October 28, 2024 City Council Meeting

Introduction:

Links to the video recording and the council packet are at the bottom of this post. Please note any errors or omissions in the comments. Anything noted in brackets was inserted by Clarkston Sunshine.

Agenda Item #1, Call to Order (Video time mark 0:00:01):

Sue Wylie said OK, it’s 7:00, I’m calling the meeting to order.

Agenda Item #2, Pledge of Allegiance (Video time mark 0:00:04):

Wylie said everybody please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

(Pledge said.)

Wylie said thank you everybody.

Agenda Item #3, Roll Call (Video time mark 0:00:23):

Wylie said on our agenda, the third item is the roll call. And who’s doing the roll call tonight? (Unintelligible.) Wylie said Jonathan [Smith, city manager], you’re doing it? OK.

Sue Wylie, Laura Rodgers, Gary Casey, Amanda Forte, Mark Lamphier, Ted Quisenberry, and Peg Roth were present.

Wylie said great, thanks. Everybody’s here.

Agenda Item #4, Approval of Agenda – Motion (Video time mark 0:00:51):

Wylie said Item #4 is approval of the agenda, and I need a motion to approve the agenda as it’s written.

Motion by Forte; second Roth.

Wylie said any discussion from council.

No comments.

Wylie said any discussion from anybody present.

No comments.

Motion to approve the agenda passed by unanimous voice vote.

Agenda Item #5, Public Comments (Video time mark 0:01:16):

[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 occasionally 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. In the past, members of the public have been cut 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).

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, 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.]

Wylie said Item #5 is public comments.

(Wylie read the rules for public comments.)

Wylie said would anybody like to make a public comment.

Wylie recognized Forte for a comment.

Forte said I just wanted to say I tried out Rudy, and there’s also a new coffee shop in the alley behind Essence, and both are phenomenal. (Rodgers made an unintelligible comment.) Forte said yes, thank you. So, yeah. Casey said where’s the coffee shop. Forte said it’s right behind Essence in the alley. So, you walk up. Yeah, and you get a coffee. Rodgers said it’s a walk-up kind of thing. Casey said oh. Rodgers said it’s early open until, what, 2 o’clock. Quisenberry said kind of a food truck thing. Forte said no, it’s a window. (Unintelligible crosstalk.) Roth said it’s part of the Essence. (Unintelligible crosstalk.) Roth said oh, they have great coffee.

Wylie said anything else?

No other comments.

Wylie thanked Forte.

Agenda Item #6 – FYI: (Video time mark 0:02:22):

Wylie said Item #6 is FYI, and I don’t think we have anything. I don’t have anything. (To Smith), Wylie said anything come in more recently. (Smith shook his head.) Wylie said OK.

Agenda Item #7 – City Manager’s Report (Video time mark 0:02:34)

• • City Manager Report for October 28, 2024 (page 3/54 of the council packet)

Wylie said moving on to item #7, city manager’s report. We have a city manager’s report in our packet. (To Smith), Wylie said do you want to say anything about it. Smith said no, I don’t think I need to respond on anything that’s here.

Rodgers said I just wanted to say that I think the sidewalk thing went really well, like between the shaving of them and the replacement of them, and any damage that they did cause to ours, they were really good about fixing it. I’ve noticed in my walks and in my meetings with them, they did a really nice job of getting on it (unintelligible). Smith said I think it worked out really well. We have a great contractor. Both were great contractors, so I’d be happy to use them again. Rodgers said and you were really good about being out there while they were there, so I’d be checking to make sure that the day was over. Smith said I got my steps in. (Laughter.) Rodgers said well, thank you.

Wylie said any questions or comments on city manager’s report.

No comment.

Agenda Item #8 – Sheriff’s Report (Video time mark 0:03:44):

• • Oakland County Sheriff Department Report for September 2024 (page 5/54 of the council packet)

Wylie said we’ve moved on to sheriff’s report. And I see Sergeant Ashley, there you are. Sergeant Ashley said I’m in the back here today. Wylie said OK. Would you like to say anything about it.

Sergeant Ashley said no, the one thing is, is just look at the property crimes, like August and the misdemeanor. They’re still working on, with our system. So, like, if somebody may work in Brandon, but they have a Clarkston mailing address, so they always put Clarkston. So, some of these numbers, you know, we still respond to a lot of calls for service here. But I talked to my lieutenant today, and, like, September’s got nothing. We haven’t had anything major here at all the last two months, he says. There’s nothing going on. Wylie said OK. Sergeant Ashley said so just let them know that. But, you know, we’re still taking the accidents and, you know, like the medicals that we respond to and alarms. So, we’re just still trying to get all that out. We’ve got to go back a long ways, and it’s changing it one thing at a time. So, it’s kind of a day-to-day thing. But that’s not – we haven’t had anything the last two months, so we’re still good on that. Wylie said OK.

Rodgers said are you going to be here for the rest of the whole meeting tonight. Sergeant Ashley said you need me to be. That’s fine. Rodgers said I just wanted to talk a little bit later on. We’re talking about the traffic and stuff like that. Sergeant Ashley said sure. Yeah, we can do that. Not a problem. Rodgers said thanks.

Wylie said and are we going to have a presence here on Tuesday, November 5th. Sergeant Ashley said yeah, we have – there’s going to be, especially in the afternoons, there’s going to be extra people, and they’re going to be, you know, hitting all the precincts. So, we’re going to have people driving around, and obviously you guys will have a phone number to somebody that you can call in case there is some kind of a problem. And always 911, obviously. Yeah. Or even if – (interrupting Sergeant Ashley), Wylie said Smith was concerned. Sergeant Ashley said yeah, we will have some extra – we’re not going to be at, like, minimums or anything like that. We’re going to have extra people. Wylie said OK.

Smith said we have decided to hire a security guard. Ray Martinez. Maybe you know him. He’s a reserve officer. Sergeant Ashley said oh, okay. Smith said so, he’ll be working security just to make sure there’s no big issues with people moving along, staying outside the 100-foot radius. So, he’ll be working, and I would hope that the two of you could work in conjunction. Sergeant Ashley said sure, I can call you and get his information. That’s not a problem. Smith said yeah.

Wylie said OK. Anybody else have questions or comments about anything with the sheriff’s report or his election security.

Evelyn Bihl (deputy clerk) said she called Lisa the clerk today to find out what officer would pick up the packet on election night for us. Sergeant Ashley said OK. Bihl said she was to call back because she didn’t seem to know. Sergeant Ashley said that one I don’t know right this minute. Bihl said OK. Sergeant Ashley said when I go in tomorrow, I’ll find out. I’ll call Smith. We’ll find out who the designated person is going to be for that night. Bihl said OK. Thank you. Sergeant Ashley said for sure.

Wylie said OK, thank you.

Agenda Item #9 – Election Update (Video time mark 0:06:32):

• • Official Candidate List, November 5, 2024, General Election (page 4/54 of the council packet)

Wylie said we’ve got Item #9, so now we’ve got an election update. Evelyn [Bihl], is that going to be you? Yeah, it’s between me and myself and Angie [Angela Guillen, contract clerk] here.

Evelyn Bihl:

First of all, I want to thank Guillen for being here. She’s been a godsend. I mean, somebody sent her on our doorstep to help me. All the little fine-tuning things that we haven’t done or didn’t know about. Really, we didn’t know.

So, we did the public accuracy test on October 19th, and it was successful. We’re going to change it next year from a Saturday to during the week. I think it would be better having it during the week than a Saturday.

Then we held our election commission meeting last week, and we approved the tabulator, which is the scanner where you put your ballot in, the location, and our workers. So that was all approved. All the workers have done their training, and I have their certificates.

October 25th, we were open here from 8:00 to 4:00 to receive any affidavits of write-ins. We didn’t receive any, but we took care of a lot of people on the phone that were interested in getting their ballot, having it mailed, had questions, or whatever. So, we took care of that.

On the 26th, which was the first day of the early voting, we went over to Brady Lodge. What an interesting thing. People were everywhere. They had 20 voting booths, a line way out the door, people getting helped by the early voting (unintelligible). It was busy. The lady said I think she had like 200-some people within the first hour. The machines couldn’t keep up with them processing the people. They had to stop them for a few minutes in order to get the machines to catch up. So, it was very busy. So, I think right now we have about 25 of our residents that voted over there. So, that’s interesting. Usually, we have one or none.

So, we updated the modem on our scanner this past weekend, and then we updated the VAT [Voting Assistance Terminal] machine. We updated the printer because the printer cartridge was, what do they call it? Guillen said the toner. Bihl said yeah, but it was the sample that they just give you, and it’s over eight years old. So, we decided we’d better do that so that the boxes are filled in. So, we did that.

