April 24, 2023, City Council Meeting

Introduction:

Though public comments can sometimes irritate the city council, there is value to both the council and the public in hearing them. While they can’t eliminate public comments entirely without violating the Open Meetings Act, your city council has decided not to acknowledge public comments during a city council meeting unless the person submitting the comments also appears at the meeting (in-person or electronically) to personally read them, but this is a rule that they occasionally adhere to (or not). Mayor Eric Haven has also cut people off for exceeding the city council’s arbitrary three-minute time limit (it’s arbitrary because no time limits are required by the Open Meetings Act), another rule that they occasionally adhere to (or not).

If your public comments were submitted to the council but not read, or if you tried to make public comments but your comments were cut short by the mayor, please email them to clarkstonsunshine@gmail.com and I will include them in my informal meeting summaries either under public comments or under the specific agenda item that you want to speak to.

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 (Video time mark 0:00:00):

Sue Wylie called the meeting to order.

Agenda Item #2, Pledge of Allegiance (Video time mark 0:00:05):

Pledge said.

Agenda Item #3, Roll Call (Video time mark 0:00:29):

Wylie asked for the roll call.

Laura Rodgers, Bruce Fuller, Gary Casey, Sue Wylie, Amanda Forte, and Mark Lamphier were present.

Eric Haven was absent.

Agenda Item #4, Approval of Agenda (Video time mark 0:01:04):

Wylie said this is the approval of the agenda. She asked for a motion and second to approve the agenda.

Motion by Rodgers; second Forte.

Wylie asked if there was any discussion.

No discussion.

Motion passed by unanimous voice vote.

Agenda Item #5, Public Comments (Video time mark 0:01:23):

Wylie read the rules for public comments.

Wylie said there was an email letter from Chet Pardee. She asked if he would like to start and welcomed him back. Pardee said “thank you” and stepped up to the podium. Pardee said he was happy to be here and happy to (unintelligible).

Chet Pardee:

Good evening. Pardee thanked Mayor Haven for reading his public comments when he has not been connected from out of state. Pardee said he was glad to present his comments in person.

Last month’s finance committee meeting was very interesting. Johnathan [Smith, city manager] has acknowledged that MDOT [Michigan Department of Transportation] has said the city was too affluent to receive the grant for the repair of West Miller Road. Greg [Coté, treasurer] said that our revenues do not cover our operating expenses. The mayor said he did not like my tone.

The mayor also recalled that Pardee has repeatedly questioned whether Clarkston could afford to be a city. Pardee said he acknowledged that he had said that and believes today that the City of Clarkston cannot be, cannot afford to be a city who maintains its streets and sidewalks. Thank you to the finance committee for tolerating his comments on the 17^th.

Pardee said he put on one document the 27 questions he’s asked in recent months that he thought required an answer in preparation for the ’23-’24 budget. None of the questions have been answered. It could be a very interesting May public hearing for the proposed ’23-’24 budget. Pardee’s tone as referenced by the mayor likely came from Pardee’s comment that he did not think the finance committee understood the city’s financial situation. To correct that statement, Pardee believes that Smith and Coté understand. Pardee doesn’t think the mayor understands, and it may be likely new members Mark [Lamphier] and Bruce [Fuller] have not developed a complete picture. If there is understanding, no satisfactory solution has been implemented.

In 2006 [2016?], Pardee concluded the city was not in a good financial situation, and the “could the city afford” question could only be answered with data. The RAMP [Road Asset Management Plan] report of September 2017 concluded the city should spend $80-$100,000 a year and essentially repair a road a year. The city has repaired two – East Miller and Holcomb – in the six years. Thanks to MDOT, M-15 has been repaired, and thanks to Oakland County, Clarkston Road has been repaired. Thank you, Johnathan [Smith], for your efforts on these improvements.

The State of Michigan requires that cities establish a Capital Improvement Plan and update it yearly. That had not been done in Clarkston past, and Pardee encouraged the Planning Commission to develop one for the city. In recent years, general updates have been done. The plan shows six years of capital improvement costs of more than a million dollars in which no monies are planned.

Pardee felt the RAMP report and the Capital Improvement Plan would provide the data for city officials to understand what needed to be done financially to continue to be a city. Pardee has been incorrect. The city has no plan to provide the revenue to maintain its infrastructure. 

Wylie thanked Pardee and asked if anyone else had any public comments tonight.

No additional comments.

Wylie said seeing none, she would close public comments.

