City Council - Regular Meeting

Order at 630. And we need to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Can I get Madam Clerk to do that for us? Roll call please.

Mr. Smith.

Here.

Mr. Clark.

Here.

Mr. Armstrong.

Here.

Mr. Wallace. Here. Mr. Thede.

Here.

Mr. Thomas.

Here.

Mr. Johnson.

Here.

Mayor Woolley.

Here.

Mrs. Bower. Here. Mr. Dragoni. Here.

We have a quorum. Item four is a motion to approve the agenda.

I'd like to make a motion to approve the agenda with amendment to item 6.1 to read motion to receive and file the first reading up. And the addition of item 6.24, motion to go into closed session to discuss strategy on pending litigation. and add item 6.25, motion to approve the recommendation of Corporation Council in closed session on claim number QL1099. Support.

A motion by Mr. Wallace, supported by Mr. Thomas. Any discussion? Anything from the audience? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed? Yeses have it. Motion carried. 4.2. Can I get a motion to approve and accept the minutes of the meeting held July 21st and dispense with oral reading?

Motion. Support.

Motion by Mr. Armstrong, supported by Mr. Clark. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed, yeses have it. Motion carried. Mayor's Communications.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Item 5.1 is a motion to receive and file the recognition letter honoring Robert Burgum.

Motion?

Support.

Motion by Mr. Thomas, supported by Mr. Clark.

Any discussion? Mr. Chairman, I received an outstanding story about an individual here in the city of Taylor, and I thought it deserved a letter of recognition, so if it's okay with you, I'm going to read that real quick.

Please do. Actually, I'd like Mr. Burgum to come down and stand at the podium, be recognized.

It is with great pride and admiration that we recognize Robert Burgum for his outstanding dedication, perseverance, and accomplishments through Special Olympics. For nearly 25 years, Robert has been an active Special Olympic athlete. competing in the variety of sports while demonstrating determination, sportsmanship, and an unwavering commitment to doing his best. Throughout the years, he has inspired everyone around him with his positive attitude, hard work, and love of competitions. In 2025, Robert achieved an extraordinary milestone when he was selected as one of eight athletes from the entire state of Michigan to represent Team Michigan at the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games in Minnesota. This incredible honor reflected years of dedication and countless hours of training. Robert spent an entire year preparing for the opportunity of a lifetime. When it was his time to depart for the games, Robert and his teammates were honored with a police escort to the airport. They were boarded onto a private jet bound for Minnesota. They stayed in the residence halls at Minnesota State University, joining thousands of athletes from across the nation. In 2026, Special Olympics Special Olympics USA game made history as the first USA games to be fully televised from the opening ceremony through the closing ceremony, allowing the nation to witness the incredible talent, determination, and spirit of the athletes. Competing in athletics, track and field, Robert delivered an outstanding performance. Although he never competed in the 400 meter dash before, he finished fourth and achieved an incredible personal best by improving his time by 15 seconds. He also earned a silver medal in the 50-meter dash and proudly captured a gold medal in the 200-meter dash, standing atop of the podium as the national champion. Beyond the medals, Robert embraced everything that the Games had to offer. One of the favorite experiences was trading pins with athletes from different states, creating lasting memories and celebrating the friendships that make Special Olympics so unique. Perhaps the greatest gift of the week was the bond formed among Team Michigan. Although the athletes came from communities across the state and barely knew one another before arriving in Minnesota, they quickly became more than teammates, they became family. The friendships, encouragement, and shared experiences they created will last a lifetime. Robert's journey is a powerful reminder that success is measured not only by medals, but by courage, perseverance, dedication, and the ability to inspire others. His achievements have brought tremendous pride onto his family, his community, and the state of Michigan, and everyone who has had the privilege of cheering him on. Congratulations, Robert. Thank you. This is an incredible accomplishment. Your determination, heart, and sportsmanship have inspired all of us. We celebrate your achievement and look forward to watching you continue to accomplish great things. With sincere admiration and congratulations sincerely, Timothy Woolley, Mayor of City of Taylor, and all of these gentlemen and ladies as well. Thank you.

Lowered a little bit, so there you go.

We don't want to cut off your face.

Yeah. Okay, guys.

We have a motion by Mr. Thomas supported by Mr. Clark. All in favor? Yes. All opposed? Yeses have it.

Motion carried. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you again, Robert. 5.2 is a motion to approve the reappointment of Rich Pratt to the Housing Commission for a five-year term to expire on August 5th, 2031.

Motion. Support. Motion by Mr. Patts, supported by Mr. Wallace. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed? Yeses have it. Motion carried. Don't believe Mr. Pratt's here. I didn't see him. I didn't hear him.

Item 5.3 is a motion to approve the reappointment of Pamela Purcell to the Historical Commission for a four-year term to expire on August 5th, 2030.

Motion to approve.

Second.

Motion by Mr. Thomas, supported by Mr. Thede. Any discussion? Is she here? I don't believe so.

I'm sorry. Right in front of our face.

Well, you got to vote first. All in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed? Yeses have a motion carried.

He's hiding down there.

Raise your right hand, repeat after me. I, Pamela Purcell, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Michigan, the Constitution of the State of Michigan, the Charter of the City of Taylor, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of Taylor Historical Commissioner for COMMISSION MEMBER OF TAYLOR, HISTORICAL COMMISSION MEMBER. ACCORDING TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY. ACCORDING TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY. I'M TIRED, SO I'M SORRY.

MY WORDS WEREN'T COMING OUT.

THAT'S ALL RIGHT. MY WORD EITHER.

THANK YOU. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Mr. Chairman, item 5.4 is a motion to approve Douglas Rimel to the Tax Increment Finance Authority for a four-year term to expire on July 7, 2030.

Motion.

Support.

Motion by Mr. Clark, supported by Mr. Thomas. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. Yeses have it. Motion carried.

Item 5.5 is a motion to approve the Petting Farm Assistant Manager Personal Service Contract.

Motion. Support. Motion by Mr. Wallace, supported by Mr. Thomas. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed?

Yeses have it, motion carried. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There's one thing I want to talk about real quick, actually two things, but number one is we have the big project going on on 94. I know it's creating a lot of headaches for everybody, including myself, but Ajax and MDOT reached out to us today. Apparently, we have individuals that are riding back on the location where they're doing the cement mixing right off of 94 in basically Beverly. We have individuals that are riding dirt bikes and four-wheelers back into that area. They're riding up and down the hills of the gravel and the sand and everything. That contaminates that sand and stone. So I'm going to ask kindly that people over there please refrain from doing that. That's definitely trespassing. This can make this project go on a lot longer than anybody wants. So I can tell you that they do have cameras set up over there and we have pictures and they made it very clear that anybody caught trespassing back there will be held to the highest limits of the law. So again, we're going to ask kindly, please, if you live in that area, please don't ride your four wheelers or your dirt bikes back there because they are going to prosecute. But you're going to prolong a project that's going to drive everybody crazy here pretty soon. they're shutting 94 and rerouting it and everything like that so I just want to ask kindly you know and kind of warn everybody as well that those pictures were sent to us today and there's a lot of very good photos so I'd be very careful about doing that the other thing is is I just want to thank and congratulate our clerk's office for running an outstanding election yesterday I know she's absolutely exhausted. She was here all day and all night last night. So Cindy and her team did another outstanding job as well. So I just wanted to point that out as well.

Absolutely. One quick point on your discussion there. Even if you don't live in the area, stay off the hills. Absolutely, yeah, anybody.

Not supposed to be back there in the first place.

Okay, let's move to 6.1. Motion to receive and file the first reading of the zoning parcel 60-019-99-0029-000 and 60-019-99-0028-000 Southwest section TSR10E, City of Taylor, Wayne County, Michigan to be rezoned from single R1C, single family residential to I1, light industrial. The property is located on the northwest corner of Wick and Holland. Motion. Support. Motion by Mr. Thompson, Thomas, and Supported by Mr. Wallace. Any discussion?

Chairman? Yes, sir. I just wanted to point out that the Planning Commission recommends denial based on Wick Road being a two-lane road with a single lane that has 14 residential driveways backing onto it and three residential streets. Wick Road's limited capacity to handle additional truck traffic, creation of additional safety issues, and the infrastructure is not designed for the proposed industrial request.

Thank you. I just want to make a point that this is a receiving file of what the Planning Commission has forwarded to us. Any other discussion?

Just let me add to that, that this is the first reading of the proposed rezoning. No affirmative action is being taken on it tonight. It will have to be done at a future meeting two weeks or whenever this council decides to take it up again. So this is just the first reading to make the public aware of it.

Any other discussion from the council? Audience?

Yes. My name's Caitlin Elias. I'm an attorney at Dickinson Wright. We are the attorneys for the applicant. And at this point, we would just like to request that the board take, postpone any vote that they might take even beyond the next two weeks. Following the denial from the Planning Commission, we'd just like some time to go back and look at our application and see if there's anything that we can address before it goes before the board. So I want to say that before you took the time to open it up, but certainly let us know if you have any questions. Thank you.

I would like to get Laura Fell up here for one. But when do you want to postpone it? How long do you want to postpone it for?

We would love until the end of November.

Okay. I'm going to have Ms. Fell put in her input on it. Okay.

Hi. Good evening, Council Chair. Through the Chair, we've never postponed a rezoning to another time or a date certain before Of course, it's up to you. You do have the right to do that. However, it is in the middle of being in process right now. The zoning ordinance states that once Planning Commission is given a recommendation, it has to go to council twice. It's silent on the fact of postponing or not postponing, but I fail to see what the advantage would be to postpone it. Thank you. Any other discussion?

For the chair, Ms. Phil, from the time that they ask for a rezone, what is the limit of time before it becomes invalid?

Once they put an application into rezone, regardless of how it goes, they can't come back with another rezoning application for the same rezoning for a period of 12 months.

Thank you. I'll ask the question a different way. Okay. How long would this have to be postponed until it was stale, until it no longer had to be addressed?

The ordinance is silent on that.

It is silent. Thank you.

Any other discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. Yes. All opposed? Yeses have it. Motion carried. Roll call, please.

Mr. Thomas?

Yes.

Mr. Patz?

Yes.

Mr. Clark?

Yes.

Mr. Armstrong?

Yes.

Mr. Wallace?

Yes.

Mr. Thede?

Yes.

Mr. Johnson?

Yes. Thank you. Let's go to 6.2. Motion to approve two planning department employees to attend the Planning Michigan 2026 Conference in Kalamazoo for the amount of $1,816 plus out-of-pocket expense funded through the planning department conferences and training. Motion. Support. Motion by Mr. Wallace, supported by Mr. Patz. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed, yeses have it, motion carried. 6.3, motion to approve Downriver Body Works for the repair of Taylor Fire Department Ford Explorer in the amount of $8,357 funded through the fire department repair and maintenance. Motion. Motion by Mr. Waller, I mean Mr. Thomas.

Support.

Supported by Mr. Clark. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed? Yeses have it, motion carried. 6.4, may I get a motion to approve payment to Johnny Reed and Associates We're providing an investigating interview and advanced interrogation technique training for three detectives in the amount not to exceed $2,325 funded through MCOL's Act 302 State Training Fund.

Motion.

Support. 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. 6.5, may I get a motion to approve payment to the Defense Technology Training Academy for providing the less lethal training for two officers in the amount not to exceed $2,100 funded through MCOL's CPE Training Fund.

Motion.

Support. Okay. Motion by Mr. Thomas, supported by Mr. Armstrong. Okay. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed, yeses have it, motion carried. Can I get a motion on 6.6 to approve the signing of Clemmons five-year renewal agreement between Oakland County and the city of Taylor, sole source, for costs not to exceed $367,170 over a five year period annually of $73,434 funded through the General Fund Lease IT Technology. Motion. Support. Motion by Mr. Patz, supported by Mr. Wallace. Any discussion? May I get the chief down here? Just let people know what this is for. A lot of people don't know what it is.

Mr. Chairman, Council, Mr. Mayor, yes, this is a five-year contract. However, they're one year at a time. There's a 30-day out on both sides. Clements provides our computer-aided dispatch and records management system. We've looked for other... companies that can provide the service that probably triple the costs. Clemis has been a provider for us for over 15 years with very little issues.

So is this the company that you call or the technology you use to look up a license plate when you do a traffic stop? No, it's not. Okay, is it for other... I'm just trying to understand what it's for.

Yeah, computer-aided dispatch. It allows us, when calls for service come in, our officers enter those into the computer. There's software and there's systems that run that, and that's what it is. It's computer-aided dispatch. It keeps records of all the places that our officers are sent to. If we have calls for service, it tracks all of our incident reports. They're all held within a records management system. Okay.

All right, thank you. Any other discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed? Yeses have it. Motion carried. Let's move to 6.7. Motion to approve Huron River Watershed Council current vendor, the City of Taylor annual assessment in amount not to exceed $63,679 funded through the major and local roads fund. Motion. Motion by Mr. Thomas. Support. Support by Mr. Wallace. Any discussion? Mr. Thomas, any discussion? No. Okay. I'm good. All right. Any discussion from the audience? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed? Yeses have it. Motion carried. 6.8, motion to approve Cars Outdoor Service, current vendor, For the 2024 pavement joint crack and seal contract, sealing contract for a one year bid extension for amount not to exceed 390,000 funded through local street and major street and TBA funds. Motion. Motion by Mr. Thede. Support. Supported by Mr. Armstrong. Any discussion? So I assume that TBA were doing parking lots, city parking lots, okay. Any other discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed? Yeses have it, motion carried. 6.9, motion to amend CCR 3.96-26, audio concrete construction, current vendor for work to be completed the 2026-2027 fiscal year for amount not to exceed $1,915,000 funded through local and major roads. Motion. Support. Motion by Mr. Wallace, supported by Mr. Thomas. Any discussion?

Through the Chair, I'd just like to point out that these things that we're talking about right here, because of some very good work on the part of our Managers from DPW and other people they've managed to negotiate holding prices from 2023 I don't think anything in the grocery store say the same but because of their relationships they've done a fantastic job in managing the Keeping increases in the rates that were being charged for this work Any other discussion Here are none all in favor say yes.

Yes all opposed yeses have it motion carried 6.610, motion to amend CCR 3.97-26, Al's Asphalt, current vendor for work to be completed in the 2026-27 fiscal year in an amount not to exceed $2,595,000 funded through the local street funds and major street funds. Motion. Motion by Mr. Wallace. Support. Supported by Mr. Clark. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed? Yeses have it. Motion carried. We will move on to 611. Motion to approve engineer and service contract extension to current vendors for an additional three year period. Contract expires June 30th, 2029. Motion. Motion. Motion by Mr. Katz, supported by Mr. Armstrong. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed? Yeses have it, motion carried. I thought I was almost done. I guess not. We had 612, motion to approve PK contracting current vendor for additional three-year contract for amount not to exceed $160,000 per fiscal year funded through major and local funds. Motion. Motion by Mr. Thomas. Support. Supported by Mr. Armstrong. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed? Yeses have it, motion carried. 613, motion to approve Wade Trim, current vendor, to approve to perform project design for compost facility for amount not to exceed 270,000 funded through the Act 179 Capital Outlay Fund. Motion. Support. Motion by Mr. Thede, supported by Mr. Clark. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed? Yeses have it, motion carried. 614, motion to approve Wade Trim, current vendor, to perform the 2026 water distribution design amendment, Haskell. Marion Haskell Street, the design proposal includes design, construction, drawing permits for amount not to exceed $225,000 funded through the water supply capital outlay. Motion. Support. Motion by Mr. Armstrong. Supported by Mr. Thomas. Any discussion?

