City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everybody. I'd like to welcome to Taylor City Council of July 7th. Maybe let's start with your call. Call the order at 7 o'clock or 630. And we get a pledge of allegiance.

And. by the allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Roll call, please. Mr. Patz? Here. Mr. Clark? Here. Mr. Armstrong?

Here.

Mr. Wallace? Here. Mr. Fede?

Here.

Mr. Thomas? Here. Mr. Johnson?

Here.

Mayor Woolley? Mrs. Bauer? Here. Mr. Dragone? Here.

We have a 4-0. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda?

Support. Actually, I'd like to make a motion to approve the agenda with amendments to item 6.4, amount not to exceed and item 7.6, amount of $17,100. Support. Motion by Mr. Walsh, support by Mr. Thomas.

Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes.

Yes.

All opposed, yeses have it, motion carried. 4.2, motion to accept the minutes of the meeting held June 16th, 2026, in dispense with oral reading. Can I get a motion?

Motion.

Motion by Mr. Armstrong, supported by Mr. Clark. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. Yeses have it, motion carried. Number five, we're going to go to Mayor's Communications.

Support. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes.

All opposed, yeses have it, motion carried. Motion by Mr. Thomas supported by Mr. Feeden. May we go to before we approve? Yes. Mr. Chairman, I do think you have your approval.

All in favor?

Yes.

All opposed? Yes.

Well, real fast, I just want to thank you for inviting me, sir. I do swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Michigan, the Charter of the State of Michigan,

Mr.

Chair, may I ask you to have this review read out in white. I hope that you can see my name here. I hope that you can hear me very well. Thank you.

Where is that one at?

the duties of the office, and by the fire.

to get me. Mr. Chairman, I'm sorry. I'm very grateful and I'm looking forward to appreciate it. Mr. Chairman, also, I'd just like to let the residents know that with the storm damage that happened over the weekend, our crews in the D.P.W. are going to be going through the neighborhoods that people can breathe the limbs that have fallen in their yards and stuff like that out of the curve.

We're going to try to pull aside with the trash pickup however we're putting on.

If we get in the eye, I can guarantee you that on that day, whether you have debris from the storm, storm-related damage, or basically the trees and shrubs and stuff like that, bring out what you've heard, and we will be coming around the city and helping out with that situation. Also, if we're able to do it, or you're in a hurry, our compost will be accepted, the storm debris, for the next couple weeks at an additional charge, and that's free for residents.

That's all I have, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Let's go move to 66.1. Kissan agenda. This these are normal routine items that we are proven in once one on motion. So if I could get a motion. Motion to approve the second concise agenda support motion by Mr Wallace supported by Mr Clark. Any discussion on it? Anything from the audience? Here are none. All in favor say yes.

Yes.

Motion passes. We're going to move on to the regular agenda, 7.1. We need a motion to go into closed-door session to discuss risk management claims.

Motion.

20-20. Support by Mr. Armstrong, supported by Gerald. Mr. Thomas. Roll call, please.

Mr. Patz.

Yes. Mr. Clark. Yes. Mr. Armstrong. Yes. Mr. Wallace. Yes. Mr. Thede. Yes. Mr. Thomas. Yes. Mr. Johnson.

Yes. We will be back.

How come everybody's mic is good except for Charlie? Can you hear it? Yeah. Thank you.

This is cool.

Here we go. Thanks.

I wonder if he doesn't need exactly an ankle better? Yeah. So anyway. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, did you? Okay. Yeah, yeah, one day, one day. Oh, anyway, so... Baker Street. Thank you. So, I've answered your question. I've answered your question. All right.

so um Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

We did a procedure on it. I should have done it. I should have done it. Thank you. What did they do?

What did they do? What did they do? What did they do?

What did they do? What did they do? What did they do? . . .

Thank you. . . . .

Thank you.

I don't know.

Okay. Okay.

It really is hard, you know, and it's been a long, long time.

And this is the way it is. It's a very different experience. I feel the same way. It's a shame that I'm here today. So, . . . .

I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah. Thank you. I want to hear it. Yeah. . . . . Thank you. um

Oh, yeah. Hey, Nick, did the text go out now?

Last week. Yeah.

Yeah.

um yeah

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

So, I might have to erase this in my editor. Is this here? I could, I could just, I could just, Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

We're hosting.

Yeah. Right.

Okay. Corner.

. . . . .

Why is it raining two days a week?

I just want to know. Yeah, okay.

No, I'm... It's a little bit more on time.