Agenda Item #6, FYI, NoHaz Collection Event(s) 2023 – Saturday, April 29 – Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston ~ NoHaz Flyer & NoHaz Poster Attached; June, July & September dates, locations and hours of events, and acceptable materials are listed on the City of the Village of Clarkston website: www.villageofclarkston.org (Video time mark 0:05:12): 

• • NoHaz Flyer (page 3/26 of the council packet)

Wylie said we have a NoHaz collection event that she believes is this Saturday. It’s Saturday, April 29^th. It’s at the Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston, and there is a (unintelligible), we have a flyer and a poster which is attached. Wylie believes you have to schedule an appointment, is that correct? Smith said you do need to make a reservation. Wylie said a reservation. Wylie said she’s gone to these before when they were at Pine Knob, and they’re run really well. She’s gone even when you do not have to make a reservation. You pull up, they pull the stuff from your car, you don’t get out of the car at all, they have an electronics area, a paint area, it’s really well done. The future events, there’s one on Saturday, June 3^rd, at Oxford Middle School; Saturday, July 22^nd, at Kensington Church; and Saturday, September 16^th, at Oakland County Service center campus. So, if you miss this one, which is the closest, there are future NoHaz events you can go to.

Wylie asked what Clarkston residents are paying. Is it $10 or $15? Smith said $15. Wylie said $15, which in years in the past, it was – Smith said $125. Wylie said OK, considerably more.

Wylie asked if there were any questions on the NoHaz event.

Casey said he was curious why the different municipalities have different payment amounts. Wylie said because it depends on how much each community puts in. Isn’t that right, Johnathan [Smith]? Smith said right. There is a set amount. He believes the number is right around $120, something like that, that is the average cost per car. So, we’re subsidizing that all the way down to $15. Other communities might say “we’ll subsidize the whole thing.” They’ve got enough in their budget. But they generally say in most communities either it’s free, it’s $10, or it’s $15. Being our first year, Smith said let’s start out at $15 and see how it goes. Wylie agreed. Smith said because it says pay as you go. If 500 of our residents go to this event, it would be a good thing, but it would be a bad thing because we have to pay $500 [500] times the 100 and some dollars piece that we’re subsidizing. Wylie agreed. Smith said so, we’re just going to kind of see how many people turn out. They have records from the previous time, which was about eight, nine years ago that we participated in NoHaz, and they said it was usually only about 15, 10-15 people from Clarkston that went, that took advantage of this program. Wylie agreed. Smith said so, we’ll see how this goes.

Wylie said it’s to your advantage to load your car up. So, search your house, because as soon as you drop everything off, you come home and find paint in the closet. There’s always something. Load your car up. They’ll take computers, they’ll take printers, it’s amazing the things that they take that other places don’t take.

Agenda Item #7, City Manager Report (Video time mark 0:08:19; page 6/26 of the council packet):

Wylie said for #7, we have the city manager’s report. She asked if Smith wanted to talk about any highlights.

Smith said he really didn’t have much to add to what is here other than on the beaver dams, a local attorney sent Smith a note saying just for your information, it’s actually illegal in the State of Michigan to relocate a beaver. Wylie said OK. Smith said he doesn’t know if that’s true of other animals, but at least in the case of beavers, you cannot relocate them. So, if we’re having trouble with them, we can break up their dams, but we cannot relocate them. So, we’ll have to find a way to approach this with our beaver friends, which Smith thinks actually is kind of cool. He’s glad they’re here. Wylie said she’s gone kayaking out there and she saw them last year. (Gesturing), Wylie said they’re big. Not under water, they’re big. But she appreciates this because they were going after one of her trees last year. They did a lot of damage to a tree until somebody told her how to keep them, keep them away. Smith said oh, OK. Wylie said it worked. Smith said this one in Depot Park, you can see in the picture it’s, they’re more than half-way through it. Wylie said yes. What they told her to do is to take paint and you put sand in it and paint it. So apparently, they hate the grit and the sand, and then sprinkle sand at the bottom of the tree, and they never came back. They came back and took a few little nibbles, but that was it. So, if you’re having trouble with beavers . . . (laughter). Wylie said because everybody around her, they were going after, started coming down the shore (gesturing).