And then we purchased some equipment that we need to keep all of our ballots and materials secure. We did buy some bags, and we did have them approved by the canvassers, but we also bought some more that we still have to have approved by the canvassers at Oakland County, and we will do that as soon as we can. We had to purchase some batteries for backup in case we lose power. The long papers for the VAT machine, extra papers for the rollers for the tallies. And we had to get a little bit more than what we normally thought we needed, only because it’s the election and we have quite a few write-ins. And then I’m going to have Guillen talk about a grant she found to cover some of the costs of this.

Guillen said and so the city was in need of some required election items as far as, like she said, storage equipment and to be compliant with election law. We did find, it’s called a HAVA grant, Help America Vote Act, and it’s a federal election security grant that we’re going to utilize to pay for those things. So, you’ll be allowed up to $1,000 per precinct, so the city here can recoup up to $1,000 and maybe a little more, because not everybody always applies for those, so if we ask for extra, we might get extra. So, we’re just going to ask for everything that we purchased and to be covered from that reimbursement.

Bihl said OK, and then the state mailbox, the ballot box out here and our U.S. mailbox, we constantly are checking that throughout the day so we can process ballots timely. We want them to come in and go out, especially if they’re requesting a ballot so that they receive them through the mail. We do get a lot of Independence Township ballots here, so we’re usually driving over there and getting them. I’m thinking maybe of contacting them and see if they don’t have a courier or something because it takes time out of our day. It’s not hard. It’s not too far from my house. But if they can get like a DPW [Department of Public Works] guy or somebody to come and get them every day, I would rather them get every day versus keeping them for the week. I don’t think that’s right. And we even got one on Saturday from Germany. So, you know, that was a military. So, I wanted to make sure that was done timely, so I took it over there on Saturday. So, we need to tweak that process.

Wylie said so, it came from Germany, they must have had, so they didn’t have a pre-addressed envelope. Bihl said everybody, right, right, they just had a regular envelope because their ballot was sent through the mail, or the email. So, it’s not like, it’s set up like our ballot, but it’s not printed like our ballot, OK. Guillen said so, it’s a military or overseas voter. They get their ballot 45 days before the election. They get it electronically through email. Wylie said OK.

Bihl said one thing, when anybody is writing in a name for a candidate for mayor or for a council, make sure that your box is also, because I would hate for them to just write the name and not circle the box or circle the box and not write the name. Black or blue ink and to spell the name correctly. That information Smith has put out in his packet several times, and it’s also on the Oakland County Clerk’s website. I think it’s page 43. You’ll have to scroll down many, many pages to see it, but just so the name is spelled correctly.

Again, I’m going to read it. Any type of voter fraud is a felony with jail time, fines, and they’ll lose voting privileges for the rest of their life. I just want to reiterate that.

We’re going to set up the council area here for voting probably Thursday, and then we’ll kind of tweak it throughout the few days until voting because we have to really have it all in one room by the compliances. Guillen said put it all in one. Bihl said yeah. (Guillen made an unintelligible comment.)

And then so far, we sent out 280 absentee ballots, and we received 166, so that’s 59.29% return. And 25 on our early voting as of about 4:00, 4:30 today. I’ll turn it over to Guillen if she needs to add anything that I don’t know or didn’t remember.

Guillen said I think that’s good. We have covered quite a bit, and if you have any questions, we’ll answer those after. But this is really good communication.

Smith said they’ve been talking daily and having meetings with (unintelligible), Guillen, and Bihl, but I’ve been involved in some of them as well. And the key focus has been just making sure everything is going to run properly. We just don’t want any hiccups at all. So, we talked about things that we need, the bags that she talks about, getting a new SIM card in our modem, bought a new laptop today because the laptop we’ve used for voters for the electronic poll book is about five years old, six years old. So, we didn’t want to take any chances with that. It’s not necessarily conducive with the new version of Windows 11 that the state requires. So, we’re just looking at every possible way that we can take a precaution. If there’s anything we can do, just ensure that nothing goes wrong with us. We’re not holding back at all. Now Greg’s [Coté, treasurer] maybe a little frustrated with some of my expenses, but we just cannot take a chance on this election that anything goes wrong. So, we’re just making sure that everything is done right. So, I thank Bihl and Guillen for the diligence that they’re putting into this effort. And hopefully, fingers crossed, everything will come out just fine.

(To Smith), Bihl said we have two more things I forgot. This Friday, we’ll be at work between 9:00 and 5:00, because anybody who wants a ballot mailed to them by the U.S. Mail, we have to have their request in by 5:00. We’ll process them and send them to the post office. That’s the last day you can ask for a ballot to be mailed. And then Saturday, we’ll be here because we have to between 8:00 and 4:00 for any type of questions or somebody coming in to get a ballot. Somebody wants to actually vote. Somebody wants to know where the voting place is. Somebody wants to know where the early voting’s at. Registration, anything. Or, here’s my ballot. Oh, it says Independence Township. You’ve got to go down there. So, we’ll be here both of those days.

Wylie said great. Thank you, everybody. And I do detect a little more confidence. And I think maybe because Guillen’s here, you guys are just – (interrupting Wylie), Bihl said I thought I had more confidence. Wylie said you feel like you’ve got a boost. Bihl said no, it’s getting closer to all those little things that you just don’t know that are becoming (unintelligible). Smith said right. Bihl said so, yeah, I feel good. Guillen’s helped out a lot.

Wylie said anybody have questions or comments on election update.

An unidentified person in the audience said Bihl said 25 on early voting. Is that 25 early voters or 25% of people? Bihl said 25 early voters at the Brady Lodge. Guillen said so, 23 went there and 2 went to the Waterford Oaks.

Wylie said so do they, I mean, Independence Township’s also voting there. And Waterford, perhaps. Do they, does everybody go to different stations or do they just sort? Bihl said no. Guillen said when you walk in, there’s two dedicated stations that they can come in and get. And it’s not like here where you get a ballot in a secrecy sleeve, and you go vote it. You actually tell them which area you’re in and they look you up and they assign it. And it’s a ballot on demand. It prints the ballot. No stuff at the top. No numbers anymore at the top. It’s all in the poll book. Wylie said OK. Guillen said yeah, and so then they go vote. So, there is like 35 pages of people that have voted. But they’re all Independence except our people that voted. The 25.

Wylie recognized Forte for a comment.

Forte said how much would you estimate we spent versus like the $1,000 grant. Smith said well, it’s hard to say. We’re still kind of tallying things up. But it’s probably around there. Maybe in between $1,200 and $1,500. Guillen said the security of your election is, it’s around $1,000 or maybe a little over. But the security of your election and the details that are in place, they’re there for a reason. We want to make sure that we’re following election law. And so, if we are audited, because there’s an audit, almost like a lottery, they draw numbers how they choose who’s going to be audited. We want to make sure everything’s in place that’s supposed to be in place. Forte said it seems like a lot of work, so thank you, thank you for that.

Wylie said and I do remember when we did the budget, there was more money budgeted this year for elections than other non-presidential years. Smith said correct. Coté said yep.

Wylie said anybody else.

No comments.

Agenda Item #10 – Motion: Acceptance of the Consent Agenda as Presented (Video time mark 0:18:00):

• • 09-23-2024 Final Minutes, Regular City Council Meeting (page 6/54 of the council packet)
  • 09-23-2024 Final Minutes, Special City Council Meeting (page 8/54 of the council packet)
  • 10-14-2024 Final Minutes, Regular City Council Meeting (page 9/54 of the council packet)
  • 10-17-2024 Draft Minutes, Special City Council Meeting (page 11/54 of the council packet)
  • 10-28-2024 Treasurer’s Report (page 12/54 of the council packet)
  • 10-24-2024 Revenue and Expenditure Report for the Period Ending 09-30-2024 (page 13/54 of the council packet)

Wylie said Item #10 is consent agenda, which includes the final minutes of the September 23, 2024, regular meeting, final minutes of the September 23rd special meeting, the draft minutes of the October 14 regular meeting, draft minutes of the October 17 special meeting, and the treasurer’s report for October 28, 2024. And I will need a motion and a second to approve the agenda.

Motion by Rodgers; second Quisenberry.

Wylie said any questions or comments from council.

No comments.

Wylie said how about from the public.

No comments.

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

Wylie said and the consent agenda is approved.

Agenda Item #11, Unfinished Business (Video time mark 0:18:50):

Wylie said Item #11 is unfinished business, and there’s none.

Agenda Item #12, New Business (Video time mark 0:18:54):

Item 12a – Discussion: Main Street Oakland County “Affiliate Level” Plaque Presentation (Video time mark 0:18:55):

Wylie said Item #12a, discussion, Main Street, Oakland County Affiliate Level Plaque Presentation.

