybody have questions?

Is River? Yes. For River?

Chair, so you're accepting supplies along with money donations? Yes. Okay. And how long is your project going to last?

It's going to last for a really long time. Like, it's supposed to, like, stay in the city for a really long time. So it's, like, for people who need stuff, like, over, like, decades or something. So I'm going to have work on that.

Okay. So the project, though, for you to earn your badge. Yes. It's just the process of getting it all started.

Yes. Okay.

Nice. All right. Great job, River. And you said the cue card code we can get in here at City Hall?

I believe so.

Okay. Okay.

We also have flyers, too.

Okay. Yes. Yes. Okay.

Thank you. Great job.

Representative, great job. We've had a couple meetings where we talked about the construction and how she's going to build it and how she keeps rodents out and how she keeps everything dry but makes it accessible. So when she comes in with her plan, it hasn't been easy for her. We've been grilling her. We know that I come from the building department, so we want to make sure this thing is built to code. She's doing a great job. It's not just going to be a cakewalk. And I did tell her if she's got her goal of how many dollars, and I said, if you can get half of that, I'll give her the rest of the half of the way there, and I'll match the dollars that she gets. So please, if you're watching, contribute to River's cause. Please contribute. It's a food pantry for our pets and Romulus, and it's too big. Councilman Wadsworth isn't here tonight. I know, right? Exactly.

Exactly. No, great job, River.

Yeah, I smell another bingo or something. Thank you, River, for that. Thank you. I appreciate that. Oh, you have more? Okay. Thank you. And before I get into the action items, I would like to draw your attention to the screen for announcements from the Mayor's Office and Ms. Vanessa Tolliver.

Hello, I'm Vanessa Tolliver, and here are some events happening in Robles. No missed polka dots selling goose vendor market on Saturday, July 18th from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the historical park. Shop local vendor find unique treasures, and enjoy a fun day supporting small businesses. Join us for a fun summer evening at Eagle Alley on Wednesday, July 22nd from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Bring your lawn chair and enjoy live music, delicious food, family-friendly activities, and a great time with friends and neighbors. The next movie in our community will take place on Thursday, July 23rd.

Bring your blanket or

and join us for a free showing of Zootopia 2 at Elmer Johnson Park. Parking begins at 6 p.m. and the movie will begin at 7 p.m. Concessions will be available for purchase. Thanks, everyone, and remember to like and share us on Facebook and YouTube or visit our website for more information. Have yourself a wonderful night.

Thank you, Vanessa. And if you haven't had the occasion to check out the new Rombotron, as we're calling it, the new Movies in the Park device, our initial event was at the Coleman Center. incredible sound system. It lets them start the movies earlier. It used to be we had to wait until past my bedtime to start a movie. I think that's 9.30. But the new one allows us to start it earlier. It's more family friendly. The kids had a great time out there. And it's really a nice piece of equipment for our residents to come out and enjoy. So hopefully they'll find time to go attend that movie in the park. Action items for tonight. Arts Council Commission appointment. I'm hereby requesting approval to appoint Jennifer Frayer to the Romulus Arts Council with a term to expire on November 11th, 2027.

Madam Chair, I move to concur with the administration to appoint Jennifer Frayer to the Romulus Arts Council with a term to expire November 11th, 2027. I'll second.

It's been motioned by Mr. Jones, seconded by Mr. Wilhite, for the concur with the administration to appoint Jennifer Freer to the Romans Arts Council with the term to expire on November 11, 2027. Any discussion? Hearing none, Mr. Jones? Yes. Mr. Wilhite? Yes. Ms. Roscoe? Yes. Mr. Bullock? Yes. Ms. Afto? Yes. Chair votes yes. Motion approved.

Thank you. The next action item I have is for the 25-26 fiscal year municipal credit and community credit smart contract. I respectfully request City Council's authorization for the Mayor and Clerk to enter into the attached agreement for the community credit program and the local transit program between Smart and the City of Romulus for the 2025 and 2026 fiscal year.

Madam Chair.

Ms. Roscoe.