Fuller asked if this is something new. He saw a dead beaver a couple of years ago in the road. It was (unintelligible). Is this dam and all this beaver development, is this a new thing for (unintelligible). Smith said it is fairly new. They come and go, but he’s lived here forty-plus years and he’s never seen so many dams around the road, and there are a couple of them now, so he thinks it is new, they’ve come into our area, but they’re amazing little creatures, the way they go at these trees like an arborist would take down these trees. They know that you take a V out of the front where you want it to fall, and then you go in the back and then cut a groove in the back, so it will fall right where they want it to go, right across the river. So, it’s really amazing. The other thing that Jimi [Turner, Department of Public Works supervisor] was saying, this dam that goes across the Mill race, he says you can walk on it, it’s like walking on concrete. Fuller said oh. Smith said but if you step off right or left, you’re into muck and it’s like quicksand. That’s very much the case with most of the Mill race, it’s very much like quicksand. Smith doesn’t encourage anybody to go in there because it’s very silty. But this foundation that they have created, they’ve driven sticks down into the mud, and they’ve created this kind of pyramid, and Jimi said it’s rock-solid. You can walk right on it. No problem at all, but you step right or left, and you’re into the muck. They’re just amazing little creatures. Fuller agreed. Smith said that they do this, all instinctively. He doesn’t know of any other animal that creates things like this. And then the big hut that they have that they live in which is upstream, he thinks, upstream of the dam, because they don’t like the sound of rushing water he’s told. Jimi’s done, Jimi Turner, our DPW [Department of Public Works], has done a lot of research on this and says what they really don’t like is the sound of rushing water, so they’re creating this dam just to stop the rushing water sound. In fact, they had a video where they took of a very silent pond and they put in a speaker with the sound of rushing water, and the beavers went over to that speaker and covered it up with like seaweed and other things they could find to cover it up because they don’t like the sound of rushing water, and that’s why they create these dams. That’s just what he found.

Wylie asked if this was their season for having baby beavers. Smith and Wylie said that they assume it is. Rodgers said everything else is happening now. Wylie said they have to look that up. Smith said they haven’t seen any yet, but . . .

Wylie recognized Pardee for a comment. He said he had a comment relating to upstream. Last summer, he became concerned that we weren’t getting enough water into upper Mill Pond and that was contributing to the water level in lower. Pardee said he was thinking well, maybe farmers diverted water, or someone has. He went to see Blue Heron, he forgot what their name used to be. Wylie said the Blue Heron Lake Conservancy. Pardee said he sat with her for about an hour trying to understand, and she said well, you know, we have a beaver in that waterway to the east of I-75. Wylie said in that Kendall Preserve. Pardee said yes. To the east and south. Pardee said he went walking and looking for the beaver dam and he couldn’t find it, but it isn’t very easy to walk behind on the water length there. So, now we see maybe, he’s wondering if there’s something going on upstream that’s slowing the water flow to our two mill ponds. Smith said it’s certainly possible.

Rodgers said speaking of the Mill Pond, when are we supposed to hear from EGLE [Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy] whether we are going to get that grant or not. Smith said it’s March 31^st, and then they sent out a notice saying it would be April 11^th, and then April 11^th has come and gone and no further explanation. They didn’t say, but we have made the calls to them, and they just say that it’s in the board’s hands and they’re to make a decision soon. That’s all they will tell us.

Agenda Item #8 – Motion: Acceptance of the Consent Agenda as Presented (Video time mark 0:14:55):

• • 03-27-2023 – Final Minutes (page 8/26 of the council packet)
  • 04-10-2023 – Draft Minutes (page 11/26 of the council packet)
  • 04-24-2023 – Treasurer’s Report (page 14/26 of the council packet)
  • 04-11-2023 – Revenue and Expenditure Report for the period ending 03-31-2023 (page 15/26 of the council packet)
  • Carlisle/Wortman March invoices (page 24/26 of the council packet)

Wylie said she needed a motion to accept the consent agenda as presented today, April 24, 2023, and this will include the final minutes from the March 7, 2023, meeting; the draft minutes for the April 10, 2023, meeting; the treasurer’s report as of April 24, 2023; and (unintelligible) on the agenda. So, first she needs is a motion to accept the consent agenda and a second.

Motion by Fuller; second Casey.

Wylie asked if there was any discussion on the acceptance of the consent agenda.

No discussion.

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

Agenda Item #9, Old Business – None (Video time mark 0:15:48):

Wylie said there’s no old business.

Agenda Item #10, New Business (Video time mark 0:15:52):

Item 11a – Resolution: Waiving Depot Park Rental Fee for the Milo Project

• • Resolution – Waiving Depot Park Rental Fee for the Milo Project (page 26/26 of the council packet)

Wylie said they had a resolution for waiving Depot Park rental fee for the Milo Project, and there are some documents in their packet. This is the resolution. It’s on, it’s the last page, a resolution waiving Depot Park, OK. Wylie invited someone to come on up and identified the person as Jeff Chamberlain.