The one that you gave me. I think I gave you eight months. I made it. I made it. yeah yeah yeah I was ready. Yeah. Yes, I do.

I was just going to say, so you all have the hard days.

I have way too many.

um

I got stuck in this. OK, we're reconvening at 7.04.

And we're going to the regular agenda, 7.1. 7.2, motion to approve final settlement on a risk management claim 20306-20 as recommended by corporation council. May I get a motion?

Motion.

Motion by who? By . Mr. Armstrong? Roll call. Roll call, please.

Mr. Wallace?

Yes.

Mr. Thieme?

Yes.

Mr. Thomas? No. Mr. Patz? Yes. Mr. Clark?

Yes.

Mr. Armstrong?

Yes.

Mr. Johnson?

Yes. Six to one. Motion carried. 7.3, motion to approve final settlement for claim P6152400474 as recommended by corporation council. Mr. Thomas? Supported by? Mr. Armstrong. Roll call please.

Mr. Wallace?

No.

Mr. Thede? Yes. Mr. Thomas? Yes. Mr. Patz? Yes. Mr. Clark?

No.

Mr. Armstrong?

Yes.

Mr. Johnson?

Yes. Motion passes 5-2. 7.4. Motion to receive and file the first reading to amend Code of Ordinance, City of Taylor, Michigan by adding vertical Six non-emergency response, cost recovery for lift assistance and other non-emergency response to chapter 22 of the fire prevention protection code and protection of set code.

Motion.

Motion by Mr. Wallace. Support. Supported by Mr. Patz. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. Yeses have it, motion carried. 7.5, motion to approve change order for project 2025-05 for work performed by cutting edge restorations for siding gutters downspout, similarly front porch brickwork in the amount of $2,975 funded through the community development block grant rehabilitation account not to exceed program limit. So far. Motion by Mr. Armstrong, supported by Mr. Wallace. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed, yeses have it. Motion carried with 7.6. Motion to approve 0% interest deferred loan for project 2025-11 for work to be formed by Optimum Contract and Solutions for low quote for roof windows in amount of $17,100 funded through the Community Block Grant Relevation, not to exceed program limits.

Motion.

Motion by Mr. Armstrong, supported by... Mr. Patz, any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. All opposed, yeses have it, motion carried. 7.7, motion to approve 0% loan, deferred loan for project 2025-09 for work to be performed by optimum contracts low quote for roof gutters entry doors stone doors an amount of fourteen thousand dollars fourteen thousand four hundred twenty five dollars funded through the community block grant rehabilitation account uh not to exceed program limits may i get a motion motion by mr thede supported by mr armstrong any discussion hearing none all in favor say yes yes All opposed, yeses have it, motion carried. 7.8, motion to approve authorizing the mayor to sign a purchase agreement on behalf of the city of Taylor for the sale of said parcel for a total amount of $2,500 plus closing costs, proceeds to go to the general fund. Motion. Supported by Mr. Patz, supported by Mr. Clark. Any discussion?

Hearing none, all in favor say yes.

Yes. All opposed, yeses have it, motion carried. 7.9, motion to approve, motion to execute 2022 Substance Recipient Agreement for Wayne County Home Buyers Assistance Program between the city, between the charter of Wayne County and the city of Taylor for home funding in amount of $239,966. Motion by Mr. Thomas. Support. Supported by Mr. Patz. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. Yeses have it. Motion carried. 7.10, motion to approve Downriver Body Works low bid for auto repair to police vehicle 215 for a cost not to exceed $7,763 funded through the police repair and maintenance. Support. Motion by Mr. Thede, supported by Mr. Wallace. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed, yeses have it. Motion carried. Motion 711, motion to approve purchase of digital court notification system from Legal Notifications Services, sole source of the Mountain Arctic Sea, 13,644, funded through the Federal Forfeiture Justice. Motion. Motion by Mr. Clark. Support. Supported by Mr. Patz. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. Yeses have it. Motion carried. We're now in the open business. Do we have anything?

No, nothing online.

We'll take the audience first. Anybody from the audience?

Yeah.

So my name is Anissa Kaya and I live at 11009 Beachwood Court. So I don't know if you need to know that. I'm here for something that happens. So I'm here about the loitering and the begging that's going on on the streets in Taylor. So I was in the fast lane on Telegraph going towards North Van Boren. And there's always somebody begging in the middle of the median, which is dangerous. And I know I have a brother who was a policeman for 25 years, and he said that that is impeding traffic. So the guy in front of me, so the light's green, and the guy in front of me decides to stop and be kind and give the beggar money. And I almost hit them, rear-ended them. And so whose fault is that? Well, the fault is to the homeless person or to the beggar. I'm not going to call them homeless because most of those people that are begging on the streets look like able-bodied men. And I do have empathy for veterans that are homeless and that they beg and stuff like that. But this is ridiculous and tailored. So I almost hit the car in front of me because he stopped to give him a donation. And I did call the police and I did tell them about it. You know, they said, okay, thanks. You know, but the thing of it is, is that there should be no bagging in the median on the fast lane on Telegraph. And we need to have a sign there.