I'll make that motion to concur with administration and authorize the Mayor and Clerk to enter into the attached agreements from the Community Credit Program and the Local Transit Program between SMART and the City of Romulus for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.

I support that motion. Thank you. This has been a motion by Ms. Roscoe, seconded by Mr. Jones to concur with the administration and authorize the mayor and clerk to enter into the attached agreements for the community credit program and the local transit program between SMART and the city of Romulus for the 2025-26 fiscal year. Any discussion? Hearing none, Ms. Roscoe? Yes. Mr. Jones? Yes. Mr. Bullock? Yes. Ms. Abdo? Yes. Mr. Wilhite? Yes. Chair votes yes. Motion approved.

Thank you. The last action item I have up for council tonight is to continue that initiative to add rooftops to our community. So I respectfully request City Council award RFP 25-26-10 to DMC Consultants Incorporated for development of two city parcels located on Van Boren Road. If approved to move forward, the Community Development Department will take the next steps to facilitate the development of this product and prepare City Council property for disposition and return to the Honorable City Council for a final approval at that time.

Madam Chair.

Ms. Roscoe.

I'll make a motion to incur with the administration and award RFP 25-26-10 to DMC Consultants Incorporated for the development of two city parcels located on Van Boren Road.

I'll second it. Thank you. It's been a motion by Ms. Roscoe, seconded by Mr. Wilhite to concur with administration and award RFP 25-26-10 to DMC Consultants, Inc. for the development of two city parcels located on Van Boren Road. Any discussion?

Madam Chair.

Ms. Roscoe.

I would just like to make a comment that this is going to be housing. This isn't going to be businesses. It's going to be housing for residents or people that want to live move into Romulus.

Nice. Ms. Roscoe? Yes. Mr. Wilhite? Yes. Mr. Bullock? Yes. Mr. Jones? Yes. Ms. Abdo? Yes. Chair votes yes. Motion to approve.

Thank you. And that concludes my report for this evening. Thank you, Mayor.

All right, next agenda item number eight is the clerk's report. I do not have any action items, but I do have a few reminders concerning elections. First, the deadline for school board filing is July the 21st, and those who are interested can come by the clerk's office to pick up a packet. You can pay a fee or submit nominating petitions. next also July 20th is the last day that an individual can register to vote for this August election the date of the election is August 4th and the last day to register by mail or at the Secretary of State's office is July the 20th after that from July 21st through Election Day individuals will have to register with the city clerk's office and they must show proof of residency next beginning July the 5th through August the 2nd, early voting begins. So early voting will take place at the old 34th District Court building. The hours will be from 8 to 4 p.m. with the exception of Friday, July the 31st, in which the clerk's office will be open until 5 o'clock p.m. on that day. Also, that will be the last day, July 31st, that we can actually mail out absentee ballots to voters. Afterwards, voters are welcome to come in to the clerk's office and pick up a ballot. and they have to vote the ballot there at City Hall. Also, if you've already received your ballot, you have until and maybe, you know, you change your mind or your candidate, you've already voted and turned in your ballot and maybe your candidate has dropped out or something, you've changed your mind. Voters who have already turned in their ballots, they can they can spoil that ballot and request a new one, and that deadline is July the 24th. It has to be a written request, and they are able to spoil that ballot and receive a new one. And let's see, lastly... I believe that's it. Of course, the election is August the 4th, and we'll be making additional announcement the closer we get. But these are just some dates that are there that will take place before our next council meeting. So any questions, as always, they can contact the clerk's office. And all this information is on our city website as well. And with that, that concludes the clerk's report. Thank you, Madam Clerk. and we do not have a treasurer's report this evening and that will take us to the next agenda item which is public comment and This is the portion of our agenda for those who are in the audience that would like to address city council. And again, you can find the rules on the back of your meeting agenda to address city council. Raise your hand and after being acknowledged by our chairperson, approach the podium and you may state your name. You will have three minutes to speak, and any additional time will be upon the consent of the chairperson. Members who have already submitted a card will be called upon first. Madam Chair and Council, I do have three requests. The first request, I believe, is from Melody Simmons.