Wylie said she would read the resolution, and then if he would like to talk about it (unintelligible).

(Wylie read the resolution.)

Wylie said she knows that usually they ask that somebody make a motion on the resolution, but since she thinks most of them aren’t real familiar, Chamberlain should talk about it first and introduce himself.

Jeff Chamberlain:

Chamberlain introduced himself. He’s been a Clarkston resident for 54 years. 55 years as of last week. Double nickels. (Laughter.) Chamberlain said so, he came up with the Milo Project. A quick history, five years ago, he was a corporate sales guy, he had a stroke, and that made him reassess things in the year of rehab of what he was doing, so he came up with this Milo Project for a few reasons. First, he started writing after that, which he’s never had any interest in in writing at all, so he doesn’t know what happened there, but he started writing. He wrote a children’s book called “The Dog with the Crooked Tail.” (Chamberlain held up a book.) And that’s Milo (pointing). He’s got a crooked tail, and the general idea of the book is he’s nervous and scared about starting school, what others are going to think about his crooked tail.

Chamberlain said he has a special needs daughter who’s 23, went through Clarkston schools, so we dealt with the self-confidence portion of the Milo Project, and then we have a son who’s 30 who’s gay, and we dealt with the bullying aspect from a very young age as well and in the current climate of what’s going on in schools, school shootings, bullying (unintelligible), etc.

So, the Milo Project’s premise is building self-confidence in these kids at a very young age first. That’s the top priority. With the idea that that self-confidence will: a. prevent them from becoming bullies in the future, and b. have the courage to stand up to it when they see it. So, he’s been getting it into the school districts. He has about ten school districts now, including Clarkston, in small-town boutiques. So, with the school districts he goes to, each child gets a copy of the book and a backpack charm with Milo on it, and then the school gets posters of Milo Project “Be Kind” posters for their classrooms, hallways, etc. And then Chamberlain goes in and does author readings for each class that participates. The last one he did was like Fenton Schools. They have 150 first graders. It was about ten classrooms. He went through and did about 30 minutes in each classroom, read the book, explain to them the whole premise, answer questions, and the kids love it. They get very involved in talking about their dogs, which leads to an easy transition to all their dogs are different, but they love them anyway, so it’s the same with people and so on. So, that’s what it is.

So, he’s going to do a family fun, it’s actually a family fun walk, which he would like to, if he can, change to 10:00-1:00 because he just thinks that sometimes getting the kids up by 9:00 is a struggle. It’s just going to be, you know, there’ll be the walk, when people register they’re going to get a copy of the book, the backpack charm, one of these bracelets (gesturing), and a T-shirt with the event on it. There’s going to be some events for children, face painting, balloons, that kind of thing. Balloon animals. That’s what it is.

So, Chamberlain was hoping because of the cost if they would (gesturing).

Casey asked if Chamberlain finances this all himself. Chamberlain said yes. So, he decided after that stroke and after the year of “what am I going to do,” he decided he didn’t want to go back to corporate America. It made him reassess what he was doing. He wanted to do something that has more impact. So yes, financed it himself. It’s not a 501(c)(3) or whatever. This is going toward continuing the operation of this, because this is him and him alone doing it right now, so that’s it.

Fuller asked if Milo is a real dog. Chamberlain said Milo is their dog. Fuller asked if he’s alive still. Chamberlain said he’s a live dog, yes. He’s going to give council a card and they can go on his website. There’s a picture of Milo there with his crooked tail in real life. (Laughter.)

Chamberlain said he will also be having a dog contest, like most unique dog, and things like that. (Chamberlain passed out cards.) But the whole story, the whole thing, is on Chamberlain’s website if they want to check it out. Casey thanked Chamberlain.

Smith asked if Chamberlain brings his dog with him to the classes. Chamberlain said he does not because he’s a total spazz and he’ll get in kid’s faces (gesturing), and he just doesn’t want to deal with that.

Chamberlain said he had a question about the liability, is there a liability policy or something? He doesn’t have one because this is the first event, really, that he’s done, so what is it, just a liability policy required? Smith said it’s liability, just for the one-day event, for that three-hour window or something, we need to have liability coverage. Our city attorney requires that. Chamberlain asked if there was just like a minimum. Wylie said those on council don’t know. Smith would know. Chamberlain said just give him the details of it. Smith said he would give him a sample and Chamberlain can see what he can find out. It doesn’t seem to be too much of an expense. Unfortunately, we just don’t have any give on that. Chamberlain said all right. Smith said he will get Chamberlain a sample and he can talk to his insurance company and see what they would charge for a three-hour event. Chamberlain said OK.