Through the Chair. Yes, sir. People don't see a lot of what goes on in the background, but this again, It's a representation of a good decision of trying to be responsible, fiscally responsible with our money. These streets are being rebuilt. Well, they were smart enough to realize that we had a lot of water main breaks over there. So our city managers thought it might be a really good time to redo the water mains while the streets torn up so we don't have to. tear up our new streets to fix broken water mains. So I think that, you know, we're credit to do. We should be very thankful they thought of that. Thank you.

Here's a chair. We did do egg off of Wick Road. And then when it came time to marry, that was when we made the decision to go ahead and do this first, if it was approved. And, uh, you know, like I said, with the amount of water main breaks we've had on this street, I know the street, the residents have been complaining about the street, but we don't want to waste the money. If we're going to have to continue water main breaks and tearing up new asphalt, So we're going to knock this out first and then put it in so their streets should be put in by either this fall, but most likely next year.

Okay, thank you. Any other discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed? Yeses have it. Motion carried. 615, motion to amend CCR 7.331-26 to add one additional member of the fire department to attend SWAT training in October at no cost to the city. Motion. Support. Motion by Mr. Thomas, supported by Mr. Patz. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed? Yeses have it. Motion carried. Item 16, motion to amend 2026-27 fee schedule to adopt new fee schedule for non-emergency. Is that supposed to be emergency?

Emergent.

Emergent response recovery lift assistant ordinance approved on 7-16-26. Motion. Support. By Mr. Wallace, supported by Mr. Armstrong. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed? Yeses have it, motion carried. 617, motion to receive and file applying for the State Department of Treasurer Revenue Share and Fire Equipment Grant capped at 50,000, non-matching grant. The grant will be utilized to purchase four lift pack 2035 cardiac monitors, enhancing our emergency response capabilities.

Motion.

Supported by Mr. Park supported by mr. Thomas and I get is this roll call no thank you all in favor yes all opposed yes just have a motion carried six point one five six point one eight motion to amend CCR six 254-26 city fee schedule increasing the amount of apartment inspection line fees from 150 to 175 per inspection.

Motion.

Support. Motion by Mr. Pat, supported by Mr. Wallace. Any discussion? Mr. Mayor, could you tell us and let the people know that we're getting these apartments and stuff inspected?

With the appreciation to y'all we created a separate department that basically we are focusing strictly on apartment rentals and We're hitting them and our inspectors do that mostly in the wintertime as well But we have a dedicated force now and it seems to be going really well And it looks like we might be even adding another inspector to complete these so we have a lot of apartments in the city and We have been behind on them, and we're amping up our inspection process, and a lot of people are very appreciative of that. It doesn't fall on the person renting the apartment, it falls on the people that own the apartments.

Thank you, sir. Any other discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed? Yeses have it, motion carried. 619, motion to approve this city assessor to transfer all water and sewer charges amounts which are delinquent for a period of six months as of June 30th, 2026 to the next available tax roll collections. The water and sewer department is directed to mail official notices to all affected accounts by September of 26. All past due bills not paid by November 26th shall be She'll have a 15% administrative fee add to the tax bill and entered into the next available role. Motion. Motion by Mr. Patz. Support. Supported by Mr. Wallace. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed? Yeses have it. Motion carried. 620, motion to approve McAllister Cat Low Bidder through Sourcewell Cooperative Bid to purchase a 938 loader in amount not to exceed $302,610 funded through Act 179 Capital Outlay Fund. Motion. Support. Motion by Mr. Thede, supported by Mr. Thomas. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed? Yeses have it, motion carried. 6.21, motion to approve payment in the amount of $16,199 to National Faith Home Buyers for the down payment assistance for home buyer 2026001 funded through the home grant. Motion. Motion by Mr. Thomas. Support. Supported by Mr. Wallace. Any discussion?

Through the chair, could we get a brief explanation of what this program is? And this is the first one, at least for 2006.

Yes, good evening through the chair. This is our down payment assistance program. It's funded through the Wayne County Home Consortia grant that we receive. And this is our first one presented. The program has been suspended for about four or five years or so. and we've just resurrected it and got all the funding in place and National Faith homebuyers was procured June of 2025 to do this program by the City Council and we're continuing with that this is our first application and completed DPA program a file and we hope that it's going to continue and We have grants in place that we'll be bringing forward to City Council for a few year period and keep the funding going as long as the program continues. It seems to be like it's going to be popular. So all of the information is posted on the National Faith Homebuyers website currently that would have all the information, the application and everything. So anyone who is interested in getting started with the program, we would direct them to the National Faith Homebuyers website. There will be information also posted on the city's website shortly that will direct prospective applicants to the National Faith Homebuyers. They are the entity that's administering the program. They do all the intake, all the applications and everything. They provide us with the packet. We present it to the city council for approval, and then the money comes out of the repayment will come out of the home grant.

Thank you. Through the chair. I just want to point out that this is grant money. That's given to us through CDBG It's not it's Wayne calm. I'm sorry won't you know, so it's not I don't want people to think we're using their tax dollars to do this This is money that's specifically given to us to allow this now. There's only so much money So once that money dries up, that's when it's either suspended or on hold and again the next block comes in. I

Not to make a correction, but it is our tax dollars, but it's not our budget. Right. But we'll take it. Right, absolutely. Absolutely.

Through the Chair. Everything's taxed. The formula you came up with that's on here, is it based on the amount of the house for the resident?

Through the chair the dollar amount for the payment It's not a formula again national faith homebuyers Everything works through them, but we've limited the amount of assistance to fourteen thousand nine hundred ninety nine and So that would be the one part of that. And then the $1,200 is the administrative cost to deliver the program that was procured national faith and that was approved last year. And that's in their contract. So that's basically their administration fee. So this would be that total full amount that's allowed and then the administrative fee.

And through the chair, I think there is a threshold of how much money you receive depending on the price of the home. Okay. Thank you.

And through the chair, I just want to clarify that's national faith.org. That's the website you're referring to.

Yeah, I believe that's correct. And there is a, uh, also if you go on that site, there's also a link within the site that goes right to the Taylor program specifically.

Thank you, sir. Any other discussion? Through the Chair, I'm really thrilled that we have this program, especially with the affordability of housing nowadays. Anything that we can do as a city to help first-time homebuyers with down payment assistance will go a long way toward that affordability.

Okay, all in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed? Yeses have it. Motion carried. Let's go to 622. Motion to approve attendance of two clerk office staff members at the summer 2026 Michigan Association Municipal Clerk's Education Day in an amount not to exceed $500 plus out-of-pocket expense funded through the general fund clerk office training and transportation. Motion. Support. Motion by Mr. Thede, supported by Mr. Clark. Any discussion? Any discussion, madam? All in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed? Yeses have it. Motion carried. So, at this time, we've got to go into closed doors, but we want to do... One more. Oh, got 23? Okay. All right. Apparently not.

Wait, I'm leaving.

Yeah, I'm not in a hurry to talk to him no matter what he says. Okay, motion to approve Downriver Body Works for the repair of Building Department Ford F150 Super Crew in the amount of $9,956 funded through the Motor Vehicle Equipment Repair and Maintenance.

Motion.

Support. Motion by Mr. Armstrong, supported by Mr. Patz. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say yes.

Yes.

All opposed? Yeses have it. Motion carried. How do you want to handle the... I would like to get open business for the audience before we go into... Okay. We're going to go to open business for the audience before we do the... So you don't have to sit here for an hour... This first lady is the most important, so pay attention everybody. Close attention.

Caroline Pat 6860 Jackson. I'm here to speak again of the wall that heals, which is a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It honors more than 3 million Americans who served during the Vietnam War and preserves the memory of the 58,281 service members whose names are etched in stone. As it comes to our community, August 13 through the 16th, this powerful exhibit will offer a place of reflection, education, and healing for veterans, families, and visitors of all ages. We are hosting that in Taylor. It moves around to different places. On the 11th, it is going to be coming from Monroe Myers on Telegraph. And it is going to be escorted by anyone, and we do have a lot already, that rides a motorcycle. So we call it kickstands are up at 12 o'clock in Myers parking lot. they'd like to people anyone could come to this anyone has a motorcycle down there about my Monroe and I mean in Monroe on telegraph at 11 o'clock 1115 could you have to pre register and sign papers and stuff. So that is on the 11th that will escort the trailer all the way down telegraph road and into heritage Park. It will be if you come off a party entrance you're going to go straight you will see it right on the grass area that is where it's going to be located in the park area we still need lots of volunteers there's volunteers to set up the wall on the 12th we have the 13th through the 16th we also have tours group tours that could be going on if you need a want to have a group together and you want to come and do a tour they the trailer itself opens up to an educational area so we will have people there they have pieces that were left at the real wall and they have nice story they have really nice stories regards to that you'll learn a lot so if you want a tour you can and also the volunteering part go to the wall that heals taylor.com that's our website the wall that heals taylor.com and it'll give you all the information about the escorting the volunteers or the tour come on out come on out and pay the respect that we have for our veterans from vietnam we also have some signs if you are a business owner would like a poster we have a very awesome speaker coming in on thursday is opening ceremonies at 10 o'clock and he's going to be there to be speaking so we have posters if you'd like we also have signs that go into the ground for any of those who are in a prominent area whether you're on a major road or whatever we will gladly come over and put those out for you too so thank you don't forget to come out thank you i just want to

I just want to add that if you've never been to D.C. and seen the Vietnam wall, this is the closest thing you'll get. It's unbelievable. It'll make the hair stand up on your arm.

Go ahead. Matt Stryker, 8914 Holland Road. First, I just want to thank you. The last time I was here, the oil drum on Holland Road has been cleaned up, and actually that whole area has been cleaned up, so the word Seems to be out that we don't want that as a dumping ground down on the little corner by the rail track. Unfortunately, it'll probably get trashed again. It probably will, but right now I'm going to take it as a win, so I wanted to thank you all for doing that. The second thing I would say is... we still have the barreling trucks going down at a high speed I don' t know how we could stop that I know that the police is trying to enforce that a little bit more which we' re thankful for but we don' t want the roads beaten up and I' m sure the wick road is pretty much the same way from 94 coming down to Holland road so hopefully I don' t know if we need to have something like one of those speed radar signs to show how fast you' re going I don' t know what the recommendation would be but it would be nice to see the trailers, the trucks and the commercial vehicles going down to slow it down a little bit in the 25 mile an hour zone. Finally, what I would like to say is from the like it on record with the playing commission from the last adjacent to the 6.1 agenda you had today I really was impressed with how respectful how the decorum was how they took the time to listen everybody that wanted to speak on the rezoning issue I very much appreciate that I very much appreciate their work I appreciate the Time that you give to listen to us as well on this whether it be two weeks from now or in November I wanted to thank you all for what you do because it's not easy a lot of people Don't credit their government their city councils or anything with a lot of things, but I have nothing but in the respect of for all of you because this process since May has been overwhelming and amazing. I also want to thank everybody that's come out to support this as well. It's amazing to me the turnout that everybody cares about this particular parcel in this particular area. And it just makes me very, very proud to be a part of a city that's motto is tailor-made for you. So I want to thank you all, and I want to thank you all very much. So thank you. Thank you. Through the chair.

I just wanted to make a comment that even before the planning commission met on this issue, people were tagging me, asking me to opine on an issue that eventually comes back to city council. And I put a statement out there that it's inappropriate for myself or any council member to opine on an issue that is going to become before the city council. And I just want to thank everybody for respecting that. They understood it. There's a process. The process was followed. And, you know, you have no idea what we're thinking. We don't live under a rock. You know, we saw the news. We saw what was going on. Just thank you for giving us the space that we needed to deal with the issue. I really appreciate that.

Through the Chair, that oil drum was much trickier to find, but we did end up finding it, so it got removed.

Yes, sir. Dan Murray, 24479 Chernick Street. Good evening, Mr. Chair, and through the Chair, good evening, Mayor, good evening, Council, and good evening, residents. I'm here today because I'd like to inform and express my concern that on July 25th Saturday Night with the crews unfortunately for that There was some wild shooting going on Behind our residents and other residents of the street that I live on in the Fairlane apartment area with that being said Mr. Chair through you if I could I have some pictures of my home and that I'd like to give to you to distribute. You can give it to Mr. Patz.

Okay.

Careful on that stop.

So through chair, one of the shooting rounds, the family and I were in our backyard, and the apartments are towards the back south of our residence. We had decided to come in about 10 after 9, and while we were in the house, we heard some shots go off, which sometimes normal is firecrackers, you know, because they do that all through. Unfortunately, we found out that the police were behind the house looking for shell casings, and numerous officers were out there, and they were taking pictures and retrieving things. So I went out back to my house and looked around. It was dark. I could not tell anything at that time. Well, the next morning, Sunday morning, I got up, went into the shower, and I looked down, and a piece of our shower tile off the wall was on the ground. So I went out, went to the back of the house. It was daylight, of course, and looked around. Finally, I saw it. It was about six, seven inches down from the soffit. It went through our siding. which that south wall is our master bedroom. It came through the wall, then traveled through to the adjacent wall, which goes into the master bathroom, into the shower. Luckily, it lost its impact and it was enough to knock a corner of the tile out onto the floor, so I saw that. Then our neighbor west of me, which I don't have pictures from him, but we both made reports to the PD. Okay. And they took pictures, of course. His house also received a bullet into his gutter. We're getting at our three-minute limit. Okay, so what I'd like to know, though, is who, Mr. Chair, can be involved to find out if the apartment complex fairing could possibly erect a cement wall as a deterrent. Now, anybody can shoot over that, but it would also, you know, become a deterrent for children that live in the area or even residents.

I would talk to the administration. Maybe after the meeting you could talk to them.

Yeah.

Point them in the right direction.

I don't know if we can, now that they've been there, but it's something we can discuss.

Yeah, just like to elaborate. So through chair also, because that one picture there, the house on the other side, Trinity also got shot.

I understand how serious it is. I really do. Because I was in a vehicle that was the window was shot out as we're driving over overpass when I was a kid. So it's very serious, and we can't tell him to do it, but the administration reaching through him is your best bet. Right.

Okay? Okay.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Would you like your paper clips?

Mary Susa 26640. I would like to know. What this is for? How much was spent on it? And what am I supposed to do with it? And are they coming back to ensure that I did whatever I was supposed to do so?

So those are backflow preventers. So what what they do It's a state law that all we have to protect the potable water in the city So those are supposed to go on your hose faucets outside That's just in case Now, you got to imagine this, that you have a hose on there, the water's on, and that hose is in a bucket full of soap or chemicals. And there's a negative pressure, and it would suck that bucket dry. And it's happened, and a lot of people have died because of that. So this is what they come up with about 25 years ago and it's a big big push throughout the whole United States Because that's just that's the smallest one There's backflow preventers that are this big that go on water main systems. Mm-hmm So this this to protect the water system. So all you have to do is screw it on your hose on your hose bib outside Okay.

Well, that would have been really nice to know had someone in I have no idea. I mean, it does even tell you, it says resident action. There's nothing on here that tells me where I'm supposed to put it. I mean, back of house, left side. I mean, they didn't do anything, so I wasn't exactly sure what it was for.

Yeah, the federal government and state is requiring us to pass these out and to start So they've been testing commercial for years now. Now they're requiring that everything be tested for residential every three years.

Which is okay, but if you don't give me, who knows absolutely nothing about some things, some instruction and some knowledge.

And I completely agree with you.

Then I have no idea what to do with this and it's just going to go to waste. Yeah. And so- That was kind of concerning. I just found it on the door, and I'm like, where's the information? What did they do? Said they went on my property. Did they go on the property, or did they just give it? You know, a little bit more communication probably would have been better because, like I said.