They need to say that there's no loitering and there should be a fine if they're doing that. There should be a fine if they're doing that.

The other thing is, I don't know if you guys have been to Detroit lately, but they're taking pretty good care of their begging situation. But when you get off at 9-4 and telegraph, it's unbelievable. The amount of beggars that are sitting there at the Blue Bridge on telegraph that are begging. I mean, I don't know about you guys, but I pay a lot of money in taxes in Taylor. I have a big house. I pay a lot of money. But aren't we looking at property value? Aren't we looking at our city should be cleaned up and we should be having these problems in the city of Taylor?

Ma'am, I'm going to have the police chief come up and he can come out. But I want to make a quick comment real quick. I agree with you. I don't like them there. They have a right to be there. But it's not only Taylor. It's everywhere and I don't know what the solution is, but the chief will tell us what our policies are.

Sure. Mr Chairman, Councilor Mr Mayor. Yeah, we agree. We all sit back and everybody's doing this. Yeah, we would love to not have any homeless any beggars in the city and there are some things we do that in particular area that cannot be in that median. We chase them out multiple times a week. It's like pushing water. You push them out and they wait for us to leave and they come back an hour later. So it is a problem. It is dangerous. I agree with you. The unfortunate thing is we do write them tickets for repeating traffic. As your brother told you, they don't show up. You can't get water from rock. It is what is they have nothing they claim and it's never ending cycle. We do have a program where we receive federal funding to try to get these people into treatment. Our officers are out there. It's funded again by the federal government where officers go out there and give them the option to get into housing and treatment for maybe mental illness or substance abuse. But unfortunately, it's continuous. I will agree with you. Every city I drive through has these people everywhere. So it's a tough issue. I'm not sure that we can handle it on a local level, but we'll do the best we can. We can redouble our efforts.

So my suggestion is I stopped doing it years ago. I will give my money to a place before I'll give it to those people. And we need to stop doing it. I know we feel sorry for them. Our hearts go out to them, you know, because some of them look really bad. You can tell they need it. But we got to stop because there's plenty of places that they can go to get help that could use our money. So people just need to stop.

Completely agree and some of them are is a grift where they live in a house together with five or six of them. They have a car absolutely parked around the corner and they're making hundreds of tax free dollars a day. If you have four or five people doing that, if they make three or $400 a piece, you can do the math how much they're making. So I would agree. I try not to give people money as well. If someone wants to get my water or food, but you'll see that a lot of times they will turn that down. Thank you. Go ahead.

She talked to him and asked him if he had any papers to offer of help.

i'm sorry i didn't catch that first yes we do surprisingly yeah we have put a number of people into treatment it tends to be a little bit less of the homeless more of the ones that have substance abuse problems so yeah our federal grant has actually done a really nice job of getting some of these people into treatment so words out um But we do run into the same ones a lot. And they see us coming and they start flagging us away. We already know. But, yeah, we will continue to monitor the situation, do the best we can. Trust me, I know it's aggravating. I really do. And I empathize, especially with the trash being left there. I know our DPW has come out and cleaned up the mess a number of times. So it's really true to make it, sir.

So they put a sign there and they get a volume of that.

Yeah, sure they could, but the signs aren't going to help them. It's already illegal to do where they're at. You can beg. It's completely lawful, but not in the roadway. That's where you run the problem. The center median there is not an area, nor can they come out into the roadway and do that. Those are all violations, and we would write those as simply impeding traffic. It's just a civil infraction.

Chief Blair, I'm going to disagree about it. People who are in the mediums are part of the problem. The people who stop traffic for cars. So would it be reasonable that if there happened to be an officer in the area and they saw somebody holding up traffic, you say, I understand you can't get blood from a rock, but the driver more than likely would be somebody who would feel compelled to actually pay a penalty. Is it illegal for them to hold up traffic?

Yes, it is. They're impeding the flow of traffic as well. I can't recognize any instance where we've actually done that.