(George Venettis began to stand.) Wylie said oh. Venettis said I think that would be me. Wylie said OK. Venettis said yeah.

Venettis said so, let me introduce myself. I’m George Venettis. I work with Oakland County in Economic Development. And so, I work with John Bryant and the Main Street Group. So, we work with businesses downtown. And I work very closely with Cara [Catallo] and Brandon [Still]. Is Brandon here today? Wylie said he’s not here. And Amanda’s [Forte] been to a couple of our events, too.

Venettis said so, I just want to say that it’s important that everybody knows that there’s three levels of certification, and the level that Clarkson is at right now is called the affiliate level. It’s more of the entry level. But we’re working very hard, and I enjoy it. I’ve been working with Clarkson now for about the last year and a half. It’s been assigned to me. So, I’m a small business owner, too. I live in Macomb County. And so, I know what it is to target small business owners, work with Main Street businesses. I’m a certified small business consultant also. So, I just, you know, I feel like I can help, and with the support of Main Street Clarkson, I think we can do a lot of positive things.

Venettis said so, I just wanted to, (to Catallo), can you come on up here? We can get a little picture and presentation of this plaque. Come on. Catallo said what about Smith. Venettis said Smith, Forte, come on.

Venettis said and I’ll read this. And I’ll read it so everybody can see. It’s Main Street America and Main Street, Oakland County, certified that the city of the Village of Clarkson has been recognized in the 2024 affiliate program for meeting all the standards and performances in 2023. And, you know, the four pillars of Main Street are, it’s the economic vitality, right? It’s the place, the placemaking, the visibility of the downtown, the governance, and the promotion. And Main Street Clarkson is doing a really good job of that. And as we continue to get better and better, we can go up another level and then ultimately to the select level which is the top level. So, I just wanted to say congratulations to everybody and the city council just to let everybody know that we’re doing very well and making some progress. All right. (Applause.)

Venettis said can somebody take a picture so we can post this? Venettis said I have a camera. (An unidentified volunteer rose to take the picture and said one, two, three, very excited, and took the photo.) Venettis said thank you. Thank you very much. Forte said thank you.

Wylie said George, what’s your last name? Venettis, with a V. V-E-N-E-T-T-I-S. Wylie said thank you. Venettis said I think my dad knew Arthur Pappas. Wylie said oh, Greek connection? Venettis said Greek descent, yes, yes. So, anyways, great. Wylie and Forte thanked Venettis.

Wylie recognized Forte for a comment.

Forte said on this topic, the Main Street Clarkston has been (unintelligible) and Catallo actually got to bring it recently. And it’s been great. And I wanted to give Catallo the floor if she wanted it, but I can’t see you, Catallo, so, but it was a big deal to get to (unintelligible). Wylie said well, it’s a great award. So, I’ll let Catallo say it.

Catallo said it’s so that we can finally get, like pull together a website, which is something Still and I have been hoping to do, so that we can have better visibility and people know how to find us and the businesses have a place to sort of be recognized, too. So, we’re excited about it and hope to get it off the ground like in a shocking amount of time, because November is, you know, Small Business Saturday, but also like through Main Street Oakland County, we kind of want to push shopping through all of November to help the small businesses get shoppers in. So, you’ll hear from us in the next meeting or so talking about sort of efforts for holiday shopping. Wylie said good. Great. Thank you.

Item 12b – Discussion: Pedestrian Safety Improvement Opportunities (Video time mark 0:23:29):

Wylie said Item 12b is discussion, Pedestrian Safety Improvement Opportunities. And I’m assuming Rodgers.

Rodgers said yeah, I just asked Smith to put this back on the agenda. And I know that in the past we talked about the orange flag (unintelligible) flag program, and that wasn’t really met with a whole lot of support. We never really voted on it, but it continues to be an issue here in our council meetings. Paula Angelini has gotten up and spoken about it. Roth said sure. Rodgers said yeah, Chet [Pardee] got up and spoke about it. It seems like over the last six months or so, we have had quite a few people stand up and say, what are we going to do about this? About how fast people are driving, the distracted drivers.

Rodgers said and why I bring this up is, a couple weeks ago, I was standing at Clarkston and Main Street. So, it has a walking man sign. That’s (unintelligible), but I don’t know what those really are called. So, walking man sign. And I was standing there waiting to cross Main Street, and a semi, an 18-wheeler, is sitting there, probably two houses north, going out of town, but coming into town. And I’m standing there, the light turns red, the walking man sign goes on, he turns white, and as I start to walk out, because I always look at the guys that are crossing from Clarkston Road, they’re stopped. This 18-wheeler, who is seemingly almost stopped, all of a sudden, doesn’t, and by the grace of God, I wasn’t, hadn’t stepped out. You know, we talk about using our intelligence and giving a moment and being aware and using our common sense. Light was red, walking man was on. If I had had, like, a dog in front of me, he would have been blinded. And the guy, as he passed me, waved. So, you know, it’s getting to be where it’s not even, it’s not even like humorous anymore. You know, it’s dangerous. And I think it’s negligent not to do something. And I don’t know what we can do.

Rodgers said Smith has tried to get the MDOT [Michigan Department of Transportation] people, is that MDOT – Smith agreed – (continuing), Rodgers said to come here and talk to us about it. They don’t seem to want to do that. I know that our speed limit is 35 miles an hour. Most people don’t necessarily even think that they’re going over 35 miles an hour. (Smith made an unintelligible comment.) Rodgers said you know, it’s not like they’re trying to kill us. It’s just that they are coming off of 75. They’re frustrated. There’s still an unbelievable amount of traffic out there. They come in here, all of a sudden, it’s red light, red light. People crossing the street, they’re annoyed. They’re taking chances to get in front of you. And I just think that we need to, whether it’s a, I don’t know if the next step is to somehow form a petition or can, should one of us call and, you know, and that’s why I asked Sergeant Ashley if he would hang here too because I’m sure the police presence is as often as they can be, but it’s very rare that people are going 35 miles an hour unless there’s bumper to bumper traffic. If it’s, you know, three in the afternoon, they’re hauling. And those trucks are really flying hard.

An unidentified woman said as someone who, my bedroom faces M15, so I get it all hours of the night. I can tell you that, I mean, the amount of traffic that is on M15 at two, three, four in the morning is shocking and loud. So, like Rodgers said, it’s not funny. It’s not kind of like, oh, ha, ha. I actually called the sheriff’s office here in the last month because turning on to M15 from Dixie, I witnessed a man near the post office pass someone in the right-hand lane and continue to swerve. And so, I called and reported for impaired driving because it was like during the middle of the day. Rodgers said well, that just happened to me today. Again, same spot. A person was stopping for the red light at Clarkston and Main. The guy behind him swerved out left around him and beat the red light. The unidentified woman said I slammed on my brakes because he had a girl on her bike and a woman passing on the right.

(City attorney Tom Ryan made an unintelligible comment.) Rodgers said I should. I should. That’s a great idea. That’s exactly what we should be doing is take a picture. Ryan said get their plate number, take a picture. They’re going here like (gestures). Forte said yeah, exactly. Sergeant Ashley said at least if you can remember it real quick. You know, repeat it to yourself 100 times, pull over, and then put it in your phone or something. The unidentified woman said that’s why I called and reported it. Sergeant Ashley said yeah. Ryan said because a couple of people get tickets like that. Rodgers said it might get out. Sergeant Ashley said right. Ryan said you know, you’ve got a witness, so you write a ticket, and then if the word gets out, maybe these people, hey, you’ve got to be careful here. Sergeant Ashley said yeah, that would, I know, ideally. People are getting worse, I know. We can start by just putting, I don’t know when the last time we put the speed signs out on M15. At least measure some traffic at four in the morning or whatever too. And because maybe we can get some better readings on what time of the day it’s the worst. Right.

Wylie recognized Forte for a comment.

Forte said yeah, just as we’re bringing up topics, I agree with you entirely. The street, crossing from Honchos, even coming here, and then crossing across even our little strip right here is so dangerous. Alex and I have almost been hit multiple times, which I don’t want to go over. I know we’ve already talked about this. But the other stuff that really seems to be an issue is vehicular traffic. I can’t remember the name, I think it’s Miller Street, but like turning left towards the highway and then turning in. Rodgers said oh, yeah. Miller and Main. Forte said yeah, that’s Miller and Main. That area seems to be a big accident about to happen. Rodgers said well, people get so frustrated because it’s 7:30 in the morning, they’re backed up to – Sergeant Ashley said yes – (continuing), Rodgers said they’re backed up miles. And then they get really frustrated, and so that’s when they start to take chances, and they are not looking for pedestrians. Wylie said high schoolers driving when school gets out.

