Month: January 2022

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January 10, 2022, City Council Meeting

Note: links to the video recording and the council packet can be found at the bottom of this post. Please note any errors or omissions in the comments. Anything noted between brackets was inserted by Clarkston Sunshine.

Agenda item #1, Call to Order:

If the meeting was called to order, it occurred before the video recording began.

Agenda item #2, Pledge of Allegiance (Video time mark 0:00:00):

Haven said that they would start the meeting by saying the pledge to the flag.

Pledge said.

Agenda item #3, Roll Call (Video time mark 0:00:18):

Eric Haven, Al Avery, Bruce Fuller, Joe Luginski, Laura Rodgers, and Sue Wylie were present. Gary Casey was absent.

Agenda item #4, Motion: Approval of Agenda (Video time mark 0:00:34):

Motion to approve the agenda as presented by Wylie; second Luginski.

No discussion.

Motion to approve the agenda passed unanimously by voice vote.

Agenda Item #5, Public Comments (Video time mark 0:00:55):

Haven read the rules for public comments.

Chet Pardee:

Pardee identified himself and provided his address.

Why have Clarkston city officials chosen to build a new meeting place for themselves rather than repair streets and sidewalks for residents and visitors?

Why are there insufficient funds to repair city streets, sidewalks, and paver aprons on Main Street?

Why has city council chosen not to meet to improve their understanding of city finances as recommended by the city manager?

Why has city council not acted to understand and planned to take advantage of expiring bond issues to provide revenue for the repair of city streets and sidewalks without increasing current taxes for property owners?

Why does city council not meet to discuss spending priorities with very limited revenue for capital expenses?

Why have city officials ignored HRC’s [Hubbell, Roth & Clark] maintenance recommendations from their road condition assessment to prevent further city road deterioration?

Why does the city have insufficient funds for even the first year of the six-year capital improvement plan?

The city treasurer can explain the critical timing regarding bond expirations and the city attorney can explain what’s required to make street and sidewalk repair funds available without an increase above current millage.

Each council member has the responsibility to ensure the city has sufficient revenue to maintain its infrastructure and work together to establish the plan and timeline to implement the steps leading to sufficient revenue for the City of the Village of Clarkston. Not doing so will further discourage city employees.

Haven thanked Pardee. He said that was a good thumbnail of Pardee’s points historically.

Wylie said that Pardee brings up a good point about the expiring bond issues and she asked Pardee off the top of his head – Pardee said that he thought that one is in 2023 and the other is in 2024, and the bonds or taxes that we are talking about are the ones that appear on our July tax bill. The time issue is that it will in fact require a vote of residents, but he’s suggesting that they replace the millage relating to the expiration of the first bond issue with a similar amount and the same way with the second one, so rather than have our taxes go down by a third, which is what would happen if the bond millage expired, we can likely do it with a mill or so less based on what we generate in revenue from coming down.

Wylie said that she thought they should start looking at this now since the bonds are expiring in 2023 – Pardee said in 2023 and 2024 – Wylie said that Pardee said that it’s a separate tax bill. Pardee said it may require, and Greg (Coté, city treasurer) understands best the timing, but Pardee’s guess is that we would have to vote in the fall of 2022, this fall, and we shouldn’t have a special election because of the cost. Pardee thinks that’s the timing. Haven said that Jennifer Speagle (city clerk) will talk about elections later.

Wylie said that we aren’t going to be ready to have a vote on this in March or May or maybe even August, but maybe by November of 2022 – Pardee said that he thought maybe that would turn out to be the timing based on Coté’s specifics related to the two bond issues. Wylie said if they choose to do something like that, they are a small group, and they probably have to start. Maybe the finance committee should start maybe thinking about this. Haven agreed.

Jim Markwalder:

Markwalder provided his address, location, and said that he’s lived in Clarkston for almost ten years. He said that like many, he’s had the privilege to work from home and has for quite some time now. He was sitting in his upstairs window finishing up his day on Friday and he had something happened and he thought he would take a moment before this weekend. The past weekend kind of bled into the week and got covered up and the experience got lost. He wanted to share the experience.

It was late in the afternoon, and he witnessed some bad behavior on Main Street, some excellent behavior on Main Street, and finally directly experienced the dedication and kindness from our city manager.

First, the bad behavior. He sat at his desk working to finish up his weekly update and there was a very loud noise followed by very loud screaming noise out in front of their home. His first intuition was that an automotive accident had occurred, which he and his wife have heard many times and have become familiar with. But on inspection, he noticed a large semi-truck loaded with a taller than normal shipping container paused just past their driveway. Stuck beneath the trim of the axle was a large branch, perhaps six or eight inches in diameter, that Markwalder concluded had been knocked off from a tree in the middle of his lot by the over-tall trailer. Rather than stop and investigate, the driver just continued, ignoring both the damage and the inconvenience he left behind, as a large branch now blocked the southbound lane of Main Street as well as Markwalder’s driveway.

This was immediately followed by good behavior, demonstrated by a young man riding in a car now stopped by the branch. While others behind the branch were impatiently honking and trying to find a way around, he leapt out of the passenger door and began dragging the branch off to the side, and upon noticing that the longer branch began getting into Markwalder’s shrubs and landscaping, he took time to turn around and break those off to clear Markwalder’s landscaping. All of this happened so fast. Markwalder was just watching out the window, and it was all he could do to get downstairs, open the front door, and to shout thanks as the man got back into the car and then drove off. So, thank you to the young man’s demonstration of good citizenry and behavior.

So, now that the traffic was once again flowing freely along Main Street, the sidewalk was blocked. In fact, Markwalder saw a runner go into the street to go around the branch. He says “branch,” but it was actually quite large. As Markwalder doesn’t have a chainsaw, he called the city offices. It was toward the end of the day, so he left a voicemail message for city manager Jonathan Smith. He didn’t expect much to come of it. He put on his jacket and gloves to see what he could accomplish with his little, cordless DeWalt sawzall, thinking that he could perhaps cut some smaller branches and at least clear the walk. He put his jacket on, mittens, gloves, and boots and went out there, and gosh it was cold, a cold windy night. He’d no sooner started than a pickup truck, a nice, newer pickup truck as a matter of fact, pulls over, turns flashers on, and Smith came around and said, “thanks for calling, don’t worry, I’ll take care of this.” For the next thirty minutes, Markwalder watched Smith from the comfort of his front room, as Smith first loaded his pickup with the smaller stuff, returning a few minutes later, this time bringing a chainsaw. He made short work of the rest of it and then raked the remaining bits.

So, this is a shoutout to Smith. He hoped he was there (Smith said he was). Markwalder said thanks for his dedication and kindness. He just wanted to let people know. Markwalder and his wife have lived here now for ten years. When he first came to Michigan back in 1985, this is the first place they moved to, and his wife grew up here, so they are long-time residents. They’ve lived away from here in the past, and he has to tell them that there is a sense of community here that if you stick your head up and get out of the flame-throwing online, it’s there, alive and well. This is one example, so thank you Clarkston, and thank you Smith; he appreciates him.