Through the chair, I agree. I mean, definitely it should definitely tell you what to do with those on that. I thought it would have that in there.

Nothing's marked.

When we first started this program, we were actually putting them on people's hose nozzles for them, but we started getting so many complaints about trespassing and everything else. That's why we went to this, just handing them at the door or on the mailbox or something like that. But if there's not anything in there, I know when we first started this program, it's probably been about a year or two now, we put a lot of information out there, but I'm kind of shocked that there wouldn't be more descriptive information on there. I guess I've never seen it.

No, nothing was marked.

It should definitely be able to tell you to put it on your hose nozzles or the spout.

I mean, I can assume where it's supposed to go, but that's not always the best way. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Showing my age again, many moons ago, I was one of the first backflow inspectors in the city. Okay. You were? Like with your phone?

Oh, yeah.

Was that? It taught me how to do it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's true.

Good evening. Good evening. I'm Cheryl Jordan, 11076 Morley. First, I'd just like to say to Mayor, Chairperson, and the Council, thank you for having me here. I wanted to say that, first of all, I really appreciate your meetings, and I attended the voter accuracy machine testing.

Oh, yeah, that's where I've seen you.

That was totally awesome. Was that amazing? Yes, it was. And just to be able to know that what's happening is fail-proof. It just made my boat feel very secure, so thank you for that, Cynthia. But of course, I have a concern. That's the reason I'm here. I've been living on Morley now for 25 years, and there's a lot behind my house, which is butting up against the Taylor Masonic Center. That area does not get mowed properly. Last year was the first time that we had this huge grapevine that grew across our property and city came out on August the 6th of 2025 and they finally cut it down. A year later, it has grown back with the vengeance. I'm 74. My two neighbors on either side of me are in their 80s, widow ladies, and we can't get out there and take care of that. I took pictures, but I didn't think to print them. I have them on my iPad, but it's so thick and it's so cumbersome. I went out there a week ago. try to cut it down because it's coming into my yard, and right now, it's coming back into my yard again. I'm just wondering, I pay my taxes, what can the city do to make sure that that area gets mowed regularly? Right now, it's like a forest back there.

I'm a little confused where it's at. Is this our piece of property? Yes, it is. Okay. I'll get with you after the meeting and get an actual address and make sure that... as we were supposed to maintain, we usually cut our properties roughly every three weeks and stuff like that. But if the growth is getting that bad and all that stuff, that's something.

Well, the grass is cut, but there's like a, for lack of a better term, this huge bush that's growing. And so that's not getting cut at all. Last year there was like a guy on a machine, almost looks like a forklift kind of machine. He came out there and he cut it all down and it was down to the ground. Now it's back again and it's overwhelming. Do I need to talk to somebody?

I'll get a more accurate address and stuff that way, but I can get with them, especially if it's our piece of property and it's infringing on your property, we definitely want to take care of that.

Okay, thank you. Any other open business from the audience?

Hello, everybody. My name is Val Wilson. I live at 23826 Kensington Street, and it's not anything in my neighborhood, but on Par D, from Eureka to E-Course, there's no complete sidewalk. And because of all the traffic, people are walking in the street. And not that I have to walk in the street, but I just feel bad for other people. And people are driving so fast. And there's so many trucks. And I was wondering, is there anything that I can do to get you guys to put one complete sidewalk from Ecorse to Eureka?

I can assure you, even since we were on city council, we've had this. and tried to address this, but the property owners that live on Pardee have to allow us to put the sidewalk in, and then they would have to maintain it after that point, and there's residents that just do not want a sidewalk going through the front of their yard.

Wow. And unfortunately... We've been dealing with it for 13 years. Yeah.

Wow. So it's something we would love, because I agree, just like you, at least one side of Pardee all the way down would be nice. Yeah. I think the east side would be perfect because the mall's eventually down that way. Right. But... It's just we have certain homeowners there that just do not want it. And we cannot enforce that.

So, lady, she walks. I think she walks to work every day. And it's just sad to see her out there. And she has to walk in the street. So, OK, thanks.

Any other open business from the audience? Anything from the council business?

Yeah, we can. Okay, we have a couple of comments. The first one is, we have a comment from Charles Blackwell, a political activist who likes to make false accusations against public figures. He has no basis in facts. Here is his false comment. Good evening. It's a darn shame, I'm not going to say what he actually said, that the city of Taylor continues to do business with Ed Swanson, owner of Ailes Asphalt, who is a federal convicted felon for big ridding construction contracts in Metro Detroit. Why would the city continue to do business with a crook and a felon? And then we also have one from Chuck Kynes. How can we improve our rubbish pickups?

Hey, well, we know about the rubbish. We're trying to get that fixed. And if we could get a pool of employees that they could hire, because nobody wants a job, it seems like.

Mr. Chairman, I will say, though, I mean, some people may disagree with me, but it has increased. It's gotten better. Yeah, it has. Probably two, three weeks. You know, the complaints have gone down. We're still addressing the, they call them carts, I call them cans, but we're addressing that situation as well. and I'm happy with the progress that's going on. There was a situation last week where the news contacted me. I was not even aware of it, but that has been addressed as well. There was a little condo unit that was getting missed, and that was hopefully addressed and taken care of from here on out.

Okay, I got... Do you want to go? I'll go. So I just want to let everybody know I volunteered to be on the receiving board last night to take in stuff. It was pretty interesting. But if you see what these people do, it's amazing. Not so much Cindy, but her staff. But I watched them check signatures and deny signatures, and I could see why. But this stuff is checked, rechecked, and checked again. And I don't see why there should be any question to it at all. They do a fantastic job, so thank you. Thank you.

Through the Chair. I want to commend the building department. I come in a couple days last week and this week I came in and I just want to commend the work that they did to help clean up an area on our street. There was a vacant house. The person died and all this trash and everything was put out in front and I come into the building department several days and I had a neighbor of ours phone in, and the mess got cleaned up. It took about two weeks, but it's finally cleaned up, and I commend them. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, if I can just expand on that. So, yeah, I appreciate the ordinance crew and the building department, and sometimes DPW has to address those situations. At no point whatsoever, whether it's an eviction or in that situation, you cannot clean a house out and put it out at the curb. The garbage is not going to pick that up. and we usually end up we have to wait for a period and then we go out and clean it up and we do build the homeowner for that cleanup every person that's out there is on the clock and the equipment and everything like that so that house will be getting a bill for that mr chairman yes my turn now yes sorry that's okay i'm kidding okay so just a real quick recap of yesterday um first and foremost i want to thank everyone i want to thank my staff

As Councilman Johnson says, not just so much me, but it is my staff. I have a wonderful staff, and they're amazing and put in so much work that people do not see, just the behind-the-scenes stuff that goes on. And when you volunteer or you step up and become an election inspector, you get a little snippet of what happens, but the day-to-day is just, they amaze me every day. I'm very, very blessed. I also want to thank the mayor, council, DPW, buildings and grounds, police department, the election workers too, can't do it without all of you, and the voters, obviously. Thank you for coming out. Yesterday we had 10,736, not yesterday, but collectively we had 10,736 voters. Roughly over 3,800 came to the precincts yesterday. Sounds like a low number, but we were very, very busy. A lot of people brought their absentee ballots to the precinct to turn them in and actually vote at the precinct. So that puts a lot of work on the inspectors, a lot of work on my office, too, because there's checks and balances we have to do. 596 voters exercised their right to do early voting, and 6,335 absentee ballots were turned in. So just over. just under 11,000 total, um, low number. I'd like to see it higher because we have 50,000 registered voters in the city of Taylor. So a little disappointing, but that's normal for a primary. Um, furthermore, general election, November 3rd, like to see that number a lot higher ballots. If you did request an absentee ballot, there'll be mailed the end of September. Um, early voting will be for 10 days in, uh, for the general election. So it'll go from Saturday, October 24th through Monday, November 2nd, and then Election Day on Tuesday, November 3rd. So please get out and exercise your right to vote. We work just as hard as if there's one voter or 50,000 show up. Thank you.

I just want to make another quick point. Before I had to get on the board, the receiving board, we didn't get started until like 9.30 that night, but I was able to stand in the clerk's office and watch. And the people that are coming in, I mean, the way you guys handle it is so professional. It's pretty amazing. I mean, I've seen a lot of customer service. That's customer service. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I've been a city employee for, gosh, 38 years, forever now, and I was brought up where the taxpayer is our customer. They come to the counter no matter what. You're kind, you're professional. Phone calls, that phone better be answered on the first ring. If it's not answered on the first ring, why? So that's just how I was raised here, and thank you for that. I'm glad it shows, and I will relay that comment to my staff.

Okay.

So through the chair, thank you. The Junior League World Series does kick off this Saturday. There's you know, they invite and introduce all the teams, the open ceremonies, and then they follow it up with a great fireworks display. I think that roughly starts at eight o'clock. That's when they start announcing the teams and everything. And then the fireworks follow right completely after. And then starting on Sunday, the games are going to be going all the way until the following Sunday. So if you've never been, please come out and check it out. It's always a great time. I look forward to this event every year. I think it's a great time. The chief of staff here is the tournament director. He does a great job. He took over for his dad, the late, great Greg Bezzura. And so I hope to see everybody out there. I'll be out there as much as I can.

And while you're there, stop by the wall that heals. Absolutely. And on the way home from there, the Veterans Museum will be open Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. So stop in there.

There's a lot going on in the month of August in the city of Taylor, that's for sure.

Thank you, everybody. I'm going to entertain a motion to go into closed doors discussion. Motion. Support. Roll call, please.

Mr. Thomas?

Yes.

Mr. Patz? Yes. Mr. Clark?

Yes.

Mr. Armstrong?

Yes.

Mr. Wallace?

Yes.

Mr. Thede?

Yes.

Mr. Johnson?

Yes.

All right, closed door at 740.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you.

Thank you.

you

Thank you. Oh, boy. Where'd you go? Thank you. And I said, well, yeah. And so, anyway, he finished up and I just wanted to get out. He had to do something outside, so he did that. He did that.

Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Okay.

Amen.

Thank you.

Over a year.

Right.

Look at that crowd motion

QL1099. Turn your mic on.

Motion. Support.

Any discussion? There are none. All in favor say yes. Yes. All opposed? Yeses have it. Motion carried. We already did open business. May I get a motion to?

Adjourn. Motion.

Support. Mr. Wallace. All in favor? Yes. Opposed? Yeses have it. Motion carried.

Have a good night, everybody.

Compete after me. I, Cynthia A. Bauer, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Michigan, the Charter of the City of Taylor, and that I will faithfully discharge The duties of the office of city clerk according to the best of my abilities.

all right congratulations cindy notice she just keeps getting skinnier all right now we're down to the money man buck stops here right now to introduce our featured speaker tim really won his second straight four-year term as mayor Tim took over 76% of the vote in November. Before serving as mayor, he served on city council for eight years, the last of which were as the chair of the council. If you wonder how Tim Woolley earned the trust of the voters of Taylor, it's really not that hard to figure out. Taylor police are now up to 78 sworn officers, reaching the budgeted number for the first time in memory. Taylor is heavily invested in law enforcement technology, drones, star chase darts, rad dog, AI, flock cameras, and internal security cameras. Police just started a homeless outreach program and they have arranged new pay scales and benefits to lure and keep officers at a time that it's very difficult to do just that. On the Taylor Fire Front, we've invested in new technology across the board, including new ambulances, trucks, and other equipment and gear. In the DPW, we've invested millions of dollars in water main roads and the like. They've started a lead line remediation program. and they bought more equipment and started less outsourcing. Parks and Recreation lit up the walking paths of Heritage Park under Tim and renovated West Mound Church, the train car, and the caboose, created a heritage hall, and even added a new playscape and pavilion at the petting farm. We've done large-scale HVAC upgrades, renovated the senior center and its parking lot, added new roofs and locker rooms in various city buildings. We signed a 10-year contract with Priority Waste to keep costs under control. In the spring, we'll open the new Lang Park. New businesses have come to the city and continue to locate here. Metro 94 Commerce Park is getting built, along with the new CMAQ Logistics Center on North Line Road. We have two new hotels, main event just opened, and even two new Sheetz locations, along with a Chick-fil-A, which is always nice to have around. And that doesn't even count all the city-sponsored events throughout the years, like the daddy-daughter and the mother-son dances, the bunny trail, the family fun days, summer festival, Hollapalooza, which is Tim's favorite, and the Winterfest Day and the Winterfest Stroll. All of this is only a portion of what the administration has rolled out under Tim. You earn 76% of the vote because you just keep grinding. Tim has earned the trust of the voters by being involved with the Taylor Veterans Museum, the Goodfellows, a VFW post. He's a former president and board member at Victory Gym. He coached baseball in the old Northwest Little League. He was a member of the Teamsters local 299 for almost two decades. He learned how to grind in the military. where he served in the 2nd Armored Division during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The 2nd Armored, otherwise known as Hell on Wheels, was made famous under General George Patton. Tim has been married to his wife Amy for 34 years. The couple has two children, Dylan and Sarah. Without further ado, here's Mr. Hell on Wheels himself, Tim Willey. Before Tim makes his brief speech, he'll be sworn in by Judge Shackelford.

Repeat after me. I know your names. Hi, Tim Woolley. Hi, Tim Woolley. Do solemnly swear. Do solemnly swear. That I will support. That I will support. The Constitution of the United States. The Constitution of the United States. The Constitution of the State of Michigan.

The Constitution of the State of Michigan.

The Charter of the City of Taylor.

The Charter of the City of Taylor. And that I will faithfully discharge the duties of office of mayor according to the best of my ability. Again, four years later I'm absolutely honored to be here. I'm still very honored and humbled to hold this position. I take it very seriously. I'm, you know, all those things that Carl read off was all done through teamwork. I'm very happy to be surrounded by great people. You know, over those four years, I can't do this alone. And even though it can be a little tenacious at times, that's even a word, I'm sorry. You know, the last four years can be a little difficult at times, but we still work together to get a lot of things done during that time. But, you know, I'm lucky. I have great people around me. You know, Carl forgot to mention, we do have another ex-city councilman here, and he's actually my chief of staff, and I couldn't ask for a better one in the world than this. Chief of staff, Dan Bezzura. The story I told many times he was the first person I asked when I even thought about doing this position And I said if you don't come with me, I'm not even going to consider doing it because I had that much trust and I was grateful that he decided to do it But I'm lucky you know I served in those eight years on council. I learned so much and The first four years was absolutely incredible. We all walked in much like you. We were all brand new, and I think that made us work together that much more. Me and Charlie didn't really know each other at that time, and I don't think either one of us would have ever imagined us being around here this long, you know? And getting to know Cindy, Cindy's like a sister, and her husband were all such great friends and our families together and stuff, so... It's been absolutely incredible, but I'm very excited for the future. I supported every single one of these people here, so I'm not kissing up now that you're on council. You guys knew that going in, so I'm sure there'll be a few little head-butting along the way. Again, I think there's a lot of things that are... Taylor's moving in a great direction. My team, during the campaign, a lot of people reached out to me, hey, what are you looking to do? What's your campaign? And I said, it's just to keep the status quo, keep us moving forward. But there was a lot of things I could have talked about, and my team was like, why don't you talk about that? And it's like, because... I want to run on what I've accomplished. I know that's kind of crazy, but I think we've done a lot over these last four years. And I said, you know, I want people to vote for me for what we've done over the last four years. and not project what we're going to do. Judge me on what we've done and then I'll show you what we're gonna do. Now let me tell you something, there's some cool things that are gonna be coming up that I didn't even talk about during the campaign. There's gonna be some good announcements coming forward. Y'all do have to approve them. But the money's there. And we have some really cool things coming to Taylor. And we will be making those announcements here in the next couple weeks. Day two, you guys will be in the loop on that. So there's a lot of great things coming. We're going to keep moving this city forward the best we possibly can. I'm very excited working with all these individuals. There's a lot of great things going on, like I said. I'm kind of starting to ramble on because I'm running out of things to talk about. But again, I'm just so happy and relieved. But I was also fortunate to serve with the people that I did last time. Even though, you know, we got on each other's nerves. Everybody got, you know, it was a little crazy last term. But also, you know... Doug's sitting right there. Me and Doug went to preschool together. That's how crazy Taylor is, you know. Me and Nick graduated together, you know, and stuff. So, but, you know, me and Nick, or I mean, me and Doug, when we first got together, it's like, wow, this is kind of crazy, you know. And then, you know, it's like, how's this going to work? You know, Doug's the chairperson, I'm the mayor, and And right away Doug's like, I think I'm going to remove Mayor's Communications. And I'm like, what?