(To Sergeant Ashley), the unidentified woman said with you being here, so is there something we can do as citizens like to get this on the radar to elevate it? Like is there a proper cage we should be rattling, like a formal chain of command that we can do to get the right attention on it? Because these issues predate the I-75 construction. Sergeant Ashley said no, I know that. I don’t know, I can maybe reach out to MDOT myself and see what their protocols are, even, to come out and do a traffic study. You know, something, at least get some kind of ball rolling, yes.

Forte said and I was wondering, like, is there a way for us to, I don’t know if this is possible, but like extend the radius of the school zones? Because there’s a lot of kids that walk home from school. Sergeant Ashley said that one I do not know. I’d have to get back to you on that one. Forte said because that would decrease in speed limit. Because we have so many little kids that are, like we have kids on my street, and I know that there’s over here, that walk home, and like they think they’re kids, just walking, and it’s just them and their siblings walking by themselves. Like, they’re not even tall. Like I at least have the elevation of like, people can see me over a car that’s parked in front of Honchos. You know what I mean? Whereas a little kid doesn’t have that clearance. So, I always get nervous about those kids that are walking home.

Rodgers said because I really don’t want to wait, you know, MDOT has told Smith that we have to wait until something happens. And I thought I was going to be the sacrificial lamb the other day, but I really don’t want to be that person.

Bihl said something that’s already happened, though. Something that already happened. I think it’s 129 North Main. Their house is all decorated with Halloween. He got hit several, several years ago. And he really hurt himself. Or, you know, he really got hurt. The pelvic area and some bones broke. Smith said they’re, without a fatality, they just say, they just keep telling me it’s not warranted. And MDOT has told me, point blank, I’ve asked them point blank, I want you to come to a city council meeting and talk to my council and ask, answer questions. And they told me, no, we will not come to your city council.

(To Ryan), Forte said legally, can we say something? Like, can we write a letter? Smith said I met with my city engineer last week and talked to him at length about, you know, what are our options. And he said, first of all, I would write a letter. Not an email, a U.S. mail letter to, he said he’d give me the name at MDOT. It might get some attention. Secondly, he said, I would go ahead and apply for a permit. Now, you have to have money to do this. So, what he’s saying, for example, the Clarkston, I’m sorry, the Main Street, Depot, Church Street crossing right up here. If you have the money for one of these alert signals, a pedestrian activated alert signal, it doesn’t have to be the big hop signal that you see down on Telegraph, just something on a smaller scale just activates a yellow light that just flashes in both directions. He says that, the total cost of that installed and everything, if you get the solar-powered ones, so you don’t have to, you’re not running electrical lines, they’re about $30,000. The unidentified woman said oh my gosh. Smith said that includes installation. (Unintelligible crosstalk between council members.) Smith said so, he said, if you could fund that, then I would go ahead and apply for a permit, was his recommendation. And they can always deny you, but chances are they’ll come back with something, you know, an alternative. So, he was really saying, let’s find out what you can do money-wise to get one of these RFBs [Rapid Flashing Beacons], as he calls them, the solar one.

Smith said he said the better option would be a bump-out. We’ve talked many times about bump-outs at Waldon, Church, Washington. If you had bump-outs at those three intersections, it would get the pedestrian that much further out. That would help, too, but that’s probably approaching 100K.

Lamphier said what’s a bump out. Wylie said you’ve got a little moon-shaped area, and so the pedestrian’s standing out closer to traffic, and they’re a little more noticeable. Smith said you lose a parking spot at each location, where one of these would be just, the pedestrian goes out on this little kind of peninsula before they step off the curb. It’s the same elevation as the sidewalk. To do the bump-outs and the RFB signal would be about $100,000. But MDOT would typically help with that paving cost. Smith said so, his recommendation was write a letter to MDOT and request a response, and then apply for a permit if you can find this. And that’s, their success rate in other municipalities has been when the municipality had money to buy one of these signals.

Lamphier said is it possible to maybe get a sheriff to kind of hang out in the downtown a little bit more, or just to suggest it to them? Sergeant Ashley said yeah, I know they have been writing more tickets, even, in the area. I think we could start with the speed signs, maybe, because we don’t even know when. I mean, sometimes we’ll get some neighborhood, and they go and sit up there, and there’s nothing. So, I’d at least like to get some data. If you put it out there for a week or two, we might be able to get some data, just like when we did Down Depot Road here. We got ten days’ worth of data, which was quite a bit.

Wylie said there should be data still from when the Planning Commission and Rich Little and that committee, they conducted a study. They had a really thorough study on when people were going through, what speed they were driving. I can’t remember right now. Rodgers said (unintelligible) a grant. Sergeant Ashley said how long ago was that. Wylie said I’d say three years. Sergeant Ashley said well, at least that’s a start. Lamphier said but what does that data do? Does it say, we need to be here? Sergeant Ashley said well, it could tell you the busy times, the speed times, like the two in the mornings. Lamphier said but what are we going to do to alleviate the problem? Well, that’s not going to, it’d be nice to put a car out there 24-7. Lamphier said we can have data, you know, data is data, but it’s not going to slow the people down.

(To Smith), Rodgers said is there places where we can, is there somewhere where I need to look for a problem, like is there a grant to help? Is there something like, you know, city safety that has a grant for. Smith said yes, there are.

Quisenberry said I sent you that information. The grant information that I found for improvement of traffic safety, and it was based more upon your request here. When I saw that grant information and sent it to you, I said, this seems like it might be right up this alley of applying for funds to do exactly what it is you’re speaking about that’s going to cost anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000 and so on. (To Smith), Rodgers said can we help you with that? Can I, or does it have to be a city manager that does that grant? Smith said anybody can help put the documents together that are going to go along with the application.

Wylie recognized Forte for a comment.

Forte said I was just going to second what you guys are talking about. So, when we, Rich Little and everyone on that committee did that, I did some visual aids for that presentation. At the end of my presentation, I had grants that were available. And because we have so many schools in our proximity, that’s why I asked about if we could get the school zone extended. But because so many kids have to cross streets, that is a big plus for our source. Rodgers agreed. Forte said so, I can send you access to that. Rodgers said I’d love to work on that. I’m just really fearful that something could happen. There’s been too many near misses from people in our town and myself personally that I don’t think we need a statistic to get.

(To Smith), Wylie said if you’re going to write a letter to MDOT, would it be helpful at all to include, maybe start an extra notice, to have a resolution from city council saying, these are things that we need to have happen. Smith said it would indeed. That should go along with the letter.

(To Lamphier), Bihl said I just want to say, you remember this, about a year, year and a half ago, somebody going really fast down Main Street at five o’clock in the morning turns down Robinson Court and flies right into Haven’s backyard. Wylie said she does remember that. Bihl said right in their backyard. Forte said crazy.

The unidentified woman said I know that there was a traffic sign on Buffalo this past week, and I believe that there has been one on Clarkson Road within the last six-ish months, maybe. Rodgers agreed. Wylie said what about the – (interrupting Wylie), the unidentified woman said no, I’m just saying in terms of speed. There have been speed signs. Forte said it doesn’t matter. People speed like crazy on Buffalo and like I’m home all day with the baby, and literally people are always going head-to-head and honking at each other, like telling each other to move, and then they just sit there and honk, and I’m like, you’re waking up my baby. Like it’s like constantly. Like they go head-to-head. Rodgers said because they’re using Buffalo as the – (interrupting Rodgers), Forte said they whip around Main Street.

Lamphier said I got something, too. It’s a little off-topic, maybe, but is there any rules or— Can you issue a ticket for someone that has an obnoxiously loud car? I mean, there’s some of these kids that are driving around – (interrupting Lamphier), Sergeant Ashley said I know, with the bumpers. Lamphier said yeah. Sergeant Ashley said motorcycles, too, are obnoxiously loud. You can’t, you know, a noise ordinance. You do have to determine what the decibels are, though. Lamphier said but you can pull them over and say chill. Sergeant Ashley said yeah, I mean, I know, we’re everywhere, unfortunately. I know. Doesn’t make it any better.