Okay, three minutes left. Last time it wasn't, I went way over, so I'm glad to see that. So my name is Melody Simmons. I am the chair of the Coalition to Shut the Camps. First and foremost, I want to thank the city council, specifically you, Mr. Mayor, for standing with us and standing against a concentration camp in our neighborhood. Nobody wanted it. I come to remind you, as you had already said, so I'm really encouraged to hear that you know the fight's not over. It's not done. Not until we have a deed of sale is that complete. I want to bring to your attention what happened in Roxbury, New Jersey. So there's seven other concentration camps that have been sold off alongside of Romulus. That one specifically, DHS said, never mind. We're going to use that as a concentration camp. So please do keep your eyes peeled. These people are liars. They are lying to our faces all the time. They think they have the rule of law on their side, but they're just breaking the Constitution left and right. So they're literal criminals. So I'm really, again, encouraged to hear that you know for sure we're not stopping. We're paying attention. We're keeping an eye. We're going to still be there. We're not going to be as big as a presence as we once were every Saturday. We're going to give ourselves a little bit of a breather. We've been there since February, as you guys Most likely, no. Simply, no, you don't. So I just want to, again, thank you guys for your work, for supporting us, for making sure that we are safe working. Well, not working with, but like, you know, outside of the ICE concentration camp with ICE agents all over it. We don't take kindly to each other. We'll just say that. I do have... a piece of paper here that has the information about Roxbury. I would like to give it to the council if the council is open to receiving it.

Yes, can you give it?

If there is extras, you can just hand them on back.

Thank you.

And if we do have to be out there again, I do look forward to keeping up a good relationship with you guys. So thank you so much again for your support.

And thank you guys for your part as well. We appreciate it. Thank you.

Grassroots movements, they matter. And this shows it because it's the cities that had pushback from the communities are the ones that got shut. And we've had big pushback here in Michigan and Romulus specifically, and we're going to keep that up.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Take care.

The next written request is from Shannon Whitus.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Shannon Whitus, and I'm on the board from the Coalition to Shut the Camps. I did want to take an opportunity to say thank you to all of you guys for participating in this fight with Dana Nessel, getting this stopped. I also wanted to thank all the other groups that came out, all the citizens, all the community members, everybody who just worked their butts off and showed up there every week. I'm just really scared it's not over. We've run the numbers. We have a fantastic strategist, and he's run the numbers. We are one county jail away from, if one county jail in Michigan says, nope, I don't want to participate with ICE anymore, then they're going to be hitting a brick wall with the number of detainees that they can house, and they're going to have to turn around and look and see where else they're going to open something in Michigan. They're running out of room. They've had such an upsurge in their ICE detainees that they're kidnapping that they're running out of room to put them. One county jail anywhere in Michigan says, no, we don't want to participate. They're out of space. They're going to have to open up something new. They already know what they can do in Romulus. And I'm scared to death they're going to turn around like they did in Roxbury. They're going to turn around and they're going to come back. We need to watch out for that. We can go and look at the government's numbers that they're reporting on their own, what they don't lie about, and see that we're in trouble. It's not over. And I want to let you guys know that we're ready to come back anytime you need us. There's not a lot that we can do legally, but we can put pressure. We got national attention. We got pressure from everybody. We were in Lansing. We were downtown. We were wherever we needed to be. And we're here if you need us again. And it's not over, so please keep fighting.

Thank you. And we just thank everybody for doing their part because every part fits. So thank you so much. Everybody's parts fit. Thank you.

I just wanted to add on that, you know, thank you for your support in doing it, and everybody fought it in the way that they felt that they had to fight it. Right. But also being respectful to the citizens of Romulus, too, and how you get, I mean, it's everybody's, you know, it's your right to protest something, and everybody did it in an orderly fashion, and we appreciate that, too. So you came to Romulus, you voiced your opinion, you were respectful, and you cooperated with the city, so thank you.

Yes, thank you.

Our next written request is from John Koski.

Mm-hmm.