And they're like, I'm going to get you cannonballed right before.

OK, Doug.

But, no, actually, I really enjoyed serving with Doug, you know, and stuff. And me and Angie served, you know, four years on council and then, you know, as mayor. And I worked with Angie. It was great, you know. And so, and then Charlie, you know, we've been together a long time. And, you know, some of the other ones, you know, are my friends. I'll just leave that alone. There's a lot of good things coming for Taylor. I just want to thank so many people. I want to thank my family for being supportive. I appreciate them dealing with what I have to deal with on a regular basis as well because, you know, you all know social media can be brutal and they have to read it too. And I can take it all day long, you know, bring it. at the end of the day. But I have to kind of encourage them to kind of keep it down, especially my little girl over there. She's got a little wooly in her, you know. But I appreciate that. I really want to thank my team for being with me nonstop. You know, from the first go-around to the second go-around, you know, it's kind of evolved a little bit. But from day one, you know, everybody's been supportive. We've been working together. And I'm just really excited with things to come. I'm so happy to see everybody here, a bunch of new faces. And, again, I'm really excited to work with each and every one of you. It was so nice to go to the meeting last night. You know, for a long time, you know, Mr. Plato come into the office last night, and I look forward to going to a council meeting last night. And it's been a long time, you know. So, again, I'm going to wrap it up. Thank each and every one of you, and I'm going to continue to work just as hard as I have the last four years. So hopefully you think I've done a good enough job to where you know I'm going to put in that work because I make that promise again. Thank you.

All right, thank you, Tim. This now brings us, brings this celebration to a close. Pastor Ryan Benninger will now offer the benediction.

So benediction is simply a blessing. And I want to explain what I'm going to pray before I pray it. Because the role you guys have all stepped into now is a role with the umbrella of public servant. And there is not a greater public servant this world has ever seen than Jesus Christ. And the night before he was going to go to the cross, he knelt down and he washed the feet of his disciples. And in that room that he washed their feet was the one that was going to betray him. Judas, the one that was going to deny him three times, and all of the rest of them deserted him. And yet he still chose to kneel and wash their feet, knowing what they were going to do. The job that you have been stepped into now is not an easy one. But it's one that comes with support from a bunch of people. And we have the opportunity to model for our city what it looks like to serve. To serve when it's not easy, when it's not convenient, when people are going to betray us, people are going to turn their back on us. But in that moment, we can remember our Savior who knelt and still served. And so I would encourage you to do that as you step forward into this calling, into this role that you've been stepping into tonight. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I come to you thanking you for your son, Jesus Christ, who is the ultimate public servant. And Father, we just thank you that he was so willing to lay down his life for those that were distant from him to be brought close to him. And Father, we know that that mindset and that attitude cost Him His life. We don't believe and trust in You that that's not going to cost anyone that for the roles that they're in right now. But Lord, it still needs to motivate us to serve, to serve our families, to serve our communities, to serve the people around us, our neighborhoods, to the very best of our ability. God, I ask that You will empower those elected officials that were sworn in here tonight, Lord, that they would execute what they vocalized, that they would do their job to the best of their ability. Lord, that's all we can ask. As citizens of this great city, that's all we can ask. And we ask that you will help them when times get hard to look to you for strength, for support, for encouragement. May the people around them continue to give words of encouragement and challenge when they need it. so that we can move forward as a city and make the decisions that are best for us moving forward. Again, I ask that you would bless their families and the sacrifices that they make. Lord, that you would honor them and equip them for all that you desire for them. And Lord, we love you and we thank you. Bless them now, and we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Okay, thank you, Pastor. And thank you all for attending. This has been a fun night. Enjoy the rest of your evening. Thanks.

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Hi, I'm Carl Zymak and this is Destination Downriver. Today we're focusing on the Junior League World Series scheduled for August the 9th through the 16th in Taylors Heritage Park. The Junior League World Series is the older brother of the famous Little League World Series which is played each year in Pennsylvania. While the Little League World Series is made up of 12 and under youth baseball teams, the Junior League World Series is the level of championship play for 13 and 14 year old players. This is the 44th annual tournament in Taylor, the only home the competition has ever known. A dozen teams from across America and around the world will take part in the tournament. On the United States side of the bracket, teams will represent regions from the East, Southeast, Central, West, Southwest, and Michigan District 5 areas. International teams include representatives from Canada, Mexico, Europe, Africa, Australia, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. With us today are the manager and coaches from the only local team to qualify, the Taylor North Little League All-Stars. Taylor North is the host team and the winner of the Michigan District Five Championship. Taylor North is managed by Tommy Stubbe. His coaches are Blair Adams and Joe Allen. We'll be back with the panel in one moment. All right, welcome to our panel discussion. Gentlemen, welcome to the show. Thank you for having us. Okay, from left to right on your screen, we have Tommy. We have Joe, and we have Blair. And I didn't screw that up. Tommy, let's start with you. We're obviously going to talk about your team today, but we're going to talk about teams with you because you were here last year. With Teddy Thompson's team, you were on that staff. That team went one and two in the tournament. You had a big win to open the thing against Texas, a team that almost got to the championship finals. against Chinese Taipei. Is having gone through the Junior League World Series a key to this thing to be successful down the line?

I mean, I think it was... First off, thanks, Ted Thompson, for letting me be a part of that, because that's awesome. But I got to learn a lot. I got to learn the process of how everything goes. You know, you get a little starstruck a little bit when they're throwing you through the process. But just seeing all the teams and, you know, kind of being a part of, you know, the atmosphere of the World Series, it's different. It's different, and I think it's definitely a benefit to have been part of that as opposed to learning how the processes go and just kind of being there.

What about, you know, with Taylor North's success over the last, especially the last decade here, or half decade, however we want to phrase that, being the qualifying team out of the District 5, do you have a bullseye on your back? Do you feel like you have a bullseye on your back?

Joe, you want to answer that? Absolutely.

Absolutely?

Why? We know District 5 runs through Taylor North, and everyone else knows that. And when you get that reputation for so long, people start to get tired of it. We hope to keep them tired of it.

Nothing wrong with that. Overall, that organization, Taylor North, is a pretty tight group. Have other coaches, players, and parents shared their tournament experiences with you guys in an effort to help you this season?

100%. I don't think there's a day go by I don't talk to, you know, Ted or, you know, John or any of the guys or even, you know, I've reached out to Rick Thorning, you know, and just kind of asked him his opinions on stuff. And that's just, you know, out of respect for those guys because they obviously have done it on bigger levels multiple times. But being part of Taylor North, it's a one big family. You look around the corner, you can get help. If you've got a question, they're there to help you, whatever they can. Pretty much any coach with experience will tell you, any help you need, let us know, we'll be there. It's a huge benefit. Taylor North, like I said, she's a big family.

And there's no doubt because you see people who don't have kids playing at all, yet they're pinched in a tent out there the whole tournament. I mean, it's really kind of amazing whether they're working concessions or whether they're just watching. It is pretty cool to see that happen. Tell us about your own backgrounds. Why don't we start with you, Blair? Baseball background.

Played through high school. Grew up in Wyandotte. No college ball or anything like that. Okay. Started coaching with my oldest son when he was five or six. So I've been at it for almost 15, 16 years. Coached my daughters in softball, both them. And then now Griffin, who's on this team. And been part of this for, what, three years now together? Us three? Yeah.

Why did you, did you get involved because of your kid?

Oh, absolutely. Okay. Especially one of the oldest. It was basically just watching from afar and being, hey, things need to change. Like we need some, coaching needs to be elevated a little bit here. Sure. Not just, not Taylor, but where I started. Right. So then came to Taylor and it's been a perfect fit. It's a community. People show out. People take pride in here. I love it. Joe, what about you?

Well, I started playing baseball in California, Victorville, American Little League. And then we moved out here right before I started high school. And played baseball through high school, travel, Little League. Started playing Little League at Taylor. I actually won a junior league district championship in 2016. That was before the host team got an automatic bid, which would have been cool, but... But yeah, then my playing career was over. My Uncle John, who coached the Junior League team last year, he asked me to come coach with him during the COVID season. It's what I've been doing since.

You enjoy it?

Oh, yeah.

Okay. All right. Tommy, what about you?

I was a career Little Leaguer from Belleville, so Belleville Area Little League. Played Little League, went through the All-Star thing. Then I played in high school, Belleville High School. Other than that, that's it. That was the highlights of my career.

What was the hinge element to get you involved here?

And so in Taylor North, one, I started coaching because my father, he coached football, baseball, wrestling, and I just always looked up to him. You know, just watching the kids grow up looking up to him. The kids that still, you know, to this day are, you know, coached. So it's always been something I've kind of wanted to do just because it's like a respect thing. But as far as Taylor, I actually, my brother, I was coaching middle school with my dad. My brother was coaching farm, and he was like, oh, come out, you know, and I came out, and I mean, I was hooked, you know. Once they got you. I can remember the first kid that was like, I want you to be my coach. And it was Jay Sean Domingue. And still to this day, we coach him. And it's one of those things of like, Little League just hooked me. Playing it and then just being a part of the best Little League in the state. How can you not love it?

Blair, now you have a child on the team, okay? You two gentlemen do not. What's easier, his role or your role? I'll let you guys go first on that one.

I don't really have an issue with it, like I say. Probably one of the best compliments I ever got throughout the years was a grandpa one time, probably about five, six years ago, came up to me and said they had no clue I had a kid on the team. And it was after, like, close to a whole season. Mm-hmm. I just see all the kids as one. There's no daddy ball or this or that. If we're a team, that's it. The car ride home, could be the car ride home. But we're on the field, you're a player. For me, I'm fine with it either way. I would coach my kid or not my kid. Gotcha.

What about you guys? I do think Blair's role is harder. He plays it pretty well. But, you know, you got to try and balance, try not to be too hard on your kid or too soft on your kid. Sure. Want to avoid the daddy ball allegations and whatnot. But Blair does a great job.

It's probably a lot easier the better the team is, too. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, because everybody kind of gets it. You look like you're ready to say something.

Yeah, no, no. I'm going to play devil's advocate here. I'm going to say, you know, listen, Blair does a fantastic job. I mean, these two both do fantastic jobs. I mean, you can see Joe at Pat Park working with just – random kids that want to help, and he's always there. Blair's always down to help. He does tend to, every once in a while, kind of get on his kid a little bit. He'll tell you, I'm like, hey, remember, I deal with your kid. But favoritism, we have no issues with that. I mean, we love these kids equally. So I do think his is harder because from the outsiders, you always get the people that are, oh, it's only because of son. But not once have I ever had to have that even conversation. It's kind of cut and dry, no BS kind of stuff. But it's easier for me because I can yell at any kid and just be fine with it.

Now, have any of you guys coached the girl side of –

Not yet. I got two tee balls.

I was just curious to hear your comparisons. When we talk about experience and going into these bigger tournaments, and heaven knows the Junior League World Series is not the only big tournament. It's just fairly big. I notice that you have a Bassinetti, you have a Farner on this team. Those families have been involved, especially when you look at Farner. I mean, he's one of the better high school players now in the whole state. Is that an advantage, a distinct advantage when you can lure those type of kids and those type of parents in the whole thing?

So I would say it's an advantage in the sense of, you know, they kind of know what to expect a little bit, you know, being around. You know, I mean, other than that, you know, again, experience is a big thing. I mean, Maddox and Bassanetti are the only 13-year-olds on our team. Gotcha. Okay. I mean, he plays like a 14-year-old. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

They have to at this point, don't they?

Yeah. Yeah. Especially to make that team. I mean, what do you guys think? I mean... I mean, Jackson Farner's been in the spotlight, obviously, his whole life. Obviously, his brother, his dad. Yeah, his dad coaches. Yeah. But, you know, it's an advantage.

Can't hurt to have that type of thing. Let's switch. You know, we've been talking a lot about this team. Obviously, Chinese Taipei has really stolen the spotlight and hasn't given it up for a while. I think it's four straight and 10 of 11 championships. They seem to do it the right way. When you watch them, do you see some common thread that you say, that's why they win?

Incredibly sound defense. Near perfect defense. Pitching is always phenomenal. Defense is always phenomenal. And they don't try to do too much when they hit. They don't try and go for the big hits. They don't try to get the home runs. They just do what they have to do. That's why they dominate.

You're right about that defense. Their statistics were almost off the map last year. I couldn't believe it. I filed those statistics that they kept for the Junior League World Series, and when I popped them up three weeks ago or whatever, that's one that jumped out. I think in all of the chances in the entire tournament, they had two errors. A really good team could have... 10 times as many of those errors. That's really kind of amazing.

They show up and it's business. It's business at the hotel. They take it seriously. As they should. Obviously their record speaks for itself.

It also helps when you have the depth of pitching that they have showed consistently. Last year it really showed out again because they just kept rolling out kids consistently. And all of a sudden you're on their fourth or fifth kid and he looks like, you know, that kind of thing. Let's go back to your team. When you were looking to build this team, what were you looking for? I've heard a lot of different answers to that from different coaches.

So I've been lucky to be around these boys since they're eight. Blair's been around because his son's been on there. Joe's been around, you know, because you've got, you know, the connections with Bassanetti's. I don't want to speak for all of us, but I would say, you know, just talking, we're looking for depth. We're looking for plug and play. You know, we don't want one shortstop, one. You know, like this year we got multiple catchers, and that's a rarity. You know, that's multiple outfielders. We got a lot of kids that you can plug and play places. And that's personally what I look for as far as just having the depth to where when one goes down, the next one comes up, you know.

I would also say how these kids get along on and off the field. They're actually friends. It's rare to find a whole team that, in my opinion, that's like that. They're actually buddies. They do stuff outside the field. On the field, there's no egos. They just play to play. They're a team. I can't say that about many teams I've coached. This is definitely a team like that.

What about you, Joe?

Just, you know, effort and a need to win. Like, these guys, they like to win in travel. They need to win in Little League. Little League, it just flips a switch inside of them. And that's kind of what we look for.

Which is kind of cool. How much time, we talked about this off camera, how much time has this team spent together this year? Because when you get these kind of all-star teams, you never know what you're getting from kind of a true, we just put them together for the postseason, to teams that... play on a regular basis. Joe, you want to answer that or Blair?

Well, the majority of this team played together since November and I'd also say probably the last three years. So the core have been together for a while through All-Stars and travel and that's where we're at now. That's why I think there's such a strong bond with them.