Quisenberry said I had a question for you, Sergeant. Sergeant Ashley said yes, sir. Quisenberry said you kind of answered it, and that was, when you first mentioned the signs, besides the signs letting you know what your speed is, are those signs designed, and do they also collect data of what the average speed is as it’s approaching and as it’s slowing down so that you can use that information to actually do something constructive rather than just let the driver know that they’re going too fast? Is there information that is kept in that that lets you know what happened during that time? Sergeant Ashley said yeah, I don’t know if anybody has a copy of the Depot Road. I can send it to you so you can see the printout and the data that we’re looking at. And it does show average speed, but it doesn’t show that it’s, it’ll show, like, the top speed. It may not show them slowing down, but it shows, like, the top speed they were driving. Quisenberry said and at certain times, though. Sergeant Ashley said oh, yeah, it’s by hour. Quisenberry said you’d be able to use that information to maybe assign some deputies in an area at a certain time when there’s more likely to be some sort of (unintelligible) like this. Sergeant Ashley said and that’s exactly what I was talking about. So I will, I’ll, I have it in a PDF form. I can email it to you. Quisenberry said I don’t need it, I just wondered if it’s there. Sergeant Ashley said yeah, well, I can show you what it looks like, so you know what we’re talking about. Quisenberry said OK.

Quisenberry said the other thing had to do with Forte’s, excuse me, with Rodger’s first point about the flags. All right, we talked about those before you initially started with, and then we moved on to all this other stuff. Are the flags something that we think we can and should do? I think anything is better than doing nothing. And if it is, then is a pedestrian obligated to use the flag? I don’t know. Because after a period of time, even if you have five flags on each side, just by using it, you might have ten on one side and none on the other. Then they’ve got to cross to go get the flag and then go back and then, but it’s kind of, you realize you need to have the flags there all the time. And even if the flags are there, is the pedestrian mandated to use it? Regardless of whether they are or not, it’s still something that we should look at. And it may help until a more permanent solution can be had. Do we want to do it? Roth said they’re a lot cheaper. Rodgers said around $250. Roth said yeah, I thought it was. The unidentified woman said it doesn’t hurt to try at this point. Wylie said I think they’re great. And I’ve used them.

Wylie recognized Catallo for a comment.

Catallo said I worry that they give a false sense of security and that everybody’s nerves are so heightened right now. I just almost worry that somebody would be even meaner if somebody’s waving a flag at them. But also, I get concerned about children thinking it’s a game to cross the street back and forth. I would rather we find something maybe a little less fun but potentially more useful. And chasing some grants to try to get signs or the, I know I think of it more downtown, but I think the Clarkston Road, it’s too short, like you have no chance to cross the street when, at Clarkston Road in Main. It does feel like you’ve got to really hurry to get across there. Yeah, like I don’t know if there’s any way to talk to MDOT about sort of changing the timing even, but it does feel a little bit like you’re at a race that you’re not going to win. Forte said that came up in the study that they did previously, Rich Little’s study. Catallo said right. So, yeah, that was something that came up out of the data.

Rodgers said well, I’d be glad to put it up on the agenda next week. Wylie said let’s get, while we have also on the agenda, a resolution. I don’t know how it would be written, but a resolution we can send to MDOT along with a letter saying the city council, basically, we want to see some changes. Smith said OK. (Unintelligible comments on council.) Roth said good idea.

Wylie said any other questions or comments on this topic from council.

No comments.

Wylie said from the public.

No comments.

Wylie said OK, great. We had some good discussion. I hope we will see some movement from some outside groups.

Item 12c – Discussion: 2024 Christmas Market Update (Video time mark 0:45:25):

Wylie said Item #12c, discussion of 2024 Christmas Market Update. (To Rodgers), Wylie said you’re up again.

Rodgers said so, this is actually a fun topic. December 14th is the date of the (unintelligible), the date of the Christmas market again this year. It will be from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m., so a little bit before the parade, a little bit after the parade. Again, we’re going to have, the ponies are going to be here again because they got such rave reviews. Of course, Santa is going to make a visit from 4:00 to 8:00. The Independence Fire Department has been, we’ve been in discussion with them. They are going to bring the rig again. The biggest benefit, they let the kids climb all over it, but the biggest benefit is the lights that they shine because they shine them into that part of the park that is hard to get lighting to. And so, they help with the games and things like that. So, they’re going to bring the lights and the rig, and they’re also going to supply us with a fireman at the fire circle again. We’ve gotten an overwhelming amount of support from community businesses, from the, s’mores are going to happen again, candy canes are going to happen again, prizes for the games, just overwhelming.

Rodgers said and I think that is it, Yellow Dog Marketplace is fully funding the ponies. So, and that’s about $1,200. Wylie said wow. Rodgers said so, again, we have had a lot of community support.

Rodgers said we are in need of some adult volunteers that night. You don’t have to be there for the whole 4:00 to 8:00 p.m., but we have found like during the hayrides, providing that we don’t get snow or rain the night before, it’s, we’ve had like high schoolers helping the kids on and off the wagons, and the guy that does the hayrides says he really would like to have adults. And same with the games, sometimes there is interest. So, if you are interested in helping, you don’t have to do it for the whole four hours, you can divide it up into segments.

Lamphier said what day is it? It’s a Saturday, December 14th. The second Saturday in December.

Wylie said does the market shut down during the parade? Rodgers said it does not. It does not. (Unintelligible crosstalk.) Rodgers said what we find really interesting is that like from 4:00 to 6:00, the parade starts at 6:00, so from 4:00 to like quarter to 6:00, it’s a lot of little kids, you know. And then it seems like their parents like, take them to the parade and maybe go home after that. And then from 6:00 to 8:00, it’s the beyond toddler group. So, the older kids. So, the line to Santa kind of diminishes, and then it picks right back up. It’s kind of fun to watch everybody come back.

Rodgers said there will be food trucks. Again, there will be five different places that you can purchase food if you want. And so far, ten vendors that will be selling like Christmas things. But other than the vendors that are on one side, and the food trucks that are all contained in one area, everything else parents won’t have to pay for, which is certainly (unintelligible). Wylie said great, thank you.

Wylie said anybody on council have questions or comments.

No comments.

Wylie said public.

Wylie pointed to Bihl to recognize her for a comment.

Bihl said yes. If somebody calls regarding that, do you want us to give your phone number, or how do you want it? Rodgers said yeah, that’s fine. That’s fine. That’s what you’ve been doing? Bihl said yeah, I just want to make sure. Rodgers said OK, OK, yup.

Wylie said anybody else.

No comments.

(To Rodgers), Wylie said thank you. I think this is your third year. Rodgers said third year. Third year. Wylie said and remind me, the city, do we fund $1,000 on it? Rodgers said yes, it’s sponsored by the City of the Village of Clarkston. That’s the major sponsor. And then (interrupting Rodgers), Wylie said apparently, so does Yellow Dog. They’re doing (unintelligible). Rodgers said yeah, that’s true. That’s true. But we couldn’t, in essence, city council gives $1,000, but they also do DPW [Department of Public Works] on Friday evening, throughout sometime on Friday, and then Saturday to help. So, they are actually a huge, without the city, we would not be able to do it. Wylie said OK, great.

Item 12d – Resolution: West Alley Sanitary Sewer Repair – Change Order (Video time mark 0:49:53):

• • Resolution – Change Order for Sanitary Sewer Pipe Repairs in the West Alley (page 23/54 of the council packet)
  • 10-14-2024 Contract Change Order from Pipeline Management Company (page 24/54 of the council packet)
  • 08-26-2024 Resolution – Sanitary Sewer Piper Repairs in the West Alley (page 25/54 of the council packet)

Wylie said OK, we are on Item #11d, resolution, West Alley Sanitary Sewer Repair Change Order.

Smith said OK, so if you recall, back in August, I came to you with an estimated cost to repair the two sanitary sewer breaks in the West Alley. Their estimate was $120,000, and so, you approved that, and since that work, they, since that time, on September 19th, they dug down to the two locations, and in both cases, they found that there was more there than they anticipated.

Smith said at the one closest to the Depot here, that was only twelve feet down, but they found a septic tank, an old septic tank there that had to be filled. They couldn’t just leave it empty. It was empty, but it could have caved in and resulted in a sinkhole. So, that was something they felt they had to fill in, and I agreed with that. Quisenberry said was it filled with a solid or a liquid? Smith said a solid. They call it a grout, but it’s essentially liquid concrete, very watered-down concrete. So, they totally filled that up so that it can’t open up in the future.

Smith said and then at the north end, the more challenging end, closest to Washington, they were working down about thirty feet below the surface of the alley, and it was very dangerous. They had to have multiple walls put in, steel walls to ensure that there wouldn’t be a cave-in, but they’re down thirty feet to get to this sewer pipe that was, had two things wrong with it. They didn’t see the second thing when they did their estimating. They saw a dip in the pipe because of a, you know, settling ground, but then just past the dip, there was an actual break, and the pipe was actually disconnected. Only about 5% of the sewage was going through that at the time. The rest was just leaking out into the groundwater, which is not good. So, this is sewage, sanitary sewage. So, it was necessary to open up a larger hole than what they originally anticipated. They also ran into Detroit Edison lines down there that had to be disconnected. It was feeding the Mills Building. It had to be disconnected, so it was inconvenient for the renters at the Mills Building. And they also found gas lines, of course. They expected that. Normal storm sewer lines. It was just kind of a rat’s nest of things they had to work around. They were working down (unintelligible) to make these two repairs. They did complete it. It was rather amazing to watch this crew work, but it was very, very involved, and they worked throughout the night. They worked an entire evening. There was a crew of about ten, eleven, I guess, guys that were working there, and they were there all night. Detroit Edison was also on hand all night so that as soon as they finished, they could reconnect the Mills Building.