Haven thanked Markwalder for bringing this to their attention. He asked how Smith was dressed – did he have a cape on? Markwalder said no, as a matter of fact, he at first didn’t recognize the truck and he didn’t recognize Smith because he was bundled up pretty good. He thought “is this guy coming to get firewood or something”? He might have worn his cape underneath.

Haven said that Smith has done a lot of things for the city that not many people know about, and he thanked Markwalder and Smith. Smith thanked Markwalder. Haven said it was heartwarming.

[See Clarkston Sunshine Comment #1.]

No other public comments.

Public comments were closed.

Agenda Item #6, FYI (Video time mark 0:11:44):

Haven said he wanted to make brief comments at this time and thinks that we are going to hear a whole lot more about this in this coming year.

2022 is Clarkston’s 30th birthday. That will happen officially on July 1st. That’s a Friday of July 4th weekend, and they hope to have a shindig to celebrate that, and other events planned throughout the year.

Haven wanted to ask council a question that they don’t necessarily have to answer but should think about. It’s like one of those things like “where were you when the Twin Towers fell” kind of thing, everyone remembers that. Where were you in ’92, OK, when we became a city? If you weren’t born yet, you don’t have to admit that.

Thirty years have gone by, and Haven remembers when he was sitting, and maybe Smith can help him with this, he thinks this same table was in existence back then, though Smith wouldn’t necessarily know that, but Haven remembers where he sat, and he sat right there (gesturing), and Bill Basinger sat right down there (gesturing), when they voted to give it to the electorate to figure out whether we wanted to become a city. So, in 1992, Clarkston voted to become a city, which meant that we were self-governing and could fend for ourselves in many respects where we wouldn’t have been able to do that caught up in the larger political structure, and really some of that is on the agenda even for this evening relative to our position in the State of Michigan relative to the issues that are going to be before them.

Anyway, Haven just wanted to introduce the idea of Clarkston’s 30th birthday. It’s in the middle of winter right now, but we can party on throughout the year and enjoy the celebration of that timing.

Haven asked if anyone else had anything for “For Your Information,” an item of public interest that is not on the agenda already.

No additional comments.

Agenda Item #7, Sheriff Report (Video time mark 0:13:36; page 3/33 of the council packet):

Haven said the Sheriff’s Report for November was in front of them. Lieutenant Findley is not there tonight, but it’s there for their observation. They have sort of reflected in the past regarding the higher numbers from 2021 that are in contrast to the lower numbers probably in 2020 because of COVID.

(Feedback sounds. Smith muted them.)

Haven asked if anyone had any thoughts or comments regarding the Sheriff’s Report.

No comments.

Agenda Item #8, City Manager Report (Video time mark 0:14:38; page 4/33 of the council packet):

Haven said that Smith included his report and asked if there were any thoughts or comments relative to his report or anything else anyone would like to ask.

Smith said that he wanted to comment and say that today, they had a good meeting with the [Oakland County] Road Commission regarding Clarkston Road. Pardee was there today. This has been an ongoing discussion with the Road Commission and it’s a very complex situation. It may not look that complex, but it is more complex than meets the eye. The road is in very deteriorated condition, and as a result, it clearly needs to be repaved, but the Road Commission is not willing to pave anything outside of the existing footprint of the roadway. They are only willing to repave what’s already there because to go outside, they would have to disturb the soil, and because of the location of the gas station there, the old gas station, disturbing the soil is not something we want to do right now. So, the plan is we are going to try to buy some time and cap the road this summer after school is out. They will put a two-to-three-inch cap on Clarkston Road from Main Street all the way down to the Independence Township border line, which is where the township left off earlier last year. They will topcoat that whole section. The goal of putting in new drainage is the optimal goal. What they would love to have is some permanent solution for drainage on that road. Unfortunately, that does involve a much bigger excavation, disturbing the soil, so on everyone’s input, Smith thought that the best solution is to cap the road, buy ourselves some time until MDOT [Michigan Department of Transportation] takes on the repaving of Main Street. We know that’s at least five years away and could be as long as seven years away. When they repave that, that would be the time to piggyback on MDOT’s work and get actual drainage that would tie the drainage from Clarkston Road into Main Street. So, that’s a much bigger project than the Road Commission is willing to take on at this time, but they are willing to take on a cap of Clarkston Road which will address all the mini potholes, the patching on top of patching that’s there today. Smith said he thought this is a good interim solution until they can do some excavation and put in some storm drains.

Haven asked for the timing. Smith said that it would be in the summer, after school is out.

Haven asked if we would have to participate financially. He said that Smith had encouraged them to allow us to participate so we can move it up in the schedule. Smith said that’s what he said to them, but he never gave them an actual dollar amount. They are prepared to do this all on their own. Haven said that was good. Smith said we will see, maybe there is something that we want to contribute just to get a little bit more done, but the bulk of the work will be done by the Road Commission, all the work will be done, and the financing will be done by the Road Commission. Haven said that it was excellent news. Smith said that he wanted to let them know. Haven said that will buy us five years maybe. Smith said exactly.

Haven asked for any thoughts or questions for Smith.

[Tom Lowrie] asked about potholes – is that something that they are going to be doing this time of year, is that cold patch or hot? Smith said at this time of year, they have to use cold patch. It seems anti-intuitive that they are using cold patch in the middle of winter, but that’s the material they have to use. They had some holes open up on Main Street. Even though Main Street is technically not our road to maintain, it was in a crosswalk and so Smith instructed Jimi [Turner, DPW supervisor] to go ahead and patch those holes. So, they are trying to catch these. We had a lawsuit earlier this year where it was a trip and fall, so they are trying to catch these things and get them addressed as quickly as they can. Lowrie said that there is a decent sized one that started to open up in front of Mary Roth’s[?] house on Overlook. He knows that she doesn’t drive, and he doesn’t know her address. Smith said he would and could look it up. Lowrie thanked Smith. Haven said it was good input.

Haven asked if anyone else had any thoughts or comments relative to the city manager’s report?

No additional comments.

Agenda Item #9, Motion: Acceptance of the Consent Agenda as Presented (Video time mark 0:19:55):

    • 11-22-2021 Final Minutes (page 5/33 of the council packet)
    • 12-13-2021 Draft Minutes (page 7/33 of the council packet)
    • 01-10-2022 Treasurer’s Report (page 9/33 of the council packet)
    • 01-05-2022 Check Disbursement Report From 12-01-2021 – 12-31-2021 (page 10/33 of the council packet)
    • November 2021 Invoice, Carlisle-Wortman (page 14/33 of the council packet)
    • December 2021 Invoices, Thomas J. Ryan, P.C. (page 15/33 of the council packet)
    • Al’s Asphalt Paving Co. Invoice (page 18/33 of the council packet)

Haven said that this is the consent agenda, and for those who might be new to the term, the consent agenda is a compilation of minutes from their last two meetings, a final set of minutes from their 11-22 meeting, draft minutes from 12-13, and the Treasurer’s Report. Those are consolidated, and any one of those can be broken out for further questions, but they try to handle them with one motion and one vote.