We have John Tasky with the coalition as well, and I want to reiterate the thanks to the city of Romulus, to the council, and everyone that's made it possible for us. Your efforts made a difference with our presence there every Saturday. And that's one of the reasons why this community was one of those that was selected to be sold as opposed to continuing to become a concentration camp. Only seven out of the 11 were deemed for sale. Unfortunately, ICE reversed themselves on one of them on July 8th. After promising that it would be sold, they announced to the court that they would proceed with turning that into a concentration camp. In fact, for three times the number of people they initially had stated. The camp in Ramos potentially can hold 2,000 people, contrary to what they had advertised, which is 500. But again, they lie about everything. They could be lying to us now. They're saying that they're going to sell it, but we're almost at capacity at Baldwin and at the local jails. Their backs are against the wall to put these people, so they could come back at us. I'm not saying they will, but please be very diligent and keep an eye on them. We will keep an eye on them as well. We've been party to the lawsuit, as you have been. We listen. We go to the court. And you have counsel there. You have representation, and you have standing. Because we want that case to be nailed shut. Right now, the judge has issued a stay, Judge Jonathan Gray has issued a 60 day stay until September 5th. What happens between now and then could be anything, the best thing that could happen. is that they put a nail in it and say, you are going to sell this tomorrow. You can transfer that to GSA excess property for disposal tomorrow. Or even better, remunerate the city of Romulus what they did to you. Toyota was going to buy that place. That would have been hundreds of good paying jobs. That would have been a good corporate citizen paying taxes, not just once, but ad infinitum. That's a lot of money. And what are they doing with it? They ought to turn that property right back to the city of Romulus. And you ought to insist on it. You have standing. You have counsel with the AG. Push it, please. That's the best avenue that you can do to make sure that you don't become another Roxbury. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Our next written request is from Michael Calabrese.

Come here to not to annoy you guys. Trust me, I don't want to be here. I just got off work. Apologies for the work attire. So recently, the city of Westland canceled their flock program, citing they were listening to their constituents and also the fact that it's a data issue. It's a privacy issue. It's an ice issue. They work with ice. So I personally. I also came here to speak about Alex Karp again. Just a little bit, just to inform you guys, if you're going to use this technology, you should know a little bit about the guy. He's friends with Peter Thiel. I don't know if you know anything about Peter Thiel. Takes blood injections. Kind of sounds like a horror movie monster, but you're like, oh, yeah, that's weird. So they're both friends with Jeffrey Epstein, and I personally don't think that the country that did nothing about Jeffrey Epstein and his friends should be given The ability to watch its citizens like that if they're not going to protect us or our children when monsters do things. I personally think the technology would be much easier when it comes to disappearing people. I would rather let some dangerous criminal come and attack me than the government because at least I can defend myself against the dangerous criminal. If the government does it... I'm pretty much screwed. So yeah, I just don't feel safe with this kind of technology. And I really do think you guys should know a little bit more about Alex Karp and Peter Thiel. Creeps. Creeps, man. You really should. I don't think that they're good people. There's other technology you can use. You don't have to use Flock. I like the idea of being... Having a dragnet surveillance, I was always told China, I'd own nothing and, you know, it's a surveillance state, but I kind of own nothing here and it seems like it's growing into a surveillance state. And I get it, things are dangerous. I watched my neighbor's lady's face get beat in by her son's baby mama like a month and a half ago. There's crime. There's no doubt that there's crime out there. I don't see much of it because, I don't know, I guess I work too much. I'm back at work, so you won't see as much of me complaining and trying not to bother you. But, yeah, you should definitely look up Alex Card with them. Also, shout out to my homies over here that have been doing some work. They went to Lansing with me to deliver letters to Gretchen Whitmer to say, you know, do your job. And I guess they kind of did. I still... I don't know, I don't really feel too much hope, but yeah, hope things change and hope things, appreciate you guys.

Thanks, Michael.

The last written request is from Mark Lukowitz.

Good evening, counsel.