Smith said so, needless to say, there were some additional expenses beyond the $121,000. They’ve been waiting to give me that cost where they tabulated everything up and they came up with an additional cost as shown here of $72,000, almost $73,000. So, the $121,000 bill has grown to $194,000.

Smith said so, I’m here tonight just asking for approval to sign the change order. That’s all they’re, they’re not asking me to pay the bill today. They’re asking me to sign the change order. We really don’t have any choice in the matter. I’ve talked with our city engineer about this. He knows the contractor and has had many successful experiences with this contractor, D’Angelo Brothers, and Pipeline Management Company was the head contractor. D’Angelo was the subcontractor. Had nothing, our city engineer had nothing but good things to say about both companies. Said, I guarantee you, they’re not gouging you here. That’s not what they’re doing here. These are actual costs. And it was the fact there was an emergency repair. It was down thirty feet below the surface. Just very involved repair.

Smith said so, I’m asking tonight for approval to sign the change order. That will trigger them to then invoice us for the full $194,000. We will then need to come back to council, and hopefully it’ll be the next meeting, to talk about how do we fund this. We don’t have these funds in our sewer fund to pay for this. We would likely borrow from the water fund. When we thought it was just going to be $121,000, let me back up. When we thought it was just going to be $121,000, we got pre-approval from you to bill all the sewer customers a percentage, a proportion, based on the number of REUs, residential equivalent units, in their house or business. We were going to do that, but now, with this higher cost, we’ll have to come back to you with some other options, because it’s now $194,000. So, we’ll do that in the next meeting. Tonight, I’m just seeking approval to approve the change order. Again, I don’t know that we have any choice, and the city engineer has agreed. I guess we have to take this bill.

Wylie said OK, I guess I should have read the resolution.

(Wylie read the resolution.)

Wylie said and I need somebody to resolve.

Resolution by Forte; second Lamphier.

Wylie said any discussion from council.

Lamphier said this was all a result of the checking all the pipes, right? Smith said correct. Lamphier said and when are we scheduled to have that done again? Is it out on, like, ten years, five years? Smith said it’s supposed to be a five-year (unintelligible). So, potentially five years and this covers the whole thing.

Wylie said but they don’t do it every five years. I’ve never heard of this before. Smith said it’s been ten years since they did it last, but it’s supposed to be done every five years. Wylie said and that’s under a township control. Smith said yes. Wylie said OK.

Wylie said any other questions from council or comments.

(To Smith), Quisenberry said so this, in essence, kind of takes the resolution from August and puts it on hold until we come up with another one to supersede that one? Smith said it does. It puts at least that part of the resolution where we were going to bill the users of the sewer system $215 over four payments. Quisenberry said that was going to start in October. Smith said that was going to start in October. That is on hold.

Wylie pointed to Forte and said go ahead. Oh, sorry. Go ahead.

Forte said is there any other major repairs at all. Smith said there are rehabilitations that they have recommended. These are the only two repairs, and they just happen to be in the same vicinity. Maybe not. Maybe there’s not so much. Maybe it’s just something to do with the infrastructure (unintelligible). But in the rest of the city, there were places where they recommended rehabilitation of some of the sewer pipes. And by rehabilitation, they mean lining them. So, this is all done robotically. You don’t have to dig. It’s far less invasive. They just go down a manhole cover, and from this manhole cover to the next one, they send a robot down there, and while it’s down there, it’s spraying liner inside the pipe and just goes down the whole pipe and finishes it. Very efficient operation, but when you’re talking thousands and thousands of feet, that could be a pricey initiative. A pricey initiative, too. I asked for an estimate of that repair, and the PMC [Pipeline Management Repair] said possibly around $200,000.

Smith said so, that is the other shoe to fall here. We don’t know the exact cost of that. I’m also investigating. I’ll be working with Ryan on this, too, to look at our maintenance agreement that we have with the township to clarify exactly, is that all on us or is some of that on the township? Because we do pay into a sewer fund with the township as well, so we have to clarify exactly. That’s why it hasn’t come back yet. A, they haven’t given me an exact number. B, who’s going to pay for it? So, there’s more unknown on that, but there are no other major breaks like these two in the West Alley. There’s no other breaks. It’s just recommendations to align some of these pipes in the city.

Wylie said speaking of the township, have they ever paid us? Smith said no. I did talk with a couple of township board members and questioned that very, very fast, and their thought was, why don’t you wait, Smith, until the new board is in place? Wylie said they’re the board. That’s the board that voted to do it. Smith said right, but they may reconsider the vote. Wylie said oh, so like, reconsider it or we don’t know. Smith said we don’t know. It may go nowhere, or they may reconsider to vote, to change their vote. Smith said so, that’s what I was told. Let’s just sit, if you don’t mind. We waited this long. Another couple weeks is not a big deal. So, I said, all right, we’ll wait until after the election when their new board is seated, which I think is the 16th. Wylie said it’s right after the election. Smith said it’s not right after the election like it is here. You’re like two weeks in. Wylie said OK, so they’ve got to vote up a new supervisor and what, one other. I think only one person on the board was replaced. I think, do you know. I think one man. I can’t remember. Smith said they were all running, but a lot of them got reelected. Wylie said yeah, most of them got reelected.

Wylie said OK, all right. Anybody else have questions or comments on this resolution on council?

No comments.

Wylie said public.

No comments.

Wylie said OK, then we need a roll call. Smith said OK.

Forte, Casey, Quisenberry, Rodgers, Lamphier, Roth, and Wylie voted yes.

Wylie said OK, the resolution is adopted. That’s unanimous.

Item 12e – Motion: Reschedule the November 11th City Council Meeting due to Veteran’s Day (Video time mark 1:03:27):

Motion – Reschedule the November 11th City Council Meeting (page 26/54 of the council packet)

Wylie said and we now have Item 12d [e], resolution, West Alley. No, I’m sorry, that was d. Motion. Oh, yes it is. Forte said reschedule. Ryan said reschedule. Casey said Veterans Day. Wylie said yeah, OK. OK. Oh, I see what this is. All right. All right. Yeah, we got a motion, Reschedule the November 11, 2024, City Council meeting due to Veterans Day. I don’t remember this ever happening. Isn’t Veterans Day always on a Monday? Yeah.

Smith said I don’t know how this caught us by surprise. Usually when we schedule, there are whole years and then a couple of weeks. Casey said it’s always the 11th. Wylie said it’s always the 11th. Oh, 11, 11, 11. Okay.

Forte said she would make the motion.

Smith said so, I’m just recommending moving it to Tuesday. Wylie said OK. So, Amanda Forte makes a resolution. Second Roth.

Wylie said any discussion from council.

No discussion.

Wylie said discussion from the public.

No discussion.

Wylie said we need a vote. Roll call, please. Smith said I’m sorry. Wylie said she knows, there’s always a lot of pages in between. Oh, you’re right, it does say motion. Smith said so Forte. Wylie said so, Forte made the original motion, and Roth seconded it. OK. So, yes, it says motion.

Motion to reschedule passed by unanimous voice vote.

Wylie said it is adopted. Motion is adopted. Thank you.

Item 12f – Resolution: Acceptance of the Audited Financial Report Ending June 30, 2024 (Video time mark 1:05:07 and 1:18:29):

Resolution – Acceptance of the 23/24 FY Financial Audit (page 27/54 of the council packet)

Audited Financial Report for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2024 (page 28/54 of the council packet)

Wylie said and now we have a resolution. Oh, she’s not here. Resolution, Acceptance of the Audited Financial Report Ending June 30th, 2024.

Coté said Rana [Emmons, PLZ LLP, the city’s certified public accountant] just called and she’s running a little late. Wylie said OK, so we’ll move on to the next one. Coté said yes, please. (Unintelligible comments from Coté and Smith.) Wylie said so, we’ll skip Item #11, I’m sorry, Item #12f.

[Discussion resumed after Item #12g was completed.]

(To Emmons), Wylie said welcome. Emmons said thank you. Wylie said by the way, we are now on Item, New Business, #12f.