And you guys have been successful in the past with this team. What were some of the bigger

Well, last year, you know, State, we won the States. We ended up going to the regional final and faced Wisconsin. So we, you know, we ended up in the loser's bracket there. But we battled our way back. And, you know, I think we were still considered the favorites. And we just kind of ran into the brick wall. But other than that, I think we finished second in the State a couple times. You know, we've always been there. You know, this team has always been there, been in the spotlight. And, you know, they're a winning bunch.

Yeah. And that helps, there's no doubt. Tell me, what are the strengths of this team? If you weren't coaching them, if you were coaching against them, and I'm going to point to you, what would you say the strength of this team is?

Definitely the chemistry. This team gets together really well. They talk very well inside the dugout, on the field. Maybe we can work on that a little bit better, but... When it's all working together, the defense, the pitching, and when we're hitting, the team's unstoppable. Unstoppable.

And is that what it's going to take to make a run in this tournament?

Absolutely. There's going to be some very good teams coming here.

Yes, exactly. Exactly. What about, and we did talk about this beforehand, but let's go back through that a little bit. When it comes to expectation levels, okay, it seems like every group that I've had here from Taylor North that sat in your chairs had certain expectation levels. And it kind of shocked me. I remember when Rick Thorning was across from me, and he and, geez, I'm trying to remember. It was Guido Uhlen and someone else. It may have been Surma's father who was on camera. And... And Rick just looked me in the eye and said, you know, this team could make a run. And this was back when we were talking about the Little League World Series, and they were far from, they were just going to the regional at that time. And he really, you could tell, he really thought that they could get there. And that was kind of shocking to me because I didn't expect that. You know, hey, it's cool, you win the state, you can do this, you can do that. What's your expectation level going into the tournament?

I expect for us to win the U.S. bracket. That's my expectation. I think we have the talent to do it. If everything clicks, we'll be there.

Which gives you a shot at the big prize. 100%. I don't want to bang the Taipei drum too much here, but let's say you're hot and you get to Chinese Taipei. Is there a way to shake that program?

i haven't seen it i would like to think that we would find a way okay i'm not sure there is um maybe if we have the whole city come out and maybe that rattles them or something i don't know but you know they're a machine uh

Let's go to when you guys open. You guys are open at 4 o'clock on Sunday the 9th. That's opening day against the winner of the East Regional. Before we get into your individual players, Joe, you told me off camera that you've actually got kind of a scouting report out there for the East. So give us what you see. Now, the East has not gotten to the winner yet, okay? But what are you seeing?

Honestly, I fully expect to be playing Freehold Township, New Jersey on August 9th. If they're not here, don't know what happened why are you why do you fully expect to see them are they that good they're very good they got they got two top end pitchers for sure um and they play good defense they hit okay they get hit better but they hit okay um but that team they made a run to the 50 70 world series last year won a game there so it's kind of what i'm expecting to see here

Now, the East traditionally has not been extremely strong in this tournament. It's possible, but their teams just haven't played well. You seem to get, like in most baseball, you seem to get the real threats coming out of those great weather climates. The Southeast, the far West, especially if you had Hawaii here or somebody like that. But the East hasn't traditionally done that. Now, I know the Southeast made a Real nice run last year. Very athletic. Powerful, fast team. Kind of the exception to the rule. I know that one kid, and I forget his name. Jaden Cannon. Exactly. There you go. There you go. He may have been... He was a college kid playing... I talked to him several times during the tournament, and he not only looked physically the part, but he talked the part. He was a real nice young gentleman, and he fully expects that. I think he's going to be a football player, but it's kind of amazing when you see somebody like that.

Oh yeah, he was the real deal. He talked to talk, walked to walk.

Exactly. Had a lot of fun out there. Let's talk about your team now. We might as well start with pitching because many times that's where it starts and often stops. Who are we going to see on the mound for you guys when it comes to that Sunday? Do you know who you're going to start?

I think we probably have a rough idea. I'll let Blair answer these questions. Our pitching is strong. We have multiple that could be out there. Go ahead, Blair.

If it was two off the top of the head for game one, it would probably be Blake Greer and Maddox Bassanetti. Okay. They are traditionally your top two pitchers? Yeah. Both right-handed, righty-lefty? One's righty, one's lefty.

Okay. And then behind them, pitching-wise, who do you usually go to? Do you have a designated closer type, anything like that?

I think we've got a pretty deep staff. Any of these kids could be either one or two. Jackson Farner, Blake Papler, Ian Sexton, Rod Francis. Any of these kids can come up and pitch. So it's not... Well, I'm not really concerned with anybody being the number one, number two guy, because it could all flip-flop. It depends how the game goes, too.

Yeah, and it all depends on how, if you can win, okay, then you can stay a lot of times with your top guys because you get a little bit more time. The pitch kind of plays a role. Right, right, exactly. What are... For the audience, what are the pitch counts at this level?

0 to 20, no days. 21 to 35, one day. 35 to 50, two days. 50 to 65 is three. And then 65 to 95 is four.

I understand why you keep him around.

Listen, people say he's younger and wiser. He has the answers. And the kids love him. He's an asset, for sure.

Let's go to a position that you guys told me Before we got on camera here, that was a really strength of yours, catching. And that is one of the key positions when it comes to youth league at this. The more good catchers you have, usually the better your team is. Who are we going to see behind the plate?

Matt Susky is our starter. But then we also got Milo Alvarado, who's just as capable. Then we got Maddox. Again, his name you'll hear a lot as far as moving around. He can play anywhere. And he's a lefty, but he can catch with the best of them. And then we got, I mean, I think there's two or three that catch for other teams sometimes on the squad. We never catch them, but they're capable.

That sounds a little bit like Thorning's old team.

Hey, we can pray, right? No, really.

I mean, you know, it was funny because the more you watch the team play, it was like, okay, now they've got that kid catching, and he's almost as good as the last kid who's almost as good as the other kid. And they could go three or four deep at times, which is kind of amazing.

Yeah, no, I mean, that's a special group, you know. Oh, yeah, yeah. And Cameron Thorning's a special kid. Right, right. If we can get a half Cam Thorning, we're ready to go.

I hear you. How are you going to line up in the infield now? How do you think you're going to line up?

So if you were to put me on the spot and say, I would say you got Griff Adams at first, Jackson Farner at second, depending on who's pitching, you know, if Blake's pitching, it'd probably be Brock Francis at short or Milo at short, and then you got Ian Sexton at third. Okay.

And in that, in your regular or best lineup, whatever you want to call it, what's the strength of the infield, do you think?

I mean, these kids are capable of playing anywhere. The flip-flopping. Our weakness would be sometimes we mentally just kind of poof. But when they're on, I would just say pretty much any of our kids can play any position. I think that helps us in infield because you can kind of plug and play where you need to put them.

What about the outfield? How do you line up out there?

Go ahead. Probably go Blake Papler in left field, Cortez in center field, and then probably Maddox in right.

And is there a strength there? Is there a definitive, how good's your center fielder?

He's good.

Okay, he's good.

Cortez is a fun kid to watch, let's just say that.

Now, do they all run really well, or does Cortez, does he just have...

I mean, if you put them in a running competition, it's going to be, you know, Cortez is going to be the best of them. But they're all capable of tracking down a ball, you know.

Okay. All righty. Now, from a hitting standpoint, how do you guys line up? Who are the people that you usually bet at the top of the order and you bank on them getting on base? They run better than maybe other kids or whatever. Who's usually leading off hitting second?

Usually got Milo leading off. He's a strong bat, plenty of speed. Blake Greer's number two hole. Cortez Loving, usually the three hole. And we're banking on them to knock him in, get on base. It's a strong lineup throughout the whole lineup, to be honest. But those are probably our top three bats when they're on, definitely when they're on, for sure. And Brock Francis, absolutely. Yeah, that's absolutely Brock Francis, too. He's had a monster. He's just blossomed this year, even in the past, but this year especially.

When it comes to offense, these kids feed off each other because I noticed a couple of years ago, When that Taylor North team made a run, they made a run to the final?

Yeah.

Yeah, to the final.

Yeah, there was two years in a row I think they won.

Yeah, okay, and the one after Thorning's team, okay, they made that run and they were just... hammering through this tournament. For a host team, it was like, I get that team. That team went to the Little League World Series and won. This team, it was like, whoa, where did all this come from? They're throwing 10 runs a game out there. Does this team have that same kind of potential to put 100%.

And I think that you could look at our lineup and sometimes say, why is that guy batting down there? And we do get that. Because there's, I mean, Kyrie Harris is a name that he's one of those kids that can put it out at any time and out of nowhere. And he usually is in the bottom half of our order. I think when we're on, if we're on, we'll put up runs.

Do you guys do a lot of running with this team?

That's something new we're working on lately. Let's just put it that way. We had a couple errors in the districts that I don't think any of us were happy about. So we've agreed that running is part of our daily practice now.

Okay. All righty. With the advent of the host team, crowd sizes have changed drastically in this tournament. I mean, from the days a decade ago. You know, we've seen... 2,000, 5,000 people at some of these games, depending especially on how far the Taylor North team goes. Saw a cheering section come out of nowhere a couple years ago, and that's kind of stuck. I assume this is a good thing, but I've also listened to coaches say it's a good thing, but there are some factors that you have to drill into your players' heads. How do you take it?

So from being a part of it, I'm not going to lie. I mean, when I stepped out on there, I was kind of like, okay, this is a little different. I don't know. Anybody who's watched me know, I'm real talkative. I like to goof around a lot. But you kind of get like, okay, there's a lot more eyes than just your family out here. Oh, yeah. But it's an awesome feeling. I mean, it really is an awesome. And I think that you see the kids that feed off of it. And, you know, I mean, Amari Lane was one last year. I mean, he hit that. It was just – I think this team will respond well to that kind of stuff. I think they'll enjoy it and they'll buckle down and take it more serious.

Any issues with communication problems when you get into a crowd like that that's really cuddled around the field and really can be loud? Because kids in youth ball are basically used to playing in front of 25 people versus what you're going to see there, especially in a big game. Do you have those conversations or do you just let it play out?

I mean, we keep our signs simple. These guys have done a fantastic job working with most of them. Real simple signs. That way you kind of limit the talking. I'm not saying our kids pick up on it all the time, but keeping it simple to where you don't have to yell across the field and whatnot is kind of something we're really trying to drive.

Any other, in talking to previous teams that have gone through this and from your own experience, Tommy, any other things that you're sitting down with a team and talking over just specifically for this tournament?

You know, I've been really preaching, you know, have fun, you know, because this is that team that when they're out having fun and playing baseball, like Little League's supposed to be played, like he said, they're unstoppable. They hit, they field, you know, like if you came out to one of our practices, you see them start really talking and getting into the energy, like it's a whole different team, you know, and then when they're equally as down, you're like, okay, this is not the team I've been But, I mean, they're a very fun group. And when they're on and they're all friends, you know, they catch fire. And they're fun to watch.

So do you do anything different to keep them loose?

I just want them to embrace the experience on and off the field. Because this will be something to remember regardless of what happens for the rest of their life.

Yeah, because it doesn't happen very often. I mean, a lot of people don't understand behind the scenes what goes on in tournaments like this. I mean, the day before the tournament starts when they actually...

get uniforms and get are able to pick out equipment and things like that that's almost like the pros i mean it's kind of amazing they treat these kids like being a part of it last year you know they treat these kids great and you see the kids like oh we get this we get that and i mean you're getting pictures you know and little kids are coming up to them asking for autographs and it's it's it's cool to watch you know and it's it's a big time do they give do they give you guys specialized gear I mean, last year we got a polo. I mean, they take good care of us, too. We got some shoes. You got some shoes? Yeah. Oh, yeah. What color did you pick up? We didn't get to pick. I think they like to keep us generic. It was just black and white. But, you know, I don't mind, you know.

Some of those shoes are dangerous. Talk about color schemes. Tommy, I'm assuming that before the team takes the field at 4 o'clock on that first day against the East, you're going to have a last word in the dugout and you're going to say something maybe profound to the team. Any idea on what you're going to say before that?

I like to keep it simple. Again, I'm going to go back to it. It's going to sound corny and cheesy. Go out there and have fun. Play baseball like you guys know how to. And you'll hear me say, hey, smile, have a little fun. Because sometimes that's the biggest thing. You watch a kid out there getting down. So I just keep it simple. Smile, have fun. Play ball the way it's supposed to be played.

Did we miss anything here? Do you feel like we missed anything? Or did we cover it all?

Now I got to give my shout out to Doug Croutier. Go ahead. Doug, I told you I shot y'all last year, I did, and here's this year. Love you. Oh, and Sherry, love you too.

All right, boys. Well, hey, no matter what happens at this year's tournament, congratulations on making the field because that's a big thing now in Taylor. I think North has established kind of a tradition. If you don't get there, you've got a problem. You know, that kind of thing. But this is a credit I agree with you, Tommy. I think a decade from now, these kids are going to still be talking about the experience that they're going to see in a couple of weeks here, which is hopefully a really good one, both on the scoreboard and off. And hopefully you guys are going to have a good time. It'll be really key. So thanks for coming out.

Appreciate you very much. Thank you.

All righty. The 2026 Junior League World Series kicks off with the opening ceremony at 8 p.m. Saturday, August the 8th at Taylor's Heritage Park. Admission and parking are free for that event. That will include all types of introductions and a parade of teams on the field and will be capped with a fireworks display. Games officially begin the next day on Sunday, August the 9th, featuring USA Central versus USA Southeast, Canada versus Mexico, USA East versus Taylor North, and Europe-Africa versus Australia. This year's game times have been moved up. They now begin at 10 a.m. and at 1, 4, and 7 p.m. on August 9, 10, 11, and 12. On Thursday, August the 13th, only two games will be played at 5 and 8 p.m. as the field narrows down. After an off day on Friday, August 14th, the International Championship game will be held at 3 p.m. on Saturday, August 15th, with the USA Championship game following at 6 p.m. The winners of the USA and International brackets will face for the Junior League World Series Championship at noon on Sunday, August 16th. Admission is $5 per car load per day or $15 for a week's pass. Fees include parking and game admission. For up-to-date details, how to watch ESPN+, Junior League World Series highlights, and much more, visit the all-new Junior League World Series baseball website through www.cityoftaylor.com. Follow the Junior League World Series on Facebook and Instagram. A hidden extra during the Junior League World Series will be the appearance of the Wall That Heals, a three-quarter size replica of the Vietnam Memorial. The Wall That Heals will appear in the northern area of the park around the clock from 10 a.m. August the 13th through 2 p.m. on Sunday, August the 16th. Admission is free to see the wall that heals. Thanks again for joining us on this episode of Destination Downriver. A big thank you to Tommy Stubbe and coaches Blair Adams and Joe Allen for coming on the show today. Thanks to Kaylee Guffey, Joe Camilleri, Kate Curry, and Rich Williams for all their work behind the scenes. That caps another episode of Destination Downriver. I'm Carl Zymak, hoping to see you all at the ballgames during the Junior League World Series.

Thank you to our team sponsor, Allegra, Marketing, Print, and Design. With a special thanks to our production partners here at the new Taylor Media Center. Thanks for listening and watching. Please visit our website, DestinationDownRiver.com, or our Facebook page, and be sure to join us for next month's podcast.

Give us your name, rank, and branch of service. Philip Frank Drumm.

I was a corporal in the Army. Okay. What was your area of expertise?

Did you have one?

Well, I started out at Fort Bliss, Texas, in anti-aircraft artillery. And I went to gun mechanics school there, which is another eight weeks after the first 16. Mm-hmm. and I got orders for Far East Command. Then I went overseas.

Okay, alright Ian. Where originally, where did you, where were you assigned?

Well, I was signed. You're really not assigned until you get there. They don't tell you anything. Okay.