Motion to accept the consent agenda as presented by Wylie; second by Rodgers.

Haven asked if there was any discussion.

Wylie asked to be reminded about the $6,000 bill for asphalt paving, what it was for, the $6,775. Smith said Al Asphalt’s is a little deceiving. It’s the name of the company that repaired the storm drain on Depot Road. Wylie said she sees it now; it was the storm drain on Depot Road.

No other discussion.

Motion to accept the consent agenda passed by unanimous voice vote.

Agenda Item #10, Old Business:

Item 10a – Resolution: Second Read of Short-Term Rental Ordinance (Video time mark 0:21:20):

    • Ordinance to Amend the City of the Village of Clarkston Zoning Ordinance, As Amended, To Address and Regulate Short Terms [Sic] Rentals Within the City (page 19/33 of the council packet)
    • July 13, 2021 Memo from Benjamin R. Carlisle, Carlisle/Wortman, Subject: Short-Term Rentals (page 22/33 of the council packet)

Haven said that this is a second read of the short-term rental ordinance because basically they did not have a council quorum, which is four. He asked if he was correct in that last time, because at least one of their members was absent and one declined. So, they are going to look at this again, the second reading of the resolution at this time.

Haven said he won’t read it again. It’s the second reading on this document.

Motion to adopt the resolution by Fuller; second by Wylie.

Haven asked for discussion.

Wylie asked to be reminded – they didn’t have a quorum, so it was voted down, or what happened? City attorney Tom Ryan said that this was the August 23rd meeting. They met, and also on the agenda was the replacement for city council, and there were only five members out of six. Six possible were there, could have been there. They had a vacancy and they had one member absent, so there were five of them there. The question was, which Ryan said he fixated on, frankly, was they needed four votes to appoint a council member. There were only three votes to appoint someone, so the motion failed. Also on the agenda that night was this ordinance, but two of the five voted against it, so it passed 3-2, but a concerned citizen, a C. Johnson from Lake Orion [that would be CORY JOHNSTON, long-time Clarkston resident who had significant involvement with Clarkston government and who recently moved to Lake Orion, someone that Ryan is very familiar with], subsequently a couple of weeks later indicated that the charter said that you have to have four votes for an ordinance for a council action. Ryan said he missed that that night, so he was correct, so it wasn’t adopted because there were only three people voting. Then, what happened was all this started bubbling up in the legislature about this house bill we are going to talk about, about the fact that the state wants to preempt and not allow cities, villages, or townships to deal with short-term rentals. So, it’s kind of been on hold, but now that we’re up, maybe it will happen or maybe it won’t in the state, we don’t know, but we wanted to correct that. So, the ordinance can be published if four of you vote for it, and that’s the history of it. Wylie and Haven thanked Ryan. Haven said he couldn’t remember. Wylie said she remembered at some point it was on hold because they were waiting for the legislature, but she didn’t remember.

Haven asked if there were any further discussion.

No further discussion.

Luginski, Rodgers, Avery, Haven, Fuller, and Wylie voted yes. Haven said he would say that it carried. Good news.

Agenda Item #11, New Business:

Item 11a – Discussion: Senator Bayer Comments on SB 446 Regarding Short-Term Rentals (Video time mark 0:25:13):

    • January 7, 2022 Memorandum from Senator Rosemary Bayer, Subject: Senate Bill 446 (page 26/33 of the council packet)

Haven said they were past old business and on to new business now. There are two bills, one is House Bill 4722, which was passed last year, and now Senate Bill 446, which is pending, and they are going to learn a little bit more about that.

Haven said that they’ve asked Senator Rosemary Bayer to join them because this bill is in the senate, obviously. Haven asked if Senator Bayer was online, and she said she was.

Haven said it was nice to hear her voice and he thought she was staying warm tonight. She said no, she has a geothermal heating system, it’s not keeping up, and it’s starting to feel colder. Haven thanked her for joining, even in her discomfort.

Haven said that they appreciated that Senator Bayer had made a statement about this bill, and he would like her to deliver it to them if she would and then give council the opportunity to ask her some questions about where we stand on this.

Senator Bayer said that fundamentally, she opposes what the bills are trying to do. She thinks that this is something that should be left up to the local communities to decide what’s right for that community. Every place is different, and you all know best what makes most sense in the Village of Clarkston, so it doesn’t make sense to her for them to [unintelligible]. She understands the desire for taxes, and they want to tax business like this which is fine to put regulation on it, but to decide who can and can’t do it is going too far. [Unintelligible] local control on most issues, and this is one of them.

Haven said that was excellent and noted that Senator Bayer had given them a written statement of her opposition and he thanked her for that. Senator Bayer said that she’s been one of the people advocating against this and also other local control things that keep coming back at them. One of the things that she’s learned is the fact that this is continuing on means that it’s really important to some people, but it also means that there’s not enough support to really get it all the way through. It keeps getting stuck. There’s a lot of people in the senate who fundamentally, like her, disagree with this idea that they ought to control every little thing, and every government needs to do the right thing for their own people. You’re closer to it than we are, and it just doesn’t make sense.

Haven thanked her and said that Michigan has been a home rule state in the past, and it sort of flies in the face of that previous legislation and court actions. Senator Bayer agreed.

Haven asked if the bill was out of committee yet and on the floor. Senator Bayer said it’s not scheduled to be on the floor so far. They won’t bring it to the floor until they are confident that they have enough votes in the senate. [Unintelligible] they are proposing, and there is no place on the schedule so far. Things can change, she knows that, and another thing that she knows and has heard in the last few weeks, it’s certainly not going to come up in the near term. She wished she could predict better than that. There’s some pretty hardcore opposition. She works with towns, they have been working for the last couple of years on sand and gravel mining trying to give locals the control. In the end, you should decide no, you cannot dig gravel mines right in our town, and right now, you can. Not completely right now [unintelligible], they have almost unlimited power now as it is. It’s bad enough. Haven said that fixing the roads is certainly an impetus for that local control issue. Senator Bayer said no, that’s actually not the case. As it turns out, we are the country’s largest exporter of sand and gravel. Because we have so many mines here, we send it everywhere else. We have way more than we need in Michigan so the excuse that we need more here to bring the prices down is really not true. Haven said that was good to know.