Rana Emmons:

Good evening. It’s my pleasure to present to you the City of the Village of Clarkson’s annual audited financial statements for your fiscal year ending June 30th, 2024. Thank you for allowing me to present tonight. I know you like it on the earlier side, so this is about as early as we get in October. Many cities have not even finished their financials yet, so you are ahead of the curve.

The city did receive the highest level of audit opinion possible, which is an unmodified opinion, so no disclaimers, exceptions, nothing bad to report this evening.

The, starting with increase in property tax revenue, you did not increase your rate, millage rates, but you did see a taxable value increase of about 7% this year. Of course, we’re all familiar with our taxes going up at least 5%, so 2% above that is, you know, maybe house sales that became uncapped or people making improvements to their homes, so that’s how you get the extra up to 7% on that.

You did decrease, actually, your millage rate, your debt millage rate, by 0.2%. So, I’m sorry, 0.2 mills. The year before, you went down about 1.88, decreasing your debt millage. So, over the last two years, you’ve actually decreased debt millage by 2.0 mills. So, that’s not coming back because you paid off your debt.
You added $45,000 to the general fund fund balance. You had projected to use up about $159,000 of it for the budget. Prior year, you added about $28,000, just to compare. $28,000 last year, about $45,000 this year.

You transferred $110,000 less to the capital project fund than you had projected. General fund fund balance ended at $268,000.

Building permit revenues increased this year. So, going back to some of those improvements, perhaps that all fits in with that. I like to tell you the building permit revenues, they increase or decrease, gives you an idea of the activity within the city.

State shared revenue increased about 6% this year. Which is the sales tax and income tax that the state collects and distributes to the local units. They’re projecting a 1%, maybe 2% increase next year. Of course, they don’t know exactly what’s going to come in, but they’re not projecting any significant increases for next year.

Interest earnings up this year. Treasurer Coté, trying to take advantage of whatever interest rates, you know, the good interest environment, he just doesn’t have a lot to work with. So, but he did double your interest earnings over the prior year, so we’re taking advantage of what we can.

You transferred $67,000 out of the general fund for capital improvements, along with $97,000 of American Rescue Plan [ARPA – American Rescue Plan Act] funds you used up. And so, your capital outlay was pretty much all street improvements this year, totaling, let’s see, $162,000 in the capital fund, and another $85,000 from the parking fund that you spent. So, a total of about $248,000 of that.

Again, we paid off the 2012 general obligation bond, so as of right now, all debt paid off. Yay. A long time coming.

Switching gears to the sewer fund, we had a net loss of $12,000. The previous year was about $18,000 net loss in the fund. Nothing to be excited about, nothing to be worried about, just kind of something we keep an eye on. And I’d like to let you know.

With that, if anyone has any questions, I’m happy to answer.

Wylie said I have a question. So, you said all of that’s paid off, but we borrowed from our sewer fund, was it. Smith said water fund. Wylie said water fund. So, that’s not included in there. Emmons said correct. It’s internal. All your external money. Wylie said external money, OK.

Quisenberry said our projected fund balance that we did in the budget was how much, and after the audit, how much did we end up with. Emmons said you had projected with the final budget ending your fund balance at $64,000, if you had used everything that you had projected, mostly some capital things that didn’t happen. And you ended with $268,000. And also taking advantage of some of those grant funds that you received. So, you received the American Rescue Plan funds in prior years, but we only record them as revenues as you spend them. So, in the years that you spend them, like, for example, you spent $97,000, I think I said, $96,000 of rescue plan funds in this audit, so the revenue came in.

Wylie said anybody have questions. Anybody have, council questions for Emmons.

No comments.

Wylie said anybody in public have questions.

Quisenberry said when you started out, and what was the term you said as far as the status of the city when you first started out, the term that you said as far as how, what our mark was or whatever? Emmons said oh, the unmodified audit opinion. Quisenberry said yeah. And you said that’s the highest. Emmons said that is the highest level you can achieve, so, in layman’s terms, it’s a clean audit opinion. That’s what everyone wants, is the clean audit opinion.

Wylie recognized Cass [Wisniewski?] who said yeah, just the fund balance went up because projects weren’t being completed as planned, is that it basically. Emmons said I think you planned out the street, I mean, I think council’s trying to be judicious as far as cash flow. We don’t have, you know, we’re not dealing with a great deal of cash on hand and that type of thing. So, you were trying to maximize your grant funds that you received, the parking funds that are promised to only be used for street improvements. So, a combination of those things, some cash on hand, some grant funds, some parking funds, trying to get some road, I think, was it Depot that we paved this year? Smith said we paved Depot – Smith and Wisniewski said Holcomb and Washington. Wisniewski said so, we paved three streets this year. Smith said a lot of paving this year.

Wisniewski said so, what are days in cash. Emmons said I’m sorry. Wisniewski said the days in cash. Emmons said days in cash. Wisniewski said yes. Emmons said I don’t have that metric. However, if you take out what we owe the water fund, you have about $40,000 left, all in general fund. Wylie said what’s that mean, days in cash. Emmons said how liquid are we, right. Wisniewski said yeah. Emmons said I think you’re pretty much all liquid. Wisniewski said yeah. You don’t have any investments that are tied up or – Wisniewski said just a $50,000 CD [certificate of deposit]. Yeah, we’re very liquid. Emmons said and that’s in the sewer fund. Wisniewski said that is correct. Emmons said that’s not even general fund. Wisniewski said that’s not even general, yeah.

Wylie said any other questions from the public or council.

Bihl said I have a question. (To Emmons), you said that one grant that we received, $97,000, and we only record it when we spend it? Emmons said correct. So where does it show here where it’s recorded? Emmons said so, the $97,000 was pulled into the capital improvement fund. Bihl said oh, the capital improvement. Emmons said right. Bihl said and that’s on what page? Emmons said near the back. Bihl said yeah. Emmons said page 31. Yeah, the project fund has its own column. Wisniewski said yeah, it’s $97,000 under capital projects, page 31. Bihl said OK. I see it. Wisniewski said that’s the ARPA dollars. Bihl said yup.

Wylie said OK. Questions from anyone else?

Wylie recognized Forte for a comment.

Forte said under, and this might be more of a question for Smith, have we gotten more fees from, like, fines to residents since we enacted the maintenance ordinance? Smith said no, it’s been marginal because, you mean for ordinance violation. Forte agreed. Smith said we used four ordinance violations, a very small number because that’s been almost everything has been addressed through warning letters. We haven’t had to go to the next step of a civil infraction. Forte said OK. Quisenberry said we haven’t had the ability either until recently. Smith said right. That’s correct. So, no, it’s not anything significant for that.

Wylie said OK. Anybody else?

No comments.

Wylie said OK. Then we have a resolution.

(Wylie read the resolution.)

Wylie said and I will need a – (Forte raised her hand) – Wylie said motion by Forte, second Quisenberry.

Wylie said any comments or questions from council members.

No comments.

Wylie said anything from the public.

No comments.

Wylie said OK. We need a roll call.

Roth, Rodgers, Quisenberry, Wylie, Forte, Lamphier, and Casey voted yes.

Wylie said and the resolution is adopted. (To Emmons), Wylie said thank you for coming. Emmons said thank you. Nice to see everyone. Wylie said nice to see you too. Thanks for all this. Emmons said oh. I’m kind of old school. I kind of like to, you know, the hard copy (unintelligible). (Unintelligible comment.) Emmons said oh, I appreciate that.

[Continue to Item #13, adjournment.]

Item 12g – Discussion: City Code of Conduct Policy (Video time mark 1:05:26):

Wylie said we’ll move on to Item #12g, discussion city code of conduct policy. (To Quisenberry). Wylie said I assume you want to talk about this.

[I submitted some comments to the city council about a code of conduct policy that mentioned two issues pertaining to Quisenberry, attached here.]

Quisenberry said this was something that I thought that as a city we should have. Quite a few municipalities have them. We do have various what would probably be considered parts of a code of conduct within some of the other documents we have within our city, like the charter, ordinances, and some of the other amendments that we have. But we don’t have a compiled code of conduct policy that would govern the elected officials, the appointed officials that we have and the boards and commissions that represent us. And it’s my thought that so that the public has an expectation of how we as a government should act and things we should be able to do and what would be right and what’s wrong. I think that it’s only fair that those expectations are memorialized in a document, so they do know exactly what, as well as the elected officials, the appointed officials, and the boards and commissions. We need to know what we’re being held to and accountable in our conduct in running the city as the public should have an idea, should know what it is we should do. There is several out there. I’ve got a model ethics ordinance that is actually the Attorney General’s policy. The Michigan Municipal League has several different model policies for governmental units on codes of conduct. And I think it’s something that we should look at, come up with which, how we want our code of conduct to be and memorialize it just so that the public and we know what our expectations are.

Wylie said questions or comments from anybody on council. This is a discussion.