But yes, it is. I mean, you know, whatever, look how they got Capone. Anytime there's a problem we want to solve, but due to civil liberties, we can't do it one way. There might be another way that would let people know that, I'll tell you one thing, you don't want to stop traffic in Taylor by doing this. Because there are many wonderful ways that we have to help people who need help. And the programs that you're doing are very good too. We're trying.

It's not perfect, but we are trying. And I agree. Your complaint is legitimate. Thank you.

When I get a grad settlement, is there a way to get a permit to get a grad settlement? Why do you not buy a permit once a month? I don't know.

All these things have to be determined from the situation.

Very true. You know, just like she said, we need to take them for learning, for learning, for being traffic. They would have been very strong. Uh, you know, maybe never had the time to show up either.

This are all. Radio long.

try to monitor. And then, you know, sometimes you really want to, just like she said, not work. The biggest thing that I tell people on a regular basis is just stop, you know, big people, stop doing it. Because, you know, if they find their job, they're going to all over again.

It's everything.

If it isn't, you can't do seven, she can't do maybe two, seven, five. It's all over. Oh, I feel for the people giving them. Because they're being kind.

And they care about them.

Well, that's the issue. People down the river tend to be very generous.

Yes.

You know, and, you know, we just got to stop. Give it to the church. Give it to the fish and loaves. Give it to those people so that we can help them the other way, you know.

Well, maybe we can get our own newspaper and our paper. I mean, I don't know.

I mean, that's a suggestion. So it just makes Taylor look trashy. Especially if you're from out of town and you're coming off a 94.

Oh, yeah. Well, it's 275 and Ford Road, Canton there.

Yeah.

You know, same thing.

Okay. Thanks for listening.

Thank you. Thank you. Anything else from the audience? Anything from the council?

I can call Guido for a minute. Some questions for Guido.

evening moving along very efficiently the BMX pump track started to get installed this week I apologize so the parking lot should be taking place in the near future the sliding hill is getting shape they started that today who met with an England civil a lot of drainage issues were identified and They're going to start installing the infrastructure to properly move that water. I know people are really concerned about that. We did say that the project was not completed, so just hold tight. So those items are all being addressed. Hopefully within the next month and a half, we're really at a place where the road can go in and the park can open. So if you guys get a chance and want to take a visit, just let me know.

question I had was the pickleball courts in Heritage Park.

Yes sir, they acid etched them yesterday, so Tuesday of next week they'll start to put the paint on them and striping them for pickleball use and the fence will go up pretty quickly and then the asphalt paths will be there to tie the walkways into that so folks can, they're accessible to the public.

Are the residents responsible for their own equipment when they come in?

They'll have nets and courts, paddles yes, we won't have paddles for them. Most of those who play competitively and not competitively like to have their own stick anyways. So I'm sure everybody has those and they are pretty, they just like any other sport, there's the entry level models and then there's all pro models.

Thank you.

Yes, sir. You guys have a good night.

Thank you. Anything else from the council? Mr.

Chair?

Yeah.

I actually have a we have a question for listen today on a solicitor's license active. They do not have license or they have contact with my office regarding my people one.

Just let us know or monitor.

They show up at your door and they should be wearing a piece of paper, a city dealer license after they are individually background checked. So they should be and you do have no solicitors in my office all the time. They don't listen and read. I will remind them to consider if I'm going to be less than scoreless. You can remind them to get off your board if you're coming back in 12 hour reports. just to let people know that there is a importance that we should value self-improvement, or we should value our students too. So, you're my office. As you can tell, it's at noon right now. If you request to vote and have not received it, please come out and vote. You're welcome. Please reach out and we'll tell you how to get one. Early voting will start July 25th.

It goes through August 2nd.

8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays, and then 9 to 5 on Wednesdays Friday. and also licensing your golden hair color accuracy test will be tested on the equipment on July 16th at 4-3 p.m. in the meeting center. If you've never been, it's very interesting to watch. I definitely encourage you. This is a lot of work, a lot of effort. It does an amazing job explaining how it works, how the machines work, how you test it. Thank you. Anything else for the council? Hey, Sharon. Summer tests are going out.

So one other thing real quick. You know, we just had the holiday. We had a big storm. On top of that, we had seven water main breaks. And not everybody's going to agree, but I think our departments did a wonderful job. Not everybody's happy. I understand that. But as far as I'm concerned, they went above and beyond to get things in order on a holiday weekend. So thank you to the departments for everything you've done. Pretty bad, I'll accept the motion motion to adjourn. Most of my Mr Wallace supported by. Mr Armstrong. All in favor. All opposed. I have a motion carry. Thanks everybody.

Thank you.