Haven said that Senator Bayer had mentioned other local control issues and asked her if she could mention any of those that they might want to watch out for that would affect Clarkston. Senator Bayer said that would be one, because it keeps coming back every year. The other one that comes to mind is stormwater management, which is one of her bills, to try to give locals control over and build a structure so that you can manage these things yourself. More and more as we are getting severe weather and different volumes of water to deal with in different ways, she thought it was more and more important that communities have control over that and can make their own decisions about what’s the right thing to do [unintelligible]. Haven said that was great. Senator Bayer said things like that, there’s a lot of smaller things that are really not necessary. She disagrees with the idea of state-wide tree ordinances. That seems wrong, she doesn’t know what’s more local than your trees. Haven agreed.

Haven asked if there were any other communities that are in favor of these bills, he knows that there is from certain senators and representatives, but as far as her perusal from her vantage point, which local communities are in favor of losing control of their short-term rentals. Senator Bayer said that was a really good question. There are seventeen communities in her district in Oakland County and none of them are in favor. Really, you have to look to where the high rates of tourism are along the lakeshore of Lake Michigan, vacation places, she thinks they are the main interested parties. Haven said that even tourism has to have balance, and that’s what he’s hearing from these tourist locations – that balance is really the issue. Whether they have tourism or not, everyone wants tourism, but you have to have balance. Senator Bayer said that those communities know what they need to do to make their own decisions. Senator Bayer said that there are times when she looks at something, she shakes her head and wonders why are you doing this, what is the driver, why not let them make their own decision? She understands the desire for tax revenue. That’s a different issue that can be addressed in a different way. If you are making money, if you are making profit on something, like any business, you can talk about taxes. So yes, it’s a personal property and we take personal stuff all the time, it’s not new. But there’s different ways to talk about taxes and talking about control, what you can and can’t do in your community.

Haven said it’s really encouraging to hear Senator Bayer say that she hears a lot of opposition to it. Early reports said it was going to fly right through the senate like it did through the house.

Haven said he doesn’t want to dominate, wanted the other council members to be able to talk, and he asked for input.

Wylie introduced herself and asked when will the short-term rental bill die. She thought it was at the end of the session and asked when that is. Senator Bayer said they die at the end of session, they go away. What will happen though is the same people are still in office that are pushing on it and they may decide to do it again. The mining bills are a good example of that. They come up every session. The mining lawyers are a huge and powerful lobby group, and they always find some people that are willing to try to work with them to pass those bills. Senator Bayer doesn’t know if that’s the case with this one, whether it will show back up in the next session if we get through this whole year. There’s one more year in this session, though December 31, 2022. And they will put it away eventually and be tired of pushing the rope up the hill. Hopefully that will be the case and they won’t have to deal with it again next session. Wylie thanked Senator Bayer.

Wylie asked who is the lobbying group that is in favor of this short-term rental bill. Senator Bayer said she didn’t know. She is in favor of local control, so they wouldn’t come to her anyway. Wylie thanked her. Senator Bayer said she suspects that it has something to do with tourism towns, but she doesn’t know. Wylie said that she assumed that it would be Airbnb and maybe they have an organization of short-term rentals. Senator Bayer said they must.

Haven asked if there were any other questions or comments for Senator Bayer.

Avery asked where the governor stands on this because if she’s against it, it will kill it eventually, because she will just veto it. Senator Bayer said she didn’t think that there is a burning desire to do this kind of thing, but she doesn’t know that the governor is encouraging the bill.

Senator Bayer said she had some other things to talk about if they were interested, if they wanted an update of what’s going on. Haven said that would be great.

Senator Bayer apologized for not being there more often. It’s been a few years, and it’s been odd not being able to go anywhere. They are just getting started, getting back in session, and they have their first session day on Wednesday of this week since before Christmas. Probably this will be one of the things that will be part of the conversation in the next few weeks; she’s sure they will try to go back around and see if they can raise enough interest to move it forward. Probably fairly early on they will hear some kind of result or that (unintelligible) until the next session. It probably won’t be too longer. They are in negotiations, and there are those two bills, and there are strong opposing opinions in the senate so there’s probably another group working on a different kind of bill or approach, and we’ll see what that looks like.

Senator Bayer said that a big part of what’s going to go on right now is budget work because we have a big surplus. We have six-and-a-half billion extra dollars at the end of the year, and we spent about a billion and a half at the end of December. There is some support in the senate for medical workers, health care workers, some rental assistance, and some other kinds of COVID relief sorts of things. They still have a lot of that money left to spend.

Senator Bayer said that they do have a water infrastructure proposal that went through the senate. She worked a lot on that and joined the three-and-a-half billion for clean water infrastructure, for building out stormwater infrastructure, separation from sewers, because when those two things run together, we get sewage backup in the basement. Also, septic repairs and replacements, small community replacement of entire septic. Communities have small systems, so lots of money focused on grants to give to local individuals and communities to do clean water. Also, money for lead pipe replacement. Clarkston as a community may not have as many of those issues, but it’s a pretty big investment in lead pipe replacement and clean water. So that’s a big part of their activity, because right away, they are looking at the infrastructure money coming from the federal government, maybe another ten billion dollars. They have some additional revenue in the state coffers as well, higher than anticipated revenue coming out of the state, so we have will have continuing big rounds of spending over the next couple of months which is going to be exciting for them, it’s the opportunity for investments in infrastructure, so all kinds of things including schools, including roads, including perhaps mental health facilities that we have been lacking for a long time. That’s a huge issue for us, trying to find ways to use those big one-time investment dollars to make some big changes where we think we need them the most. That’s pretty exciting, at least for those of us in budget land, and most of her committee is actually budgets.

Senator Bayer said that they have a really good opportunity to work a lot in the education space, so they are working on how to give infrastructure spending there. Obviously, Oxford is part of her district, so there is concern in all the schools around the area about what happened in Oxford. There’s a lot of conversation about safety, what should the legislature do, what should they be doing to ensure our students are safe in school. It’s kind of fundamental. She personally is the chair of the violence safety and violence prevention caucus, which is a very large caucus, over 40 members in the senate and the house. They’ve been working on gun safety legislation, as well as violence intervention programming. They’ve got funding just now, just this year, for Oakland County to do a pilot in violence intervention. We don’t have any bill to take guns away; it’s all focused on responsible gun ownership and safety. Violence intervention is kind of the current wave, and all over the country, you see the communities doing a lot of that sort of thing. It involves things like (unintelligible), so it’s a broader look at overall, how do we get in front of these situations before they happen. (Unintelligible.) We are working on a new program for the schools. This incident was horrifying and just (unintelligible) we are going to leverage the opportunity to build some of the systems that we know that are needed, and this is what we are talking about for next year, or two or three or five. (Unintelligible.) So, she thought that’s good.

Senator Bayer said we are going to get a huge boost in education funding this year. We got every single student in the entire state, including four-year-olds, a common base foundation level of funding, which was a major step, a twenty-two year goal that we’ve been working toward, so now that we are there, now we can focus on adequate levels of funding. There’s still more to do, but there were really big steps this last year (unintelligible). It’s not one-time funds. When you talk about funding for schools, it’s money that has to continue and continue. We have to see at least five years of confidence that we can pay for that before we can do any increase like that.