Forte said is this a result of the amendment. Did that inspire this or how did you come upon this? I think it’s a great idea. Quisenberry said it’s not a result of the amendment. It’s a result of following, I think, what is good public policy, that we have something like that, and also some of the comments and questions that we’ve all heard from the public about interactions they’ve had with either boards or commissioners, elected officials, or appointed officials. Without addressing any specific issue, it’s a far more general and overreaching response to things that have been going on for a long time. And, as I said, clarifying what is expected of the boards, the commissions, the city commission, and our appointed officers within the city.

Forte said so, would you, like if, so obviously this is a discussion, but would the next step be to have a draft that we would then add, or how does this work. Quisenberry said I think the next step would be to do a little bit of research into looking at what some other municipalities have. And maybe focus on some that are set up governmentally-wise, similar to the way we are, and also size the way we are. It doesn’t have to be restricted to those as looking at its models, but looking and seeing what other units of government have, looking and deciding, does this pertain to us? Do we need to have this in ours or not? And is there anything else that this specificity of our community has that we would want to put in that maybe others don’t have? So that’s a long answer to your question, but I think it is. Forte said no, it’s great. No, this is great. I’m surprised we don’t have something like this already.

Forte said have we ever talked about this in the past. Wylie said yes. Forte said OK. Wylie said we have discussed ethics in meetings, and I actually brought a page from some minutes from 2017 where there was some ethics brought up in city council. A lot of the, I mean, I was going through some of our charter, our ordinances, and I think you [gesturing to Quisenberry] mentioned the employee manual. There is a lot already there. We do have city policies that include conflicts of interest, preferential treatment, acceptance of gifts. That’s in our ordinances. We have, let’s see, I think this is from the charter, restrictions concerning officers. So, we have that, and then there’s employee ethics. There’s a whole section on the employee’s manual that includes employee ethics. So, I think it’s probably a good idea to put it all together. I did do, I mean, I actually went to Royal Oak, because since you came from Royal Oak, maybe there’s something there, and they have a multi-page document that I didn’t read every word, but it looked like it was pretty thorough, and I’m sure a lot of other communities have something. And if the Michigan Municipal League has an example, I think that would – Forte said be great. Wylie said that’s what my next thought was. Yeah, but I think that’s what you said, right? Quisenberry said yes. Wylie said the Attorney General and Michigan Municipal League.

Wylie said yeah, I think it’s good. I think there’s, it has been an issue in the past. If anybody would like to see the minutes for the 2017 meeting, I’m happy to share it with you, because I brought extra copies of it, because I thought at the time, it was actually something I brought up, and at the time it didn’t really affect the vote, but the red was my [Wylie passed out a document to council members], this was, I actually keep all the minutes of, I keep things and I, as you see, I make a lot of notes and pass it on. It’s where the red asterisk is. That’s what I wrote at the time. That was in the minutes from 2017. I think it’s important to have it. And maybe, one thing we’ve done in the past is had perhaps one or two people start working, maybe a committee would work on it, write, or use examples. Wylie said yeah, yeah, there should be enough for Ryan. (Unintelligible comment.) Wylie said yeah. Ryan said I’d love to have it. Lamphier, Ryan, and one for Smith, at least. [Ryan walked across the room to Lamphier.] Ryan said thank you. Forte said I appreciate it. Ryan said here, do you need one? Lamphier said I’ve got one. [Ryan handed a copy to Smith.] Wylie said oh, yeah, it was before everybody’s time. It’s 2007 [2017]. (To Roth), Wylie said you were not on council in 2017, but I think you’ve been on previously. Roth said I was. Wylie said it was about parking. Forte said oh, OK. [Note: a copy wasn’t provided to the audience or included in the council packet.]

(To Quisenberry), Wylie said so, yeah, I think if, you know, maybe you want to get a committee together to start the process, bring us some examples. Quisenberry said I will go ahead and try to get a couple different policies from various communities as well as model policies (unintelligible) suggestions, compile that, and then we can decide what we want to do with it, whether if you want, if there’s an interest in having a committee that research all that and then come up with something, or where to go from there, any other options that are open to council.

Wylie said anybody else have a discussion, comments, or questions about this idea.

Forte said no, thank you for bringing that up.

(To Ryan), Wylie said so, I don’t know, do we need to vote on putting together a committee to do this, or just – Ryan said no, it’s just discussion, so it’s just the sense of council – Wylie said OK – (continuing), Ryan said that I mean, the sense of council that (unintelligible) whomever, come back with some, some information.

Wylie said I’ve kind of volunteered before, but (to Quisenberry) I assume this is something you’re interested in continuing with. Quisenberry said it was something that I thought that we as a group should address. Wylie said but as a group, we’re not going to write it. Quisenberry said correct. Wylie said maybe we just need a few people to put together something and come together with that. Is anybody else interested in working with Quisenberry on coming up with that code of ethics? Quisenberry said why don’t you let me just go ahead and compile what I need to, and then we can disperse it amongst all of us, and at that time decide how we want to proceed, either with a committee or assign everybody to take it home and have a chance to read it at their own leisure and address it at the following meeting, and first, we should probably give whatever information may be pertinent to follow it up. Wylie said OK.

Wylie said, OK, anybody else.

No comments.

Wylie said all right, sounds good. And we still don’t have Emmons, so we can’t adjourn. That’s our last item. Anybody have anything else they wanted to talk about. Probably wait.

Roth said do you know if she’s on her way. Coté said she’s on her way. She’ll probably be here around 8:30. Wylie said yeah, Coté said she’s on her way. He talked to her on the phone. Coté agreed.

(Forte made an unintelligible comment.) Wylie said (unintelligible) the Lions. Rodgers said how about the Tigers. Wylie said (unintelligible), but I have one of the first, that’s the first team I switched over to, from the Cleveland Indians to the, to me, the Indians. Rodgers said it was fun. Wylie said the whole thing was fun. The Lions are the last car, I guess.

Wylie recognized Cara Catallo and said you have something for us? Catallo said yeah, you didn’t say, ask the public about their opinion on the code of ethics. Wylie said I’m sorry. You’re right.

Catallo said and I just wanted to say, especially since Catherine [Ashley, former clerk] was here, I feel really strongly that we should have something like that, because it was an abysmal year, in my opinion, of various things that went on, and I feel like the charter was broken a few times, but also the treatment of that clerk, to me, was horrific, and I think that it would be good for all of our commissions and the council and our boards to sign something just saying that they understand, and then maybe people would act a little bit more sort of above board, and the rest of the community can feel better, because it just felt like a rough year to me. So, I just wanted to share that, and I support the idea of having a code like this so that it doesn’t feel as though favoritism is leading the pack so much. Thanks. Wylie said thank you.

Wylie said anybody else.

Smith said the policy and procedure manual that you mentioned for the employees, that’s in place, and there is the last page that has to be signed on an annual basis to make sure that the employee has read the document, is familiar with it, and has signed that. I can’t say that I’ve done that in the last year, but it is something, that there should be – [Emmons entered the room].

Wylie said there she is. Emmons said good evening. I apologize for any wait. Wylie said we got to talk about sports, so. Emmons said well, good. I was hoping someone would tell a good story. (Unintelligible comment.) Wylie said yes. Emmons said we do have hard copies.

Forte said OK. [An unidentified man – Coté? – passed out material to the council.] Forte said before we switch over, when we do do the website, can we like, kind of get a cheat sheet? Wylie said thank you. Forte said with the HDC [Historic District Commission], like what you need to apply for, like, I think we do have one. I’ve seen one. I was looking for it the other day and I couldn’t find it. Smith said OK, so are you talking about the flow chart? Forte said yeah, I think so. Smith said it kind of tells you where you go and what you do. Forte said yeah. I don’t know if I was just missing it, but that’s one of the things I was like looking for the other day. [Man continued passing out documents to the council.]

(To Smith), Quisenberry said regarding your point about the signed statement or acknowledgment that the employee has, that affects one part of, it’s supposed to be the code of conduct with the employees. We want to make sure it is conduct, the policy that’s going to be used. It pertains to employees as well as the council, as well as all the boards and commissions that we establish. Smith said yes. Wylie said great. OK.

[Back to Item #12f, acceptance of the audited financial report.]

Agenda Item #13, Adjourn (Video time mark 1:30:12):

Wylie said we are on Item #13 to adjourn the meeting. I need a motion to adjourn the meeting.

Motion by Rodgers; second Forte.

Wylie said any discussion from anybody.

No discussion.

The motion to adjourn passed by unanimous voice vote.

Wylie said and we are adjourned at 8:30. Thank you, everybody.

Resources:

• • Link to video recording here
  • 10-28-2024 City Council packet