Wylie said she looked at Chamberlain’s website today and asked if he was going to be promoting this on his website. Chamberlain said yes. The registration will be on the website. That’s being worked on right now. It’s absolutely going to be on the home page, register for the family fun walk. Yes, so that will be on there, and it will be promoted everywhere he can.

Wylie asked if there is a fee to enter, to be in the fun walk? Chamberlain said yes. You get a T-shirt, a book, the charm, bracelet. It’s $30 for the family. So, you get one, and if they want more, they’re going to have to buy that extra. Wylie said OK. Chamberlain said similar to what SCAMP does.

Wylie said she assumes he has a crew of people beyond his family that are going to help him run this event. Chamberlain said oh yeah. He’s at the very beginning stages of it right now, so he will. Yes, he has lots of friends that are very supportive of it, so yes, he will.

Wylie asked how long of a walk. Chamberlain said it’s just going to be a mile. It’s going to be up out the back end of the park there, on Main Street on the sidewalk, on Middle Lake, on (unintelligible) and back so there’s no traffic, road crossing or anything like that to deal with. Wylie said OK.

Wylie asked if the Sheriff’s Department had to be involved. Smith said no, we’re not closing any roads, but he would alert Chamberlain to the fact that Middle Lake doesn’t have a sidewalk to walk on, so you have to walk in the road. Chamberlain said right. Smith said so you just have to stay off to the side. He didn’t know if John [Sergeant John Ashley, Oakland County Sheriff’s Department] had any concerns about that. (No comment from Sergeant Ashley.)

Chamberlain said they did, he believes, a few, or several years ago, five years ago, he thinks, that SCAMP did one, and they did that route, and it was real convenient and the cars, there just weren’t really cars out there that day, but people were walking right down the middle of the road. Chamberlain isn’t sure how many people he will have at this point. He’ll find out.

Wylie said OK and asked if anybody else on council had questions for Chamberlain.

No questions.

Wylie asked if anybody in the audience had questions.

An unidentified man asked Chamberlain how and where he will promote this event. Chamberlain said he will be doing flyers all over. He knows a lot, from living here his whole life, he knows a lot of local businesses. So, he’ll promote it through that, through social media, the Milo Project has a Facebook page, though that, word of mouth, Clarkston News, they’re going to do a story on it, he’s talked to them already.

Pardee asked Chamberlain if he had any idea how many participants he may have. Chamberlain said no. It could be ten, it could be three hundred, he doesn’t have any idea at this point. Like he said, he just started putting it together and he wanted to get this part out of the way.

Wylie asked if anybody else had questions.

No other questions.

Wylie said that she thought before they do anything, they have to change the resolution, to change the time on it, she doesn’t know because she crossed it off, 9:00 to noon. Rodgers said 10:00-1:00. Wylie said make it 10:00-1:00. It’s on the second whereas. So, “whereas local resident and Milo supporter Jeff Chamberlain is proposing . . .” Wylie said oh, did you want to say, “family fun day” or “family fun walk.” Chamberlain said, “family fun walk.” Wylie said OK, so change “day” to “walk.” Continuing, Wylie said “to be held Saturday, July 15^th from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in Clarkston’s Depot Park.” Wylie said and in the last paragraph, “now therefore be it resolved,” we will also change it to “family fun walk.”

Wylie asked if there is going to be anything going on after the walk. She knows SCAMP sometimes has (gesturing). Chamberlain said there’ll just be, as he said, some guys doing balloon animals, some face painting, the dog contest. Wylie said oh, that’s right. Chamberlain said things like that. He might have a bounce house. Wylie said oh, OK.

Wylie said OK, what she needs is somebody is going to have to make a motion for this resolution. Or unless you guys, or not make a resolution.

Fuller asked if they needed a resolution to change this now that Wylie has changed the resolution. Wylie said oh. Fuller asked if they could just go ahead. Wylie said she thought so. They don’t have Tom [Ryan, city attorney] (unintelligible).

Rodgers asked if she could make a resolution to change – (interrupting Rodgers), Fuller said to accept it as – (interrupting Fuller) Wylie said to make a motion to change this resolution. (Unintelligible crosstalk.) Wylie said OK.