Senator Bayer said that things are looking pretty good. She knows that it feels strange in our state right now, but economically, we are (unintelligible) very well. (Unintelligible) some of the other challenges we are facing right now (unintelligible).

Haven asked what the future prognostication on the municipal return to communities is. We are kind of dead last in the country. If we could work up one or two increments in that list, it would certainly be nice. We live with that, as she can imagine, the council. Senator Bayer said they did give funds out this round, you would have seen that, and she thinks that our current governor is a pretty strong proponent of continuing to increase revenue sharing for communities (unintelligible) continue to go up. We’re having this revenue estimating conference this week, and they do that about every four months. Sometimes they call a special one when they (unintelligible) of anything happening. There is another surplus of revenue already for this fiscal year, and we have not yet spent the surplus from the last fiscal year, so that should give us an opportunity to focus on things that we haven’t been able to do proactively. She knows it’s high on the governor’s list, and it certainly is high on her list and a lot of her colleagues, so we will all be pushing for a stronger support for local communities for revenue sharing. Haven thanked Senator Bayer. Senator Bayer said they are trying to protect you guys from (unintelligible) and she knows that this happens all the time (unintelligible). They are trying to get to where every single time something like that shows up, we cannot shift (unintelligible) to the local communities. It’s untenable. Haven asked Senator Bayer to just remember that Clarkston is the littlest city in the State of Michigan by size, and she represents us, so she is our hope, so thank you for carrying our message. Senator Bayer said (unintelligible), lived there for such a long time and grew up in the country, more rural than Clarkston by far, and as an adult too. She mostly lived in Oxford. Right on the border. Senator Bayer said that she appreciated all they were doing and (unintelligible) everything that she can.

Haven asked if anyone else from the council wanted to say anything else to Senator Bayer. There were no comments.

Haven asked if anyone from the community would like to say anything to Senator Bayer; they have her ear here for the moment. Senator Bayer said that they always have her ear, anybody who calls.

Haven said that we have one citizen who would like to make a comment, Chet Pardee. Pardee stated his name and said that they had a meeting this afternoon with the Road Commission of Oakland County, and the issue is we’ve got Clarkston Road, where it intersects Main, is in poor condition. The poor condition is driven most by our inability to manage the stormwater. It’s complex because the adjacent property to where this problem is has got an underground tank issue from 1990. Pardee said he threw on the table today can we get some access to MUSTA funds, Michigan Underground Storage Tank [cleanup] fund to be able to, in a sense, remediate, and once we remediate, then we will be able to manage the stormwater as opposed to creating construction that puts lower Mill Pond and Parke Lake potentially at risk. Does MUSTA mean anything to her? Senator Bayer said that she would absolutely be able to help with this. Pardee said that he would get in touch with her. Senator Bayer said that we’ve always had issues with underground tanks; it’s an ongoing thing and there are around 6,000 of them around the state in different conditions and places. It’s not unusual that we would have an issue in Clarkston. (Unintelligible) in Franklin (unintelligible) underground storage tank which you already know. She’s familiar with it but didn’t realize there was a need for it (unintelligible).

Haven thanked Senator Bayer for joining tonight and looked forward to our next get together, maybe in six months or something they’ll just kind of reconvene with her. Senator Bayer said if they do want her to help with that, they should call her office to get on the calendar to set up a meeting. Pardee said he would do that. Senator Bayer said the phone number is 517/373-2417 and she will tell them that you are going to call.

Haven said that they are about to vote on a resolution relative to short-term rentals here as well, so we declare ourselves as a community, we’ve got an ordinance which we – Senator Bayer said (unintelligible) supporting you guys too (unintelligible). She thought they’d gotten word from every community now; Clarkston might be the last one or close to the last. Everyone is (unintelligible) about this.

Haven thanked Senator Bayer for the encouraging report. They really appreciate it. Senator Bayer thanked them for the invitation and hoped to see them sooner next time.

Pardee said that now that everyone’s blood pressure has gone down, Neil Wallace and Eric Lines were in the meeting this afternoon. Curt Catallo’s property was represented in the discussion, and they concurred with what we were talking about. Haven said that is good.

Item 11b – Resolution: Express Opposition to Michigan HB 4722 & SB 446 Regarding Short-Term Rentals (Video time mark 0:48:59):

    • Resolution to Express Opposition to HB 4722 and SB 446 Pertaining to Local Control of Short-Term Rental Properties (page 27/33 of the council packet)

Haven said that the next item was a resolution expressing opposition to the two bills that are pending, one bill has already passed, and one bill is pending in the senate before the governor gets to it. They have in the packet the official statement that Senator Bayer gave them a casual report on, her position on that. Haven wanted to read it. It’s really short.

Haven read the resolution out loud.

Haven said that there was pretty encouraging news from Senator Bayer about opposition to this. Haven asked for a motion to adopt the resolution.

Motion by Luginski; second Fuller.

Wylie said she’d like to make a brief comment, and she isn’t doing it to get into any kind of big discussion because she is very much in favor of this resolution. She thought in the future if they as a council are going to pass a resolution, bringing a resolution before them, they should make a decision to do that in a meeting before the resolution is actually written, rather than having it done between (gesturing) because they as a council did not decide that they wanted, that they were choosing to make this resolution. Again, she is in favor of doing this, but she thinks that there was a little bit behind the scenes action going on, and she would prefer that they discuss this as a group before choosing to go forward with it. Again, she’s not trying to get into an argument or a discussion; she just wanted to make that statement.

Rodgers asked how she would do that. If Rodgers thought about this and wanted to bring it up, would she bring it up in new business as an FYI type of thing. Wylie said she could do it in comments, or she could ask to have it put on the agenda as a discussion item, that would be the best way. She could even ask for a vote to amend the agenda and have it placed on the agenda that night.

Avery said he tends to agree too, although in this particular case, they didn’t have a meeting at the end of December. This legislation could be moving through rather quickly, so in this particular instance, he’s OK with it, but in general he would agree that before they take a position, they probably should make sure that it’s all out in public so that people can understand where they are coming from.

Haven asked if anyone else had a comment.

Tom Lowrie asked to make a comment and provided his address. He said that in their neighborhood, they have an Airbnb and they also have some rental units. He noticed that in some of the language they stated the safety and well-being. He noticed that the Airbnb is more or less immaculate as far as the upkeep and the maintenance, whereas a lot of the rental units tend to have broken windows, the places aren’t getting mowed, leaves aren’t picked up, and things like that. It’s probably after the fact now, but it’s an observation that he’s made, and he has rental units himself but not in the village, but he sees that things aren’t taken care of in the long-term as they are with short-term rentals. Rodgers said that she thought it was the magnitude, one-third of all of the properties could be a short-term rental, that makes it even harder to handle. Lowrie said that 1/3 is a big percent. Rodgers said it was a big number. Lowrie said he would think it should be more like 10%. Wylie said that this is a resolution opposing what the state is trying to do. Rodgers said it’s what the state is trying to do. Wylie said the senate and the house bill is for up to 1/3 in a community. Haven said that’s a modification. Lowrie said that is a lot, but at the same time, that could be revenue generating. That’s too much.