I was going to cover this about a month ago and wasn't prepared, so tonight I hope I'm prepared. This is roundabout observations, presentation around the city council. It was in the last year, or the beginning of this year, that I learned that a roundabout was being considered for the five-point center section. When roundabouts started to appear in Michigan, I don't believe that there were any public service messages regarding how they operate. The only way I learned that they work was by attending a driver's refresher course over years ago. At that seminar, the facilitator presented a video which was produced by a state police department on the West Coast. It made it very clear how they work. I do not recall the Michigan Secretary of State publishing such a video to be viewed on television as a public service message. That certainly would have been helpful. Another thing, I went with my dad, I think, back in 1968 to Boston. They had rotaries back then. In the meantime, I observed many roundabouts and there were many different designs. In Daytona, Florida, in a gift shop area where trucks would not travel, they simply put a large pre-pass flower pot in the center of the intersection and had an instant roundabout for cars, vans, pickups, and SUVs. Those did not require any changes to the road. Traveling west on I-96 past Novi, if you get off at the Kensington Road exit and drive about a mile north, you will come to a very mellow roundabout. It is possible you will not see another vehicle at that intersection. I use that roundabout to go west on Jacobi Street to get to my daughter's house. It is a perfect application for a roundabout because it's in an isolated area with very little traffic and no pedestrians. If you go to Brighton, Michigan, by the way, use 23 North and get off at the Lee Road exit, it will take a lot of practice to get where you want to go. There are double roundabouts on the east and west side of the expressway. So to get from one side of the expressway to the other, you have to pass through all four of them. And the US-23 ramps are also incorporated into them. When I was on this roundabout last week, I noticed it would be possible to make a right turn onto U.S. 23 northbound exit ramp by accident, and you could end up going the wrong way on the highway. It's going around the roundabouts, and all of a sudden, do not enter. I noticed that some of the roundabouts, there's a gentle curb design for semi-truck trailers to roll onto, with a regular curb at a smaller diameter, which is meant to have And not have any type of vehicle over that I did briefly look at the plans for the community For this roundabout for five points at the Community Development Office also discussed this matter with Roberta's Captain and Jerry frayer and talking to the business owners in that area I learned that they were well informed by the city and had attended several meetings.

You need more time. I

Can I continue? Yeah. One more minute.

Okay.

Okay. Okay. These are my opinions. The main thing is that pedestrians should not be crossing the circle in order to go into the center of the roundabout. So there should not be benches or anything to create a parkway setting in center. With the current intersection, I believe that the pedestrian can cross safely. Crossing the roundabout is more hazardous. They are designed for traffic to yield only and keep There are several kinds of warning lights for pedestrians crossing at a roundabout, but drivers don't always obey them and may also find them to be confusing. In Speedway, Indiana, five roads come together at the main entrance to Indianapolis Speedway. It was changed to a roundabout. After that roundabout was installed, they tried to use a pedestrian crossing. There are signs posted that instruct the cars to yield to pedestrians. Those signs were ignored by the drivers and I had a hard time crossing safely. In general, people seem to ignore pedestrians. They don't understand they have the right of way. This happened to be that roundabout in Indianapolis. got two roads leading in, you know, like supposing that you've got a median, two ways, then the pedestrian crossings are right here, because you would never want to cross in that center, okay? So, Province with the five-point intersection. In the mid-1960s, I believe the five points had a blinking light fixture above the intersection with just four lights. Some were green, some were yellow. It was kind of confusing, but maybe it had something to do with river drive being the main road. If you only had four roads to deal with, always stop is the best. Now, if you're a Goddard road, it states no turn on road. The dedicated light on Osgoode has a red traffic light and a sign that says right turn only. That light is solid green when the Goddard light, solid red, rather, when the Goddard light is green. And those roads are almost parallel to each other. There should have been a sign on Osgoode that states right turn allowed on blinking red only. When driving north on your overdrive, if you look down at the pavement, the painted arrow in the left lane indicates that you can go straight or make a left turn. People usually interpret that that they don't have to be able to go on to Osgoode Street. I personally consider that to be a left turn and I should yield. If you look to the sign above you, that instructs you to make a left turn only, a mixed signal. So that arrow should have only been painted for a left turn only. There are also currently four choices when traveling north on Herbert Drive, which is probably the safest thing. You go right on Grant, slide right to Goddard, Yield, if you go straight on the isle, it's going to left turn on your room drive. I'm worried about the impact to the current businesses that depend on that intersection during the construction of the roundabout. And, of course, this roundabout would need to be mainly constructed to the west due to the close proximity of the two repair facilities on Guided Road. I only need 30 seconds. 30 to wrap it up. Okay. So in conclusion, I've thought about how this intersection could be made safe without any road work. I just figured it out last month. I've been looking at this for years. It's so simple. Four reds and a green. It's currently the shortest light that I know of in about 20 seconds. So picture this. I'm at the red light. I've got to wait my turn to go. And I have to wait 20, 40, 60, 80 seconds. And at each spot, you've got the total right way to turn anywhere you want. So that could repeat in a clockwise pattern or counterclockwise pattern. Once everybody got into it and used to it, it'd be good. I know that there are plans to get it. There's already the grant in place, Mayor, or not. So it's going to happen for sure. At this point, yes. Okay. What about the property? Does it have to be taken by another domain?