Where were you at, for instance, boot camp-wise?

I was at Fort Bliss, Texas. Okay. All righty. And it was 16 weeks training. Okay.

Okay, and then you had the eight weeks on top.

And then I had eight weeks in the gun mechanics school. General gave me a diploma and everything. Okay, and then you were deployed to? Far East Command.

Okay.

And there you don't know where you're going until you get there.

Okay.

And what happened was I left just after Thanksgiving in 52. And I went to Tacoma, Washington, to Fort Lewis. And I went on a ship there. I was there probably close to two weeks. It rained 13 days. And the ship was a Marine Lynx. Okay. And I was 17 days across to Japan, to Tokyo, and I don't think I was there a day, and I was put back on a ship, and then they told me I was going to Korea. Okay. All righty. Okay. And I had two days to get to Korea.

Okay. All righty. Once you got to Korea, what was the toughest situation that you faced?

Well... A lot of tough spots. When I got there, they put me on a train to go to, I was in Pusan, that's where I landed, to a place called Chinchon. I had no idea where it was. And the train was not heated. The John was a straight hole down on the tracks. I mean, it was cold. Now, this was in November. Well, when I got there, that was December. And in fact, I spent Christmas on the ship. And I got to Korea on New Year's Eve. And they gave me a can of corned beef hash that was frozen to eat, and I had to chip it out with my bayonet and let it melt in my mouth. And on that train trip. Wow. And then I got to a place where they, I believe they had tents we stayed in. And we had training for a couple weeks to find out how they do it there in Korea. And a buddy system. And then from there, I was transferred to my unit, and that was L Company, 224th Infantry Regiment, 40th Division. What happened was we had to go by truck from this Chunchon area, and you're in the mountains, and the roads are real narrow. and we're traveling along on the outside edge and the mountain went up on our left and here comes two trucks towards us. And the first truck had to get tight to the side and he hit a big boulder and it kicked the rear end of his truck out. It hit ours and our driver It turned the wheel to the right and then it had to turn it real fast to the left. And we hit the second truck head on. Wow. And the way the situation was on my right, it dropped down about 80 feet down to a river bed, all rocks down there. And then the short ways, maybe 50 feet is a river. And by the driver doing that, saved our lives.

That's amazing. My goodness gracious. Now, you spent how much time in Korea?

We went by the point system and I was there until after the end into October. Did you see action? Oh, yes.

Okay.

Yeah. See, from that trip there where I was in that accident, nobody was hurt. No. We had so much clothes on, we were cushioned. So I got to my unit, and it was the first day, and... We had a sergeant in my platoon that I was in, in my squad, and there was two Koreans, which they're called Catooses, Koreans attached to the United States Army. And there was two Puerto Ricans that was in there, and five Americans, local ones. Some guys came from New York and different places. And so that first day there, I'm out on this mountain and we were in a bunker. And from there, we were able to go on patrols from there through the lines. We weren't right up on the line there, but we were close enough with a short hop in a Jeep or a three quarter ton truck, we could get there. Sounds like it was extremely dangerous service. Very, very dangerous. Well, that first day, the patrol got hit. and we had to go out and get the wounded. And I went out there, and I wore glasses. I get out there, and it was the medic that was hit. He got a bullet in his ankle. And so we had him on a stretcher, and we had to bring him in. And we had to cross a river, frozen river, and so we put the a stretcher down on the ice, and we crawled and pushed it along. Well, with so much clothes on, my glasses steamed up, I had no idea where I was. I couldn't see anything. That's amazing. This they never account for in the service. Yeah, I hear you. And we managed to get him into safety and to the medics.

What was your favorite takeaway from your time in the service, whether it was in Korea or before you were deployed or whatever?

Oh, gosh. Korea was tough all the way through. Probably when I was in basic training. I was right across from Mexico, Juarez. and I was able to go to bullfights. And when I got paid, I could go there and get a filet mignon dinner for a dollar and a half.

That's a big change from now, isn't it? Absolutely. Oh my goodness, Phil. Well, thank you very much for coming on. We really appreciate it. Yeah.

you

Welcome to another edition of Taylor Newsbreak. I'm your host, Carl Zymak, and today we're going to discuss Taylor golf with golf director Alec Grant. The city of Taylor has two Arthur Hills design courses, the likes of Taylor and Taylor Meadows. Both are extremely busy in the warm weather months, which we're headed right into. And welcome back to the show, Alec. It's been, we were comparing notes. It's been a little bit.

Yeah, it's good to be back and talk about the golf courses. This is easy for me. I love talking golf.

Alec, you have a lot of events upcoming, including the junior camp, the city championship, night golf, and new this year, the superintendent's revenge tournament. Tell us a little bit about Taylor Golf's busy schedule and what golfers should look for headed into the summer months.

So yeah those are our in-house hosted events but we also host tons of we'll call them outside events where charity scrambles things like that but we just started the night golf a couple years ago that's been a huge success and a lot of fun fills up very quick city championship has been something that's been a staple at the courses for years where you get to play taylor meadows on day one lakes of taylor on day two uh set the course up pretty difficult and make a good test for uh taylor well really it's wayne county residents and sometimes beyond but we get a good showing for that and um the superintendent's revenge tournament is something new this year we're really excited about basically The superintendents, it's a way for them to get back at the golfers, the revenge tournament, right? So they set the golf course up and it's difficult to fashion. You play the course as you see it, but it's up to the superintendents to set the course up and make it as difficult as possible on the golfers that day. So that'd be late in the fall. And we're really looking forward to that event and letting the guys put their twist on the setup. And, you know, you just, again, you play the hole as you see it, and you might play from different tee box, cross fairways, things like that. But it'll be both courses on the same day. And we've challenged the two guys to go, okay, who can set the golf course up more difficult on that day? So it's But they're looking forward to it. It's more their idea than anything else to, hey, this is something that's common to other courses. But again, we're really looking forward to it, and it's going to be a lot of fun.

You guys actually, once you set a course up in a difficult manner for a given tournament, do you guys go out and play it to see how difficult it really is?

So I'll be involved with the setup and just to kind of get an idea of what they're planning and being able to communicate to the golfers some of the rules and changes and putting a sheet together to guide them on the course. I'll likely end up playing in that because I'm really looking forward to it, but the difficulty is you only get to pick lakes or meadows on that day. I probably won't have that opportunity, but I'll have to decide what course I want to play for the day. Again, it'll just be more fun when you're scoring it after to hear the stories between the guys of what they did to hole seven at lakes or whatever the case is. how they made this hole so difficult and, you know, a little banter between the two superintendents to say, yeah, I won that battle. Taylor Meadows was more difficult, or Lakes of Taylor was more difficult on that day. So it'll be fun.

When you guys are in season, how many people do you employ at Taylor Golf?

I think at any given time we have 140 employees. That's kind of our max number.

Okay. All right. And are you guys always looking for help? I know it's been hard for different departments in the city to find help. It's a difficult hiring period or era. Do you guys have the same problem or do people just... love to come back and work Taylor Golf.

Well, to your point, we're always looking for people. We're looking for good staff. I would say basically year-round. I mean, we do have a shoulder season, but to your point, we look at the city of Taylor as a big team. I'll use TSX as an example. a lot of our staff they'll work at the golf course during the summer and then you know when the ice rink isn't as busy and then we shift them over to tsx during the winter time and then you know they toggle back and forth so if we can help out other departments and i know we lost a couple good staff members to um to the grounds crew. We're happy to help everyone out. We just look at the city of Taylor as a whole and, hey, if we've got a good guy here that maybe wants to do something else or progress his career and get away from golf and wants to do something, we're more than happy to help out. And we can speak to, this person's good, maybe stay away from this person or whatever. Yeah, I'm always looking for good staff.

Tell us about your brand new golf carts and the GPS systems that are within that program.

Yeah, so it's very excited there. We got all brand new carts. and it's a more efficient battery. Most people, I would say, probably won't notice, different color, but they're a lithium-based battery. So as busy as those two courses are, we're constantly have to, when Carl finishes 18 holes, we have to get that cart cleaned out and put it right back out for another 18 holes. pretty much seven days a week so with with your old lead-based batteries um it's very difficult to do that to have a cart that would go 36 holes of golf in one day on one charge so now we have a lithium battery a little bit lighter too this is the golf geek and me speaking but the the lighter batteries help the um upkeep of the golf course i mean you put more weight on anyone's grass it's just going to leave more marks and damage the course more And then we have GPS systems that have a number of features to them that I'm very excited to get installed at both lakes and meadows. You know, you'll basically, for the person who doesn't understand what that is, is you'll have, call it like a tablet screen installed fixed into the cart that'll provide hole-by-hole layovers and touchscreen. You can find out what the distance is to the middle of the par four here, right in the middle of the fairway, distances from there to the green. So it's really nice for the golfer, but from the back end, we get to see, where every cart is on the golf course, if there's any pace of play issues, we can message carts, we're looking to do, we're in the process of trying to get a food and beverage delivery system, and there's a number of other really nice features that these GPS systems offer. You know, I feel that these two courses, we want to create more of a high-end feel, and that's something you see at some really nice courses, and it really, again, helps us on the back end be able to manage our operation, but also provide a little kickback to the golfers, if you will.

Which is fantastic. That's what it's all about, right? Service industry. When you made your last appearance on this show, you had brought up a major, your kind of next major renovation program, which was going to be kind of an unexciting thing, but a very needed thing in that bunker renovation. Can you explain where you're at with that and where you're at?

So we are anticipating to start that project at the end of 2025. Not as soon as we would have liked, but the golf boom affected that greatly because you know, courses started making a lot more money and now there's room for capital improvements while these golf, they're really good golf course contractors. They're booked out for a little bit and we're going to be patient. We know it's something that needs to get done. They're doing some other updates. The major portion of that is the, um, THE BUNKER RENOVATION, WHICH IS VERY MUCH NEEDED. IT'S JUST TIME. YOU KNOW, THE COURSES HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR 25 TO 30 YEARS NOW, AND THERE'S NEW TECHNOLOGY THAT'S GOING TO MAKE THE BUNKERS BETTER, PLAY BETTER. allow water to pass through, you know, you get a heavy rainfall, the water doesn't pool up in the bunkers and the rocks don't wash to the top. So yeah, it's going to have a nice look to it because it's going to have a kind of a different whiter sand color, new shaping to the bunkers and a couple other renovation pieces that are involved in the project. But yeah, it's going to be a major overhaul for both golf courses.

Now this is mainly renovation of the existing bunkers. You're not really talking about adding bunkers or anything like that? Does that come at some point?

We actually are looking to subtract some bunkers. We're not going to add any bunkers. There will be some bunkers that get a little bit larger. That won't be well received with some of the callers. Yeah, a lot of the bunkers, some of them are being taken out that really, in my opinion, serve no purpose. And that's also what the architect is saying, too. Same architect that Arthur Hill's company, they originally did the golf courses, so we're working directly with them, and it's kind of neat to pick their brain, and they go through the original design, and hearing why they did this why they put a bunker there why this is the green was this it's really interesting but yeah they support the whole thing and we've been working directly with them there there are design consultation and then we believe we have a company that we're pretty much locked in with to get this get this thing going at the end of 2025

Let's talk about something that you are directly involved in, that's golf lessons. Whether it's private lessons, group lessons, playing lessons, you guys run a lot of club fittings out of the pro shop. Your job is much more than just opening the gates and letting golfers tee off, right?

Oh yeah, yeah. It makes the days go by quick. I love this business. I'm happy I got into it. But yeah, the cool thing, I think, is just meeting new people all the time. And I love public golf for that reason. Meeting new people and realizing what a small world Downriver is, right? But yeah, I'm doing private lessons, a lot of group lessons now. I get a lot of new golfers that maybe don't feel so comfortable coming out. on their own with a PGA professional instructor and nervous about their experience with the game of golf. I want to encourage someone to come out with a couple friends, do a group lesson. We've got the junior camp coming up that we've been doing. It's been growing year after year. That's in the middle of July, July 14th through, is it the 15th through 19th? Yeah, I think it is, yeah. Yeah, that Monday through Friday. So that's a good program that we try to incorporate every aspect of golf in four days. And then on day five, we let them loose, let them out of the nest, and they get to play golf on Friday of that week. So it's a fun camp. And club fittings, I'm a PING-certified fitter. So, yeah, constantly fitting people for clubs and using new technology to best fit their game. And the city of Taylor was gracious enough to get track man units that we use for the simulators during the wintertime. But during the summertime, I use that a lot in my teaching, that it provides... very valuable data for whether it's lessons or club fittings to go okay we want to optimize Carl's golf swing so here's the data to back it up and not just you know put my opinion on it there's there's fact-based data to back what I'm doing and Yeah, I've been staying pretty busy with those lessons. So again, good to meet new people and hopefully help as many golfers as possible. My goal is to allow them to enjoy the game more. That's kind of my motto. Let them enjoy the game more. We don't need to get too technical, but I feel like everyone has an opportunity to get a little bit better at this game.

You've worked in a lot of different golf environments. Private versus public courses. What's the advantages, the disadvantages? Do you have a preference?

I've worked at both and I really like public for the reasons I mentioned. You just meet so many new people. Private courses, you know, there's a lot of people asking for you all the time. They want to know, you know, Alec is their solution to every golf-related issue, where I like to empower my staff to a certain degree, and I kind of say, like, hey, if nobody knows who I am, that means my staff, you know, I want to push out on my staff. My staff's the one that does all the work, and, you know, we've got two great, I mean, it's collectively Taylor Golf, but between Lakes and Meadows, we've got two great teams, and I want to empower them to to do everything that they do. And they all do such a great job. But yeah, public golf is awesome because you're just, you're constantly, that's 250 people a day on a busy day at each course. So 500 people, that's just golf. And so not including the restaurant upstairs, you meet so many new people and old friends come through the door. I mean, from high school or played hockey with back in the day. It's so fun to just, oh my goodness, I haven't seen you in years. But I saw your name on the tee sheet. I saw some buddies on Sunday. And yeah, it's just constant. Just constantly seeing new people. And I enjoy that every day. It's like every day is a new day.

Well, which is fun, which is a blast. Golf outings are a big part of your schedule. How are they going at both these courses? Am I wrong to make the assumption that Meadows is literally a course made for golf outings?

versus lakes or am i going am i stepping too far i personally i personally agree i think meadows is a fantastic outing golf course um but i mean we're both planning to do a ton of golf outings this year well over last year and um and increased demand for those Saturday, Sunday golf outings that were basically filled up for outings for the season. But to your point, Meadows is a fun, fun golf outing course because you've got drivable par fours for some, reachable par fives, good par threes. It's a really fun course. Everyone's having fun when they're making birdies on the golf course. So there's definitely more birdies to be made.

T-boxes are a little bit closer together.

Yeah, yeah. That's a good point, too. You can holler at your buddy over here.

Right, right. Which a lot of that goes on, that's for sure. You guys, well, wait a minute. Before we get off of the outings, average golf outing, what's it going to cost you? Say I want to do it. What would I be...