Avery said to Lowrie’s point, that falls on council if they have rental units, and they’ve had discussion in the last couple of months about that. Where they’re not being taken care of like they should be, then we need to get on them and make sure that they do. Lowrie agreed. Avery said that obviously, the Airbnbs have a commercial interest because that’s more immediate. If their house looks like crap, no one is going to rent it. (Haven made an unintelligible comment.) Avery said he understands that, but it doesn’t really take care of the issue that they talked about back in August when they passed the ordinance to do this. Haven said that they are cleaning up a lot of things. They have this ordinance before them shortly for inspections, so Lowrie’s point is well-taken.

Haven said that he thought that the big issue on this bill and others like it is local control. The state is trying to control from on high, and they can’t know what the situation is. A lot of the things that Lowrie is mentioning could be sorted out locally, because there are mixed interests, there is no question about it, but to not have local control is really kind of not positive.

Haven asked if there were any other comments. They were good comments.

No other comments.

Luginski, Wylie, Avery, Fuller, Rodgers, and Haven voted yes.

Haven said that the resolution carries. The only exception is Gary Casey who is absent today.

Item 11c – Discussion: Optimist Depot Park Event (Video time mark 0:57:47):

Haven said that Lowrie is here to represent the Optimist Depot Park event.

Lowrie said that in the past, there have been activities going down in the wintertime. Shiver on the River was put on by the historical, along with the Optimists and the library. They just put the ice rink up, and they wanted to try to resurrect this. Because of short notice, the historical society wasn’t able to promote it or help out, but the Optimists wanted to move forward with it. So, it probably won’t be as large because of the timespan. They are shooting for Saturday, February 5th, from 1:00-4:00. They’d like to have a firepit down there as they have in the past, probably some games, and are trying to get a heated tent The library said they would have some crafts and what have you. Lowrie said he had no idea how many people to expect, again, it’s less than a month away and they have to get approval before they can really get into it. He has people (unintelligible) helping out and the library. Haven said that this was Ginnie Schultz’ historical event, and you guys sort of helped with the interim, with the skating rink, and now Steve Wyckoff ’s students put this together, we have it out there, they are skating, and it’s great weather. Lowrie said they are skating right now. Lowrie jokingly said they should put a dome over it. Haven said he should come back and talk with them about that.

Wylie asked if there was a name for the event – is it still Shiver on the River? Lowrie said he got some pushback from the historical, they claimed that they owned the name to it. He knows that’s not true, but he doesn’t want to make waves. They can call it the Winterfest. There’s no patent on it. Lowrie said he doesn’t care who wants to get involved; the more the merrier. They are limited for help, so the Winterfest. He doesn’t know if that makes a big deal. It helps with marketing. Wylie agreed. Lowrie said it could be one year Shiver on the River and the next year Winterfest. Wylie suggested River Shiver.

Lowrie said he was looking for approval, and he understands they might need some sort of insurance. He knows the Optimists have it and he will make sure that he presents that before the event. Lowrie told Smith he needs to tell Lowrie exactly what he needs. He knows to name the city harmless, but as far as liability – Speagle said they just have to put the city on as a rider; the insurance company will know.

Wylie asked if Lowrie would need DPW help. Lowrie said it’s probably good for backup. If they set up a tent, and if there’s snow beforehand, they may have to do a little bit of clearing. He didn’t see a big need for it. They have people that will set up, people that will clean up. Lowrie said that there has always been an issue with serving food, so they might entertain a food truck. Wylie said that she remembered that one year, Union Joints had some really nice hot chocolate. Lowrie said he could ask them, but again, with chili and things like that, the health department is very strict. He’s not looking at trying to do that. This is not a fundraiser for them; they would like to do something for the community and would hate to go another year without it. Wylie thought it would be fun.

Haven said that this is a discussion item. Wylie asked if they were voting. Lowrie said he just needed permission.

Wylie said that she would make a motion that they give the Optimist Club permission to hold – the name is called the Winterfest – Haven said they could change the name. Haven asked for a second.

Luginski said that the only thing is that the motion should say pending insurance. Wylie said that she would amend that. Rodgers second.

Haven said it was a simple motion, so they don’t need a roll call.

The motion passed by unanimous voice vote.

Haven said that the motion carried, and he congratulated Lowrie.

Smith asked if he could intervene. He should have brought it up in the city manager’s report, but while Lowrie is here talking about the ice-skating rink, Smith said he got a call last Thursday afternoon from the City of Oxford, and they are looking for events that they can do to raise the spirits of the community. They were very intrigued by our skating rink and wanted to know how we did it, where did we get it, how did we put together, all these questions, so Smith said they are in discussions with the same ice-skating rink that provided the materials here. Lowrie said Jim Burns. Smith agreed. They have money, so they are not asking us to fund it, but they are asking for our help because we have the experience here. Smith has reached out to Steve Wyckoff, and he said he would send himself and a half-dozen boys and girls from the school. Smith said that he would be willing to send Jimi [Turner, DPW supervisor] and Carson [Danis, DPW employee], who were involved in this as well. There may be some others form the Optimists that will be asked too, but the thought is, and it’s probably going to be up to ten days before we get the materials, but to go up to Oxford and help them install this rink just as a way of kind of lifting spirits. Lowrie said that’s awesome. Smith said it’s in process and he hoped to have more to report before the next council meeting, but hopefully, by the next council meeting, it’s installed. Smith said that everyone wants to help and it’s a good thing. Wylie said it’s a very good thing. Haven thanked Smith.

Item 11d – Motion: Planning Commission Appointment (Video time mark 1:04:48):

    • Motion – Planning Commission Appointments (page 30/33 of the council packet)
    • January 9, 2022 resignation letter from Elizabeth M. Rogers (page 31/33 of the council packet)
    • January 6, 2022 request for appointment letter from Andrew North (page 32/33 of the council packet)

Haven said that Elizabeth Rogers is stepping down, he’s sorry to say. She served for several years now, and they will be recognizing her later. Her vacancy required a need for a nominee and Haven has been talking with Andy North. North is here with us tonight. Haven didn’t know if they had a chance to read North’s letter, but North is well-qualified. An attorney who has lived in Clarkston his whole life. Haven asked North for a thumbnail of his life.