Wylie said we’re making a motion to change the resolution that is currently written from, as she said, “fun day” changed to “fun walk,” the time is changed from 9:00 a.m. to noon to 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and in the last paragraph, “day” is changed to “walk.”

Wylie said she needs a second now. Second Fuller. Wylie said OK. Laura [Rodgers] and Bruce [Fuller]. (Unintelligible crosstalk.)

Wylie said OK, any discussion on everything they’ve changed in the resolution.

No discussion.

Motion to change the resolution passed by unanimous voice vote.

Wylie said OK, now we need somebody to make a motion on this resolution.

Casey said he would make the motion. Wylie said OK, Gary [Casey] is making a motion for this resolution. Wylie asked if there was a second. Second Rodgers. Wylie said OK, Laura [Rodgers] is making a second.

Wylie asked if there was any discussion.

No discussion.

Wylie said OK, we need to have a roll call on this.

Forte, Fuller, Lamphier, Wylie, and Casey voted yes. Karen DeLorge [city clerk] said the resolution is adopted. Wylie and Fuller asked if DeLorge got Rodgers. DeLorge said and Rodgers. Rodgers voted yes. DeLorge apologized; Rodgers said that’s fine.

Wylie said second was Rodgers. So, that resolution is adopted.

(To Chamberlain), Wylie said so, she guessed he needed to get his insurance and kind of keep in touch with Karen [DeLorge] and Johnathan [Smith] and good luck. Chamberlain said OK, thank you. Wylie said you’re welcome.

Fuller said he wanted to ask a question. We have several – (interrupting Fuller), Rodgers said she was just going to ask. (Continuing), Fuller said voting on, you know, people wanting to use the park and they’re always asked to provide insurance. Fuller asked if he was to go up to (unintelligible) or whatever, they provide that type of insurance. Smith said yes, they’re familiar with it, most insurance agents are very familiar with that it, especially if you’re an organization that does this kind of thing all the time. The [Clarkston] Historical Society does these, and Smith calls them and in ten minutes, they can have a document sent over to Smith just showing coverage for that day. Fuller asked Smith if he’d ever heard of an instance where the insurance company has, for a charitable organization, donated the insurance. Rodgers said that’s a silly question. Smith said that again, for the Historical Society that he’s involved with, the Historical Society, the insurance company does everything and never charged them for it. Wylie said oh, they don’t charge you. Rodgers said really. Smith said they don’t charge them. Now, for an individual, maybe they would, but for theirs, because they have their ongoing business, they’ve never charged. Smith said it’s a million-dollar coverage. (Fuller made an unintelligible comment, and Casey agreed.)

Forte said she had another question which she thought was going to be Fuller’s question and it wasn’t. How often do we waive the park fee versus not waive it. Smith said well, the 501(c)(3)s, that’s the pattern or the agreement we’ve previously had with councils that we do that, and since Smith has a $500 approval authorization, if they ask Smith for it, he will give that automatically. Chamberlain was a little different, because he’s not a 501(c)(3), so Smith said if you want this, you’re going to have to come to council. But people who are going to have their wedding, Smith doesn’t even entertain that, he doesn’t even tell them that that’s an option.

Forte asked Smith how much money he would estimate we make per year. Smith said probably $4-$5,000. We have a lot of weddings in the summer months. Wylie said but a lot of that is eaten up by expenses too. Fuller said the clean up, you mean. Smith said we have expenses; that’s just the gross income. Yes, Wylie is right, we have expenses. The DPW might have additional cleanup to do the next day. Of course, we ask that they not trash the place, and generally, most groups have been very supportive of that and clean up after themselves. Forte said yes, that’s true.

Wylie said OK. We have Item #11.

Smith said (unintelligible) in the packet. To answer Forte’s question. Gazebo rentals. We had $4,000 budgeted for this year, and so far, we’ve had $3,375 of income, and we still have the spring weddings to come up, so we’ll probably get every bit of $4,000 and then some.

Fuller said but the beavers get to stay for free. Smith said right. (Unintelligible crosstalk.)

Agenda Item #11, Adjourn (Video time mark 0:33:39):

Wylie said all right. Item #11 is adjournment. She needs a motion to adjourn.

Motion by Forte; second Rodgers.

Wylie asked if there was any discussion on adjourning. (Unintelligible crosstalk.) Fuller said it’s going to be a long meeting.

No discussion.

Motion to adjourn by unanimous voice vote. Wylie said and that is at 7:34. Not a record.

Resources:

• • Link to video recording:
    http://216.11.46.126/CablecastPublicSite/show/4126?site=1
  • 20230424 – City council packet