So, Mark, can we get this on the unfinished business? He's going to do some of the unfinished business. Yeah, we'll do it on the unfinished business. Okay.

I'm trying to buy it out right first. Okay. Any questions, anybody? Thank you. Thank you.

That's the last written request.

Anybody else from the audience? Ms. Diane? Yes.

Hi.

How you doing?

Good evening. I just wanted to talk to you about Flock and other companies that run the ALPRs. I understand that we and Romulus have a lot of Flock cameras. My problem is that these are privately owned businesses. So they are not subject to the rules and regulations that the local police departments and the city have to follow. There are really few, if any, guidelines or regulations for them to follow. Any citizen that wants to pay their money, any agency can access information from them. And it's not just the license plates that they gather. They can see into your car. There's a whole privacy issue about using face recognition, which is historically inaccurate, especially for people of color. It's a horrible system. We've already seen many cases where they have used the facial recognition that have falsely accused people. One woman who was accused of a robbery, I think it was in Florida, who had never been to Florida and was several states away. So I don't think it's a very safe system for us to have in the city. Um, many communities are canceling their contracts. Westland, uh, the most recent one that I know of, Clawson voted not to renew their, um, flock contract based on a report that they did that revealed that around 1% or less than 1% of inquiries to flock came from the Claussen Police Department. So all that information was not going to Claussen. They weren't utilizing it. It was going to everyone else, agencies like ICE or DHS or other cities or private citizens or just whoever so um i really encourage us to take a look at this and rethink our commitment to having flock in our city thank you thank you diane anyone else from the audience please not going once going twice closing that up

Great. Number 11 is unfinished business. Through the chair.

Ms. Abdel?

Yes. Last meeting when the vote was on, well, considering the land that's going to be used for the truck stop, it was brought up by someone why that why the land, the property, had gone down 80% in value, and you were going to look into that. And I was just wondering if you could report back on that for us.

Yes, we're going to have our city attorney respond to that on unfinished business during this report. So first thing I had up here was the comments about the roundabout. It won't be eminent domain. The city first tries to secure property through the proper process. If it becomes a contention there, then we might proceed that legally to move that, but yes. And that is a dangerous intersection, which is why we received a $2 million grant to build a safety. So there will be more learning pieces to come under to teach us how to use these roundabouts. And also, we have had several meetings with the downtown businesses. We're hypersensitive to making sure these people who have a foothold down there and are starting to rebuild are going to be minimally impacted as we can. So we're working closely with those to communicate that. But that's an update on the roundabout. And the attorney, you want to?