North congratulated Fuller and said that he was a neighbor of North’s growing up. Haven said Fuller is a celebrity and has a plaque. Fuller said it’s not here. North said he would be honored and delighted. This would be the first opportunity that he’s had to serve in a capacity like that. He knows that he has a lot to learn about it, but he thinks that he could be a good help to the city of the village. North also wanted to say hi to Ryan. Ryan rented North his first office space. Ryan said they’re both young attorneys. Haven said that North has learned to pronounce the city of the village of really well. North agreed and caught himself. He remembered them talking about the 30th birthday or anniversary, and he remembered that it was shortly after they had moved into town when that happened. Haven said that North was barely born. North said he was in single digits.

Haven said that he was making North his nominee to fill the vacancy left by Rogers. He said he would make the nomination. Wylie said that Haven could go ahead and make his nomination, but she had a comment to make. Haven asked for a second; second Fuller.

Haven asked if there was any discussion, and Wylie said yes.

Wylie said that this is nothing against North because she doesn’t know him. She knows his mother just from being around. Wylie said that Rogers’ letter was only dated yesterday, and Wylie actually spoke to her last Tuesday. They talked about her resigning, and she said it’s a ways off, maybe February. There hasn’t been any time for anyone else to express any interest in this position, and Wylie wondered, she didn’t know if Haven reached out to North yesterday. Wylie said that she just – (interrupting Wylie), Haven said that he’s been talking to people about future service for a long time. Wylie asked if anyone else had expressed interest in the Planning Commission. Haven said that no one had called him. Wylie said that they should have an opportunity to let other people be involved in the city, not just someone resigns one day. She found out at 5:00 this afternoon that Rogers had resigned and that somebody else was going to be appointed. She thinks it’s too fast. She knows that there is a [Planning Commission] meeting again in three weeks, the first Monday in February, so they would prefer to get someone in the position, but the council has another meeting before that. It’s nothing against North at all; he sounds very qualified.

Wylie said it’s a process. She doesn’t like the process that Rogers resigned yesterday – it’s just too much backroom deal smelling. Wylie said that’s her feeling about it. It’s not open, it’s not public, nobody else knew there was an opening, and nobody else had an opportunity to say “oh, you know what, I was thinking about doing that and now that I know, I would like to put my name in.” And maybe North would still be the best, but she doesn’t know that.

Fuller asked Wylie how she would describe how this process should look like going forward, post something in the Clarkston News or say something to our neighbors? Wylie said at least if it’s mentioned in a meeting, it’s on the TV, and it could be in the Clarkston News. Wylie’s preference that she mentioned maybe in the last six months is that she would like to see something on the website so there’s an opportunity for anybody at any time to put in a resume or an application for Planning Commission, Historic District Commission, so that if any position becomes available, somebody, or the mayor, could go through, these are all the people who have sent in things and are interested in the position.

Speagle said that they have had, in the spotlight on the website until the end of last week, a post that said they are looking for replacements for the Planning Commission, and that’s been on there for months. Haven said that they have had several departures, and they virtually turned over – (interrupting Haven), Wylie said that she was the only one left. Haven said exactly. Speagle said that the ask for the Planning Commission has been on there for several months.

Wylie said that it’s a small community, and people typically don’t step forward and need to have their arm twisted. Haven said that they try to not do that. Fuller said pretty much. Wylie said again, it’s nothing against North, but she just doesn’t like the feel that this resignation was made yesterday – (interrupting Wylie), Haven said officially it was, but he talked with Wylie about it several weeks ago. Wylie agreed. Haven said he called her and talked with her, and she told him at that point. Wylie said that the public didn’t know this. Haven said he gets that point. Wylie said that’s her problem. Haven said that the pendulum swings both ways because they’ve gotten criticism for not bringing people forward fast enough in the past. Haven said believe him, trust him, he sits in this chair, so he knows what that’s like, it’s his responsibility to try and fill these positions, and if he finds people that are highly qualified, he’s going to bring them forward.

Luginski said he didn’t think that there was any behind the scenes, he couldn’t remember how Wylie worded it, any smoke and mirrors going on here. Luginski thinks that in a leadership role in the past, and he knows in business and when he was here too, you always want to have a bench, right? You need a bench because people resign. Sometimes you don’t know. You don’t get the advanced notice. Rogers did give us a little bit of knowledge on it, but sometimes, people just show up and say “you know what, I’m done.” So, if you don’t have a bench, right, and you haven’t interviewed people or talked to people and got some interest in it, then it takes that month, two, who knows how long sometimes it takes. And to your point, we don’t have a bunch of people raising their hands to do this. Speagle said that we had this on the website for a couple of months and we didn’t get any real responses. So, Haven has been out, you know, trying to muster up a bench, and Luginski knows as a hiring manager, he always has a bench, so if one of his salespeople quit tomorrow, he has three people that he already knows he wants to pick. Luginski said he just thinks it’s being prepared, that’s all it is, it has nothing to do with – (interrupting Luginski), Wylie said that it’s just the fact that she resigned yesterday and we’re appointing somebody today. Luginski said right, but the main issue is resigning. Haven said that the letter came yesterday. Wylie said that she talked to Rogers last Tuesday at their Planning Commission meeting, and they had a discussion during the meeting about her taking on an officer position, and she said then at the meeting that it was a ways off, she didn’t want to leave them in a lurch, she’s not ready to do that. She kind of hedged and said maybe February. Wylie talked to Rogers after the meeting and Rogers said that she wasn’t ready to do it yet. Luginski said that just goes to show you how things change; Rogers said that to Wylie last week and then this week she changed her mind. Wylie said again, it’s how we are doing things as a city. We are now saying, and she’s not sure when the agenda came out, Thursday, today, and today is the first time that she saw it, and then (gesturing). Wylie said that she thinks that they need to let people know that there’s a position available before they just go ahead and fill it. They have another meeting in January; they could do it then.

Haven said he has no problem with process adjustment at all. He felt a responsibility to move as fast as he can from a list of qualified people, and Wylie was really adamant about resumes and so on. They’ve done a good job of trying to get good qualifications. Wylie said that she does appreciate having those a lot; she thinks those are helpful. Haven said he has no problem with process adjustment at all, that’s fine, but in this case, he thinks it’s his responsibility by charter to do this. Ryan said it was state law. Haven said that’s what he was doing. Wylie said it’s not state law to do it at the very next – (interrupting Wylie), Ryan said no, no, but the mayor brings forth. Wylie agreed.

Haven thanked Wylie for her comments and said that they would talk about this some more. Wylie said hopefully they can do it before there’s another opening available. She really thinks they need to open up the process more. She knows what Speagle is talking about, the Spotlight, but she thinks if they would have a section on the website – when she talked about it before, it’s either the City of Rochester or Rochester Township, Wylie wasn’t sure, but one of them has a whole page where you can click and you can apply to all these different commissions, and it lists what the qualifications are. Wylie would like to see something like that here. Haven said he likes the idea a lot. If they could get job descriptions posted for future positions, he thinks it would be really great. They’ve been trying to do this personally, trying to talk with people, find out who is interested and that sort of thing, and bring them forward. If they could do that online, then let’s talk about that. Put together the descriptions of these particular commissions and committees and so on. Because they’ve had a massive turnover.