So base price at Taylor Meadows is going to be $75. I mean, that's a pretty good golf outing there, too, because what that includes is there's not a breakfast portion of that, but you get hot dog, chips and pop at the turn. At $75 a player, you get hot dog, chips and pop at the turn. 18 holes with cart. You get the dinner buffet after. That's a pretty well-rounded golf line. I'm probably missing a couple things there, but we love to talk about the service side of that, too. Meadows does a great job. They're a well-oiled machine with outings that you see their bag drop. They got the tent all set up, and you won't touch your golf bag at Taylor Meadows. You just pull up the bag drop, they'll load you on, and you really won't even touch your golf bag. If you're utilizing that service, boom, they got it well-oiled. Same thing at Lakes. We do a lot of them, so we get pretty efficient on the service side of it. I really like to talk that up a little bit because it's not something you see all the time, but we're really trying to push the whole service side of it. At Lakes, you're looking at... YOU KNOW, WE DO A FUNDRAISER OUTING PACKAGE THAT'S ONLY AVAILABLE MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY AT $79 A PLAYER. BUT THEN YOU GET INTO THE WEEKENDS, THE BASE PRICE IS $106 A PLAYER. AND THAT WOULD INCLUDE lunch dinner 18 holes with car driving range included that's inclusive of your taxes that's inclusive of gratuity so that's your all-in price and you know I did a lot of research on what courses are providing and we like we don't like the nickel and dime you extra tables projectors things like that so that is your all-in price and We feel we're pretty competitive because we've got a pretty full slate outing. And two great courses for them.

Do a lot of the outings, are they annual outings that come back all the time? And if they're annual bookings, do they switch courses very often or do they usually stay on the same course?

Only a handful of them switch courses. But, yeah, a lot of them, it's copy-paste from year to year. And they've been coming to us for four years. And I spend more time working on the new outings because you want to understand their expectations. And then, you know, the ones that have been coming for years, I got one coming up next week. Well, a couple next week that have been coming to us for years. Same as last year. Oh, yeah. Okay. Sounds good. All right. We'll see you next week. What's your player count? Do you give our men points? There's always going to be complaints, but I would say they're to a minimum. I mean, at any course I've worked at, there's going to be some complaints. You know, I feel like we know how to handle it. I've seen most of them. Most of the complaints, you know, you can kind of expect and you know how to answer to them. But it doesn't matter where you're at. You're going to have some complaints. And I'm pretty confident. The quality of the golf course is the service we have to offer. The staff is well trained. So bring them on.

shift a little bit to the restaurants of the banquet facilities you have that at both courses whether it's lakeside barn grill and their banquet center or the greenside grill at meadows and their banquet facilities how is business going with those i know you guys have done almost like several non-golf type things whether it's comedy night or whatever uh how do you how do you view those

It's been really great since I've started. I've watched, you know, it's trending in the right direction. It is a difficult business because, you know, you want to be able to have a stand-alone restaurant business and also a business that caters to the golfers. that's probably the easier side of it is catering to the golfers and then standalone business thing is you know we're doing a lot of outside events to get people in that aren't necessarily golfers the lead guys you know they guys and gals they go up there on their own and we have a captured audience that are playing golf but can we get more people just coming out from the just driving down North Lane I want to come in and have lunch have dinner outside events have been very successful we just did a Mother's Day brunch that was hugely successful trivia nights on Friday nights and we're doing a lot of fun fun stuff in the restaurants we just did a new menu that I encourage everyone to go try it's it's really got some more interesting stuff on there that i think will be very well received and has been so far so you should get over there and check out the new menus and yeah we're always trying to do do new things to promote that restaurant to make it more of a standalone business i mean the view of both at both places to start at the greenside grill at taylor meadows it's just a good spot you could sit on the back patio if i had more free time i might sit there all day and watch people come down nine and harass them on the green and and you're on a covered patio there and on a nice day it's just a beautiful spot to sit and then same thing at the lake house bar and grill you've got that wraparound porch sitting outside and a beautiful view of the ninth hole the the driving range the i mean you've got a 270 degree view upstairs there it's wonderful

Does each course's restaurant and banquet facility have kind of its own niche in your world of Taylor Golf? I mean, do you do, does the Meadows really function in those capacities for a certain, a certain faction of your customers? And then the Lakes for a different one, like weddings, always gonna go to Lakes?

We'd say always. You know, that's one thing I think I had to learn after my first year was there is two different clienteles between Meadows and Lakes. Meadows is... is more of a senior driven golf course. We've done some things to cater to the seniors over there where Lakes is maybe not as many seniors. There's going to be a lot more weddings there. Lakes has that terrace space down by the water. We have a nice water feature down there.

That's very pretty down there.

Oh, my goodness. It's a beautiful spot for a wedding. And then, you know, I've walked a few weddings around, you know, potential clients around, and I think you see their jaw hit the floor when you bring them down to that terrace area. They see that, and it's... It's like, wow, this is a really good space for a wedding. So yeah, definitely more weddings over there and a lot of golf outings at Meadows. Meadows does a lot of in-house events where they do the comedy show, which is a huge hit in the spring and the fall. But maybe they lack that... Meadows lacks that, maybe that ceremony spot, I think is the issue over there. You don't really have a designated spot to do a ceremony.

It's interesting because I've even gone to fundraisers at lakes where the veranda has been used in the late fall and early winter, and if it's done correctly, It's pretty cool down there. It can be warmed up. It's just a very, very pretty spot. No doubt about that. Golf really never gets old, even in the colder months for you guys. You guys have the track band simulators at the Meadows. How has that program worked out? I know it seemed to increase... incrementally i guess from year to year to year uh have you seen kind of a leveling off or what have you seen what have you seen with with that truthfully i've seen that i've seen that level off and the main reason why in my opinion is just more competition in that space

So with the likes of Five Iron Golf downtown or X-Golf in Woodhaven, there's just more competition in that space. The thing we really stick to and I think we've got a good market for our customer base is that we have very competitive pricing and we have the TrackMan units. TrackMan is the gold standard. If you watch Golf Channel, TrackMan is the gold standard for launch monitors. And we have four of those. So if you're looking for accuracy and you're trying to get really good data and build your golf swing in the winter time Taylor Meadows is the place to do it because you've got track and other places to have adopted the track man they're not cheap units by any means but and then I'm T I'm I do a lot of teaching during the wintertime, too. So it's a lot of planning to get ready for the spring and giving you practice routines. So you know exactly what to work on to hopefully better your game coming into the spring. But yeah, our prices are very competitive. We got a very unique space over there at Taylor Meadows. And we do very well with it. And I think competition, like I said, has kind of plateaued that space a little bit. We're getting involved in the tournament space a little bit.

I was going to mention that because since you've taken over golf, you've kind of jumped in in that cold weather month track man area and, hey, why don't we try this? Why don't we try that? And it's really kind of intriguing when you're talking about you're programming these different courses from all over the country, all over the world, and you're basically playing kind of tournament golf. It's kind of cool.

It's fun. And TrackMan itself, they run weekly tournaments that you're playing people all across the world. So they'll run a week-long tournament, and they're a lot of fun. I believe, I haven't placed yet, cross your fingers, but they'll send you prizes and stuff if you place in the top five or so in the world, but you're competing against a lot of people. The nice thing is, Alec plays in his grouping over here where Carl... yeah probably you know he's back here a little bit yeah we were playing against like handicapped people and um of course all over the world like he said so it's just a lot of fun and uh the nice thing with track man is they're constantly updating that software i watch them really do some nice updates from last year going you know end of going into the 2023 off season winter time 2023 2024 they did some really nice updates um and some really fun games for the kids too which i i haven't seen at other simulator spaces that uh got some juniors that come to me for lessons and there's some great kids games that they come in and they cannot wait to jump on that and uh basically hitting you know one game is hitting golf balls to destroy a bunch of you know like a junkyard destroyed car And I know one of my little guys, he absolutely cannot wait to get on that and do it. It's a blast.

Is there, in the foreseeable future, ever going to be a time when Taylor Golf needs to add to its simulator collection? I mean... You have four, right?

Yeah, we have four. You know, we'd have to change the space up, so you're limited to the four spaces. You know, it does take up a lot of space when you get that full enclosure, and you need enough space to... You got the launch monitor space to hit, the enclosure and the screen, so it does take up a lot of space, and... You know, there's certainly some opportunities. You've got a lot of valuable resources throughout the city. Wouldn't put it past to maybe try and get a few more or even update the space or expand on it. Yeah, it's really a fun thing, and I encourage newer golfers to go out and give it a shot. It's a little less pressure, and you're not forced to get around a golf course in two hours' time, make the turn if you're a beginner golfer. You've got the space for one hour, two hours, three hours. You play one hole, you play 30 holes, it doesn't matter to us. We just want you to have fun. I hear you.

As a golf professional, you've got a pretty keen eye for courses. How does Taylor's courses stack up to those around Michigan? I know I asked you that last year and you were pretty adamant about between price point and everything else. Still feel that way?

I do. It's the value. I argue you take either one of those golf courses and you put them in, let's say Oakland County, you're able to capture a much higher greens fee rate. Or down in Florida, I've worked down there. I've played courses that are double the price tag but not anywhere near the golf course. So I think for a value, these two courses are fantastic. We've got two great superintendents. And they're two very different golf courses, too. But the conditions, those guys, they work their butts off to make those courses in good shape with the amount of volume that's going through the course. You've got to remember, those guys, they have a very small window to maintain those. Because once those gates open, it's nonstop all day long. So finding that time to make sure that course is in good shape. And they do a great job with it. The greens and both courses are in fantastic shape. And... I can't compliment the staff and the superintendents and their crew enough. I'm very excited to work for the city, blessed to work for the city, and I hope to stay here a long time. It's just two great courses, two great atmospheres, and I feel like I've found my home.

Your wife works, you work, you've got three small kids. You're a busy guy, okay? Your whole family's busy. Yet, golf's been your life. You get to play much on it?

I got five minutes between lessons. So, 55-minute lesson, I've got five minutes between lessons to hit a few balls. But, yeah, you know, on a night where, you know, maybe the lessons didn't fill up and it's, you know, I've got a gap from seven to eight. I'll go play. Good time to go play a quick nine holes. You try to keep the game in shape. And I know a lot of the – Taylor employees have been asking about the league we did last year, so we'll get that going here June 7th. We're looking to start that back up, and that'll be an opportunity for me to get back out and play on a Friday night, 6 o'clock, play quick nine holes.

Without taking it too seriously.

Right, yeah. Scramble format, have fun, and mix it up with some of the staff around the city.

Okay, last question. When it comes to Lakes of Taylor, Taylor Meadows, if I could grant you one golf-related wish, okay, what would it be? Whoa.

So on improvement, are we talking?

Anything you want.

I'd like a hole-in-one. You'd like a hole-in-one?

You've never had a hole-in-one?

Never had a hole-in-one. Really? Just let me have a hole-in-one at Lakes or Meadows. That'd be cool.

Goodness. Wow, that's amazing. But that is a quirky issue, correct? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I thought. But a hole-in-one would be you. Yeah. Oh, my goodness gracious.

On a good day where, you know, we're all having fun in a foursome. Don't want to do it by myself. Okay. That's a nightmare. You've got to have the right crowd.

You've got to have some witnesses. Oh, my goodness gracious. Well, that about ties this episode up. And Sammy, Joey, we're going to find... Alec here, a hole-in-one somewhere along the way. Thanks to Alec Grant for joining us on this edition of Taylor Newsbreak. Been a great discussion for Sam Rickert and Joe Camilleri. Behind the scenes, I'm Carl Zymak. Have a good day, and don't forget to join us on the next Taylor Newsbreak. Plus, get your rear end out to one of our golf courses. Welcome to another episode of Taylor Newsbreak. I'm your host, Carl Zymek. With us today is Jennifer Spittler, who serves as president and chief executive officer for the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southeast Michigan. Spittler headed the Washtenaw County version of the organization for about 20 years. Yeah. And you've been with the organization for 22, you told me?

Yeah, 22 this last year.

Well, how are you today?

You know, it's cold, but it's Michigan. It's Michigan.

Exactly. Yeah, exactly. So tell us about the history, the mission and the vision of Big Brothers Big Sisters.

So Big Brothers Big Sisters is a prevention program, right? So the idea is, is that we're putting volunteers in the lives of kids that help support them as they move through. I think those really important ages and stages. The transitions of middle school or elementary to middle, middle to high school, that graduation. So our goal is to get them to graduation with a plan for their future, whether that be career, college, or service, and for them to have had the impact of a mentor in their life. uh which i think is a really special thing not everyone gets that experience of that one-to-one mentor who kind of walks with them um but we have people that are peppered in and in some it's really natural and some it's it's uh they might not have that in their sphere and so that's where big brothers big sisters comes in um we're 125 year old organization so started in new york city long time ago, when there was a judge that saw a lot of kids in their courtroom as unaccompanied youth. Not because they'd necessarily been in trouble, but they just were unaccompanied. And he started the program just with his friends. And then there were big brothers, big sisters popped up around the country. That's not true. Big brothers popped up around the country. then big sisters popped up around the country. And then they came together as one organization. I think it was in the 70s. And we have about a 75-year history here in Southeast Michigan. Lots of different versions. There was a Macomb agency. There was a Wayne agency, you know, in Oakland, a Washtenaw. And so have merged in different ways. And just last year, that's not true. This is 25 now. Right? About 16 months ago, we merged and created Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southeast Michigan with that four-county footprint of Oakland, Macomb, Wayne, and Washtenaw counties.

Is it easier when you merge like that? No. Okay.

Well, I mean, I think that there are, it's scalability, it's overhead, it's bringing the best of multiple organizations together, but it's still not easy, right? Merging, regardless of your vision or your mission being similar, you are bringing two groups of people together. And so it's been challenging, but I think it was ultimately the right thing to do. And we should be able to scale up and really move in this kind of post COVID space. Because COVID was really difficult for organizations like ours, there was no getting together, right? We couldn't match a volunteer with a kid. You couldn't do that for a period of time. And then with waves of COVID, people were more comfortable, less comfortable. And so we had not been able to serve as many kids in the whole footprint. And that's really our goal of really being able to scale the programs back by coming together.

Did you lose a lot of volunteers over that period of time?

You know, not as many matches closed. We just, not as many inquired. We weren't making new matches. The matches that were together were really committed to each other. I mean, it was pretty phenomenal. I think how committed the bigs were to the littles and trying to figure out how do we How do we do this over Zoom? How do we do this over FaceTime? How do I support them in their schooling during this time? How do I, I mean, we had matches that were, you know, doing movie nights in the driveways that were dropping off things and just walking around the block to see each other, just finding ways to stay connected. Our bigs are committed. It was just making new matches that was really difficult during that time.

not to beat a dead horse on COVID, okay? But it was a unique period. And so many businesses, despite all of the problems with COVID, so many organizations, businesses, whatever, despite all the problems with COVID, came out kind of learning something that they didn't think. And many of those things were positive things. You know, did you see anything like that with your organization? Given... Given the synergies of your organization, I don't know whether that's a good question for you.

It is a good question. And I'm like, oh gosh, do I have to dig deep for that one? I mean, I think that for, here's what I'll say for what I saw, yes. The Washtenaw County, we merged post-COVID, right? So during COVID, the Detroit, the Metro Detroit agency, they had a lot of school and site-based programs. That was kind of their avenue to reach more kids. It was closed, the schools closed. In Washtenaw, we had all community-based. We didn't have school-based at the time that COVID started. Our matches all continued. So there was something about that, but that was just circumstantial, right? But we saw that across the country. It wasn't just us. We saw that with big brothers, big sisters across the country, and especially in more urban environments where you had a lot of school and site-based programming as the avenue to reach youth through corporate partnerships and stuff like that, that they were impacted so much differently So I think it just depended very much on, you know, what your geography was and kind of your service area in terms of what those impacts look like.

Interesting.

Yeah.

So tell me, what is a big?

A big. A big is a volunteer.

Okay. All right.