Yes, through the chair to address the council person's question. So at the last council meeting, questions were raised about the recent reduction in the assessed and taxable value of property associated with the proposed pilot travel center project. The city reviewed the available property records, assessor information, ownership history, and related documents to better understand the basis for that change. Based on that review, the city does not have information indicating that the reduction was connected to the recent project approval granted as part of any pilot related action or, as the council would be well aware, approved by city council as a discretionary tax incentive or special tax break. The available records from the review of the records that the city has, and the assessor particularly, indicate that the valuation change occurred in 2023 after the property was acquired through the Wayne County tax foreclosure process and after airport-related avigation easement restrictions were amended and recorded against the property. Those restrictions at the time limited potential uses of the property and appear to have been considered in the assessor's valuation determination at that time. The reduction did not occur because the property became exempt and the information reviewed does not show that the current owner requested or received a special reduction from the city. The reduction appears to have resulted from the normal assessment process and the legal restrictions that affected the property at that time. So going forward, the property will continue to be reviewed by the city's regular assessment process, just like other taxable properties in the city, including a review as a result of any future development of the property. So it just looks like it became available. The assessor did a review at that time. It doesn't appear to have been prompted by anyone or anything other than a normal review process that the assessor does. There was the abrogation easement that existed at the time that was amended and put on the property, which significantly affects the value of the property and the use of it.

Through the chair. So that accounts for an 80% reduction because that's what it was.

So, Council Member, I'm just, we do the city review. I think based upon the review with the abrogation easement, I think it's significantly, I think it affects construction, including the plants that can be on the property. I think it was virtually unbuildable.

According. No, no, according to the landowner, came up to me after the meeting and according to him, he said the property was contaminated. That's why. It reduced if it is contaminated. What do we? What kind of responsibility do we have? Is that true? Number one, number two, shouldn't we make sure that it's not contaminated before any building is done there?

Sure. I don't know the answer to that question. And with respect to the property information that we had, I don't think we had any information that it was contaminated. Unless there's something else.

No, I've never seen any official documentation that stated that it was contaminated. We know that the DPW used to be on this site. So there could be some possibilities with the fleet being over there for years. But that's up to the owner of property to do that. They've got to satisfy those requirements. Okay.

I just don't see that this justifies the 80% reduction in taxes and assessors.

So through the chair, that would be for the assessor. We have no idea what the diminution in property would be.

It seems very suspicious. 80%.

Thank you. Thank you. Any more unfinished business?

Number 12 is new business. Number 13 for approval is warrant 26-13.

Through the chair.

Yes, I have to go.

I'd like to make a motion. We pay warrant 26-13 in the following amounts. General fund, $247,917.25. Major street fund, $47,120.48. Local street fund, $9,724.28. Public safety fund, $59,723.83. Cable TV, $3,014.38. Merriman-Rose Special Assessment, $17,856.79. Street Lighting Fund, $43,639.32. Community Employee Activity Fund, $492.69. Garbage and Rubbish Collection Fund, $68,540.40. Tax Increment Finance Authority, $464,644.08. Downtown Development Authority, $8,649.54. CDBG, $162,547.65. Michigan Indigent Defense Fund, $13,849.32. 911 Service Fund, $3,530.96. Drug Law Enforcement Fund, $460.46. Law enforcement federal, $32,483.67. Library fund, $10,555.78. Water and sewer fund, $437,150.24. Motor vehicle, $46,454.23. Technology services, $26,475.78. Retiree insurance benefits, $142,360.81. Proposition and Liability, Property and Liability Insurance Fund, $8,749. Revolving Fund, $30,281.99. Impressed Payroll Fund, $312,173.41. Totaling All Fund, $2,198,396.34.

Second.

I'll support that.

Thank you. It's been motioned by Ms. Abdo, seconded by Ms. Roscoe to pay for the approval of warrant number 26-13 for checks presented in the model of $2,198,396.34. Any discussion? Hearing none, Ms. Abdo? Yes. Ms. Roscoe? Yes. Mr. Wilhite? Yes. Mr. Jones? Yes. Mr. Bullock? Yes. Chair votes yes. Motion approved.

Number 14 is communication.

Really quick, I don't know who did the backdrop. It might have been Mike. That's me, though. So thank you if it was Mike or whoever did that. It's really nice. Thank you.

If there's no further communication, number 15 is adjournment and the time is 8.43.

So moved.

Support.

Motion by Mr. Jones, seconded by Ms. Abdo for the adjournment of this meeting. Mr. Jones. Yes. Ms. Abdo. Yes. Mr. Bullock. Yes. Mr. Wilhite. Yes. Ms. Roscoe. Yes. Chair votes yes. We are adjourned. Thank you.