Haven said he didn’t realize how quickly these things happen. They’ve replaced probably three of their ZBA (Zoning Board of Appeals) members, he thought, and they’ve replaced two or three on the HDC (Historic District Commission), and the whole Planning Commission. Wylie said except for her, and Haven repeated except for Wylie, and she’s a liaison to the council. Wylie agreed. Haven said she gets paid to be good. (Laughter.) Haven said Wylie wouldn’t realize unless she sat here (referring to his role), and he’s had criticism from C. Johnson [once again, this refers to CORY JOHNSTON] and others, you know who have in the past done that. Haven said he’s sensitive to that, and as Luginski said, he tries to be proactive and bring forth quality candidates. Haven said that he thought, to a person, he’s been really pleased with the quality of people who have been willing to serve, so please understand.

(Directing her comments to North) Wylie said she was sorry that she put him in a spot like this, it’s not – (interrupting Wylie), Fuller said that he’d like to say in this particular case, Wylie’s point is well taken, but he thought to get a person of North’s caliber at this point, a young man who has grown up in this community and who elected to make Clarkston his home, his background as a lawyer, and his character. Fuller has known him since he was probably seven, has been in contact with him since, and he even went to a Michigan State football game with him. Fuller thought they should be thrilled to death that when contacted by Haven, North was willing to step up and take on this role because they start to look a little long in the tooth sometimes in terms of who is making decisions in this community. To bring in North, Fuller thinks, and Wylie’s point is well-taken, but Fuller thinks they should be thrilled to have North and what he brings to the Planning Commission. Wylie said that she has to admit that when she saw the name, and she had a vague idea, she knew that Peggy had a son and she figured that he’s under 40 and thought hey, maybe somebody who’s (unintelligible), and she does appreciate that. Haven said that’s his exact qualification – North said he was barely 38.

Haven asked Wylie if she would, in keeping with her feelings and her thought, work with Speagle to gather the job descriptions and they can post them, get them up there and (talking over Wylie) entertain people to, letters of desired service, which is what he asked North to do and which is in the packet, and get this issue behind them. Wylie said OK, and the more she thinks about it, it’s the City of Rochester because what got her there was their historic district commission. She was looking at what they have and she doesn’t think that Rochester Township has a historic district.

Pardee asked Smith how many people he sent his weekly communication to. Smith said that it was around 400. Pardee said that seemed like a big opportunity. The other thing that they talked about six months ago was there’s actually a schedule of people turning over, and they had this discussion based on what the timing issue was after last June or July. Ryan said that people’s terms are listed. Pardee agreed. (Interrupting Pardee), Haven said that they resigned in the middle of their term. Pardee said but what they talked about six months ago was there can be a schedule put together that talks about what positions are going to be – (interrupting Pardee), Haven said that they are online, he thought that’s posted. Smith said that they are online. Haven said that they are online right now. (Interrupting and talking over Pardee), Haven said that there is not a craving to go and look at those lists. Speagle said that there is a special city manager spot on the front page, so every week, the weekly email is posted on the front page. Speagle thought she kept two months’ worth on there and takes off the bottom one and adds a new one. So, even if he’s sending it out to three or four hundred people, it’s also available to those who don’t receive it to look online. Haven said he didn’t know how many cities much larger than Clarkston have a weekly communique from the city manager about what’s going on. It’s amazing; Haven is so appreciative of the staff he can’t tell you.

(Unintelligible crosstalk between Pardee and Haven.) Pardee asked if the tool could be used in telling people that there are going to be vacancies in whenever the periods are, that’s all. Haven said good, thanks.

Haven tried to move to the next agenda item before a vote was taken on North’s nomination, and the council members reminded him. Ryan said on behalf of this young lawyer, they needed a vote. Haven asked where would they be without Ryan. Fuller said that while he was still young, they should vote.

Haven asked if they had a motion and a second and was reminded that they already did that. Haven thought it was Wylie, and she said it wasn’t. Haven said that it was Haven and Fuller. Fuller said it was a long time ago. Ryan said that the term is going through June of 2023. Haven thanked Ryan and said he always helps them with that. Haven asked Ryan if it was a roll call vote, Ryan said they could do a roll call vote, and Haven said that they would do a roll call vote.

Rodgers, Fuller, Wylie, Luginski, Avery, and Haven voted yes.

[See Clarkston Sunshine Comment #2]

Item 11e – Discussion: Election update – Governor Whitmer has called special elections to fill vacancies in the offices of State Representative, 36th District, State Representative 43rd District, and State Representative, 74th District (Video time mark 1:20:40):

Speagle said that we will have a special primary and a special election. This came about in December. It is going to affect us here for Andrea Schroeder’s seat. Speagle wanted to make everyone aware of it, that we are having a last-minute election. Typically, we just have the state elections, the primary in August and the state general in November. Speagle said that she got word, and she started working on it right away, that March 1st and May 3rd will be the special primary and special election. Speagle said that she didn’t post this because she just got it this afternoon, this was just the ballot summary that she has to approve the writing and everything on, and that’s all that’s going to be on the ballot, just for that. She will start sending out absentee ballot applications within the next week and she has to have ballots in her hand no later than January 20th to start mailing out.

Haven asked what the price tag is on all these elections; these aren’t cheap. Speagle said no. Haven said we are required to have them. Speagle said that on something like this, when there’s not that much on the ballot, it’s not as costly as a presidential election, but she still has to hire X amount of people and there’s still a lot of paperwork. Haven said that there is an election in November coming up because we have an election every year, right, for council, so that would be in November, whatever else is on that ballot, plus these two, these are “adders,” right? Smith agreed. Haven said they are not in the budget. Speagle said that this hasn’t actually been budgeted. Haven said so they really need to approve, since they can’t reject this, they have no choice, but they have to spend money. Luginski said that they don’t have a choice, so if they don’t approve it, it doesn’t matter. Wylie asked if the city pays for ballots, and Speagle said yes. Speagle said she tried to save costs the last election because they only had one thing on the ballot. She normally hires (unintelligible) people, but it’s a long day. Regardless how many people show up, it’s a long day. So, learning off of that, Speagle is going to have to hire a few other people, fewer people than she normally does, than she did the last time, and maybe do half-days with everybody. Speagle said it’s a long day.

Haven thanked Speagle for all of her hard work. Speagle said with this, she couldn’t even guess the outcome, how many people will show up, but regardless, she has to be staffed. Haven said the whole day. Speagle agreed.

Haven asked if there were any questions or comments.

There were no questions or comments.

Agenda Item #12, Adjourn (Video time mark 1:24:11):

Motion by Wylie; second by Luginski.

No discussion.

Motion to adjourn by unanimous voice vote.

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