Plain and simple. It's somebody that shows up. The criteria of being a big is you have to be 18 or over for our community-based programs. We do do a background screening. We want to put safe people in the lives of kids. You have to be able to make a year commitment, see your little a couple of times a month. That's pretty plain and simple what a big is. You show up, right? You are there to walk the path. I always, when I'm telling stories about our matches, it's so simply about walking the path. It's about finding the kid in yourself many times because you get to go do fun things you can't always do. Or, you know what I mean, Littles expose our bigs to so many things as well in terms of, you know, the life they're living and what they're exposed to and, you know, all the TikTok trends and all those things. So it's that reciprocal relationship, but our bigs can be anyone the ages, you know into their 80s And I think that they're just folks that are committed to showing up for kids It's not you're not superhero. It's not the weight of the world doesn't come on your shoulders It's really just show up and be there for a young person

Is that always a one-on-one commitment? Yes. If I'm a big, can I have multiple kids?

We don't encourage that. It doesn't mean that it doesn't happen sometimes. If you have like a little, you've been in the program and they're 15, 16, right? And like, okay, you don't see them as often. You know what I mean? Like you guys, because their lives are busy and you're still supporting them. But like, okay, I'll take a nine-year-old, you know, and do that. But Is that in everyone's capacity to really focus on and give the attention to, to have multiple littles? So we don't necessarily encourage that. We are a one-to-one program, but we have lots of things that we have volunteers and other corporate partners and groups do with our kids that isn't necessarily one-to-one. So it's the core of what we do, but there's a lot of other supports and ways to engage.

How do you get your bigs?

How do we get our bigs? Well, word of mouth is number one. It's people who've done it. We are a brand that a lot of people know the name. We are very often confused with Boys and Girls Club, but you think about it differently. Boys and Girls Club, it's a brick and mortar. We are not a brick and mortar. We are in the community with bigs picking littles up at their homes for our community program or in schools specifically running program in those schools. But it's a lot of word of mouth. And then things like this. It's just the more we get out and talk to folks about what it is, dispelling some myths of what that commitment is and what it feels like to be and who can be a big. It just brings more people to the table.

Now, given the way you described to me as your organization growing up and how male-centric it was for a long period of time, when you match up your bigs with those who need them, is it always a male with a male and a female with a female, or are there crosses?

Not always. Not always. It's basically, you know, everything we do in matching is based on preferences. We give the family the preference, we give the little the preference, we give the big the preference. We do cross race matches, cross religion matches, just cross experience matches and sometimes cross gender in terms of little brothers with big sisters. And we've had a few little sisters that have requested big brothers. they don't have a male in their life or you know there's just something that they identify you think about the coaches that you've had in your life there those are mentors and they've not always been but primarily yes we are matching little brothers with big brothers and but you know everything about our matching process is based on preferences right and making sure that everybody feels comfortable and safe in the relationship

Now you have approximately over 200 kids on the waiting list right now. What do you do when you have that many people on the waiting list?

My goodness. We do more of this. You know, we do other things, like I said, than just the one-to-one matching. So when we have our wait list, and we always have a wait list. You actually want a wait list. What you don't want is kids to wait long. But you need a wait list so you make good matches. If you don't have a group of kids that have different, you know, this is a large footprint that we serve. So from different areas, have different interests, have different needs, have different desires in a big, you know, you need to have kind of that range. But in terms of, you know, who's waiting is primarily boys because we do need more big brothers. And that is what our wait list typically is. But it's the length of match. that is, or the length of weight that is always the, you know, it kind of gets you. I mean, boys wait a year to two years, typically. Yeah, and girls are pretty much matched within six months, just from a process standpoint. And then, you know, there's a lot more women that step up and step in. to these spaces. So it's that. But we do group events. We do activities. We do field trips. And many times we invite our families and our weightless littles to attend those different things. So we're engaging the community in a broader way than just that one-to-one space. How can we create developmentally appropriate activities and engagements for young people who aren't matched one-to-one to still give them some support and encouragement to see people as mentors, even if it's not one-to-one and kind of consistent.

What are your different, your various types of mentoring?

So we have community and school-based, and those are really the two kind of overall programs. Community-based, you pick your little up, you go and do an activity with them, whether it's, you know, going to the library, going to a movie, going to a game, helping with the school project, you know, you're kind of responsible for that activity. And in our community, or sorry, in our site-based programs, they happen primarily at schools, but not just at school. So we have a couple of variations with that, where you can go to a school and be a lunch buddy. So you go and share lunch with them, maybe play a game. We do facilitated activities that are also I'd call, there's learning games, right? Like as a big, that's where I've leaned in. And life is my favorite game to play with my little, because how many lessons can you give a 10 year old about life other than like, here are careers, here's how you count money, here's how you have to think about, right? Like how many kids you're going to have and do you get a mortgage? Like the game of life is really such a great lesson. But we also have programs where you go to corporations. So Ally is one of our partners downtown Detroit. And the kids go to Ally every other week and they meet with their big there. And so they kind of get that corporate experience, right? They get that like, what does it feel like to be in this space? Yeah. So that's our high schoolers.

What kind of time commitment do you see on both sides here?

Yeah, it's a couple times a month. And that's the minimum, right? And then it is really about what makes sense for the individual. We have some matches that have been together for a couple of years where maybe they only see each other once a month, but their relationship is texting and FaceTiming and checking in with each other in different ways. But when you're establishing a relationship, you have to be consistent. Right? Like to build trust with a young person, to get to know them, you know, twice a month, both in school and community-based programs.

Do some of these kids actually become part of the mentor's family almost?

both ways. Okay. It goes both ways.

Does it? Absolutely. Sorry, I feel like. No, no, no, no, no, that's fine.

Yeah, so, like, that happens, right? Like, that integration into family and it's, it is one-to-one, but that's also, like, it's personal and it's preference, right? Like, if you're an individual where, like, that's not the thing that you're into, like, okay, that's fine, but it happens. We just had a, um, Oh, one of our bigs of the year. I was just reading their match support notes. He wasn't able to get to his family's, I think in Alabama, down south somewhere for the holidays. So he spent Christmas with his little family. I mean, like, that's what this is. Again, they're reciprocal relationships where we're growing together. You're building a friendship and learning from each other.

Do you have any other specific success stories that you can think of?

Well, I just got a text and an email yesterday from one of our, he's actually a board member, but he was on my caseload when I first started 22 years ago. So this is a long-term success story, but I want to remind people that one year is just enough. That's really what we look for because we all know that we had coaches and teachers and people that had a significant impact on our life in kind of a shorter period of time. But we've had matches that have been together for 20. years so Christopher is now a dad he's thinking about being a big Greg was his big and so just watched him grow sent me a picture last night of him and his little you know they have dinner like you know every other month now and that's when they see each other and he's taller than him and you know it's really We unfortunately had a big that passed away recently as well. And that happens when you have these long term relationships. But in reading their notes, like such a success story, this was a big that was passionate about aviation. And he his little became passionate about aviation. And so he supported him doing lessons and getting up and flying. And that is the career path that he's now on as a high schooler is going to college to, you know, work in that field the impact that you can have just exposing kids to things maybe opportunities and experiences that are out of there you know that that block of I go to school here I go to church here I go to the grocery store here right like getting kids out of that and giving them those opportunities to see new things and experience in them and from another person's perspective than just your parents and your nuclear people, right? Like I think that's a really important piece of what Big Brothers Big Sisters does as well is kind of broadens your social network, right? And that capital that kids need.

And that is your most important thing that you have usually.

That's the most important thing. Any misconceptions about the program? I think it's that weight. It's that commitment and weight of what people think it means to be a big, right? Like, oh, I'm going to save this kid. Oh, I've got to be there for them every day. I've got to answer every text. Everybody needs boundaries. whether it's a personal relationship or professional relationship or a helping relationship, right? So, you know, it's not on you and you're not by yourself. So when we make matches between a big and a little, you have a match support specialist that checks in with you every month. Number one, to make sure that the kids are safe in relationships, that the relationship is developing appropriately, but to help give you ideas and places to go. And we do lots of, like I said, events and activities. So, you know, we'll do... oh gosh, we do field trips, we get tickets to Lions, Games and Tigers games and all the things that bigs and littles can do that kind of keep the cost down as well. Because especially in the community-based program, right? Like you're picking the little up to do something. Our goal is free and low cost. Special events and special activities should be special. This is not about like going and spending a ton of money. It's really about time well spent, that maybe you pepper in some special occasions with those things. But we support those as well as an organization through our partnerships and through companies who come out and facilitate those kind of group events and activities. We did a field trip to a construction site last year where kids got to learn about all of the things, and bigs learned at the same time. We had a group come in that did, they did mouse trap go-kart racing. So we write engineering, STEM, you're learning how to build like a derby car with a mousetrap. Whatever physics that go into that, right? So, you know, we try to do a lot of that too to make sure that bigs don't feel that way of always coming up with the thing.

Wow, that sounds wild.

Isn't it?

mentor, but they're interested in the program, what do you offer them?

I'll do that.

Okay.

Right? Like get your company involved. If you have like a specialty or a skill, like how can we partner? Those are companies that come out and do that kind of thing that offers some of their staff skill and expertise. So partnering with us like that. helping out at different events and activities. We do a lot of community engagement. Like we'll volunteer at some of the, oh gosh, marathon races. Like, oh, what is that called? You know, your brain sometimes. So, you know, coming to help us do that where we raise funds by showing up, maybe as volunteering for them, but we need people to help fill those so our paid staff don't have to do that, volunteering at our own fundraisers. coming out to fundraisers, supporting the organization, you know, through donations or just also spreading the word. Join our social media, post, right? Like share our posts about the impact of mentoring. Help us recruit more men to become bigs. You know, there's just so many things that folks can do if being a big or it's not the right time. We hear that a lot. Sometimes it's just not the right time. You have to hear things a bunch of times. I've heard that that number's gone up from a marketing perspective from seven to 20, which is insane. So I'm just gonna keep talking about it. So people have heard it 20 times and they pick up the phone and call us or go online and search us.

You know, when you have people that think they wanna be a big, okay, what's your tread on washouts? Do you get many of them? People that start in but.

So we do track yields and retention rates because 12 months is what we know is that space of where we really start to see impact being made on a young person from a research standpoint. So we track our 12-month retention. About 75% of matches last 12 months. I'd love it to be way higher. But the most important thing, absolutely 100%, if you're considering being a big, the most important thing is to understand the closure process before you commit. And I know that sounds crazy. We talk about it in orientation. What's most important is that we teach kids about appropriate closure and goodbyes. Because, right, you move. Your life circumstances change. You can't make the, there are all kinds of reasons that matches clothes. Do it appropriately, right? Say goodbye. Celebrate the wins. Are you going to stay in touch? You know. Christmas card or what, you know what I mean? Are you going to pick up the phone a couple times a year and check in on each other? Make that kind of commitment. That is, to me, 100% the most important part about being a big is making sure when it is time for that relationship to end, because we all have relationships that end, that you do it right.

Let's go back to fundraising, because I know that's important for every organization like yours. Can you tell us about some of the events that you guys...

We have a couple of annual events. We have coming up a great big auction on March 20th, which is a sports-themed event that we're having at the Cambria Hotel in Detroit. And so it's an auction. It comes right in the name. We have a fall evening, which is an annual event that we hold in Ann Arbor. We have different ways that people can participate in third-party fundraisers, like being a part of runs where you raise money. We do both for kids sake events. We have all kinds of things. We have grow a little breakfast where we ask people to just come learn about the mission and kind of, it's kind of like what we're doing on January 28th. Not exactly because we're not going to ask you for money on January 28th. but we are doing big big brothers big sisters in action event it's national mentoring month and so we have we're bringing together and inviting our community to come learn about being a big come learn about how your company can get involved in just what I talked about some of those activities partnership how can you lean in in the way that makes sense for you or you know donor or, you know, come and do sponsoring or fundraising events. There are all kinds of ways. And so that event isn't specifically a fundraiser, but we have another event that's very similar to that where we do ask people to make financial commitments. It's called Grow a Little. And we do two of those a year. So and then you can just go online and make a donation. It's so simple. The button's right at the top. always for that to happen because we are a donor supported volunteer organization. So we live and breathe on the back of the volunteers that step in as bigs and the donors that step in to help support that.

Where is your January the 28th?

January 28th. It is at the Durfee Innovation Society, which is where our Detroit office is located. Oh, okay. Yep, right downtown from 8 to 10.

Okay. That's right on your website?

It is right on our website.

All righty. Other events throughout the year, do you guys have regular events that you fundraise that the organization is greatly dependent on or anything like that?

Well, the fall evening event is one. Like I said, we do that every year. It raises a little over $200,000. We're hoping that the Great Big Auction will raise about $200,000 as well. That's an event that's been held in Detroit for a number of years. And so our Bull for Kids Sakes happened, but those are more kind of third-party corporate events. And then the Grow a Little Breakfast. And then we do different things just depending on the year. Last year, we were really lucky to have the draft here. So we had big draft event downtown, and it really kind of depends on the year, but those are the ones that we have every year that are consistent.

Fantastic. More donations are always needed, right?

Always. I mean, we live and breathe raising money. I live and breathe raising money, yeah.

As far as all of this together, what's the best way to connect with your organization?

I think go into our website. That's where you see all of the things that it can be. You can go under Be A Big and learn about the different programs, sign up for orientation. As a parent guardian, you can do the same thing. You can see our events. I would say that the other thing, I mean, Relevancy and getting the word out. Joy is our word this year. And it's because I truly believe that from joy comes gratitude and from gratitude comes joy. And these relationships do that, right? Like that is, as a big, you get joy from these experiences. As a little, you get joy from growing, you know, all of the things. And we need to be grateful for all of those moments. It's a tough world out there for kids, right? There's just so much coming at them. And so I think that one of the things right now that can be really most important if you are not able to step in as a big or give money is to follow us on social media and share the information. Ask the person that lives in your neighborhood, like, have you heard of Big Brothers Big Sisters? I saw this Jenna Spiller lady talking about their need for bigs. You know, just talking about the program and reminding people we're here. There's a need. It's easy. Who do you know that would be a great big?

Oh, that's fantastic. Did we miss anything, Jennifer? Now, you guys have offices in Detroit and in Ypsilanti, if I'm not mistaken. But still, go to the URL and everything is there.

BBBSSoutheastMI.org.

Bingo.

Yeah.

That's a scary URL.

It's a lot. It's a mouthful.

All right, well, thank you for coming on today.

Thank you so much.

Hopefully you'll enjoy the rest of your day. We've enjoyed having you on here. I will.

Like I shared, this is my old stomping ground. I worked in Taylor during undergrad, and some of my best friends that I made through life have been in Down River, so it's fun to be here.

That's fantastic. Don't be a stranger, we'll have you back here at some point and we'll follow on this discussion. A big thanks, no pun intended, to Jennifer Spittler of the Big Brother Big Sisters for joining us today on the program. Just go out to the organization's website or contact their offices in Detroit or Ypsilanti for more information. For Joe Camilleri and Samantha Rickert, behind the scenes, I'm Carl Zymak. We'll see you on our next Taylor Newsbreak. Hi, I'm Carl Zymek, and this is another installment of From the Mayor's Desk with Tim Woolley. In this show, we're going to focus on business activity in Taylor, along with several city-initiated projects and some other important issues that seem to be stacking up on us.

Tim, welcome to the Media Center.

How are you doing today? Thanks, Carl. It's good to see you. It's been a little while.

Well, yeah, it's been a little while, but all we've been talking about is Storm. But we're not going to talk about Storm yet. We're going to talk about it later here. Let's talk about some fun things. After sitting vacant for six years, give or take, uh it appears that the old masco headquarters probably the most iconic building in the city is going to become a focal point for a new multi-use project including professional services medical facility and a convention type center what can you tell us about the project that's been approved by the planning commission as well as city council