But what's that's fine, but I know what's His name. I
All right. Good
morning. Good morning, everyone. We will now call to order our formal session for Tuesday, November the 26th and if our clerk will please call the
roll council member
Scott Benson
Hall, the third council
member, Letitia Johnson, present
Councilman Gabriel Santiago Romero,
present, present council member
Mary Walters,
present
council member Angela Whitfield Callaway,
present council member Coleman Young
the second.
Council President, pro
Tim James Tate
and Council President Mary Sheffield,
present.
You have a quorum present, Madam
President,
alright, there being a quorum session, and we'll start with our invocation. We have joining us. Tasty rod of Bethel. Do
you hear me. Yes, we
can go on, President sheffey and all of you grace God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, let us send ourselves in this moment and go to God in prayer. This is the day that you made, and you may be last names lay down today, as you have done up to this point to get us into this meeting at this time, for such a time as this Lord, before we move forward in this meeting, we pause Lord, just to seek You, Lord, because we recognize without you, we are nothing. Lord. So we seek you for your wisdom. We seek you for your counsel, Lord, and we seek you for your direction, Lord. We thank you for the leaders that you have put in place and allowed to be in place for such a time as this. We thank you for the service that they have given thus far. And we pray Lord that Your Holy Spirit will come upon them. Lord, getting giving them clarity of mind, giving them wisdom, knowledge, understanding and discernment, Lord, as they reason and as they lead. Lord, and there are others who are on this call, members of this or residents of this city, and other leaders, officials and so on. Lord, I pray that you will bring about a unity of spirit in such a way that we will look unto you for direction, Lord, and look unto you for guidance, Lord. And ultimately, may your presence be felt in this meeting in such a way that among any difference of opinions, perspectives or ideas, Lord, may your will prevail in Jesus. Name, Amen,
Amen. Alright. Thank you so much, Pastor, we appreciate your invocation and looking forward to coming by and visit again soon.
Yes, thank you so much for all you do. Yeah,
you as well. You have a blessed one. Alright, we will proceed with our presentations for this morning before we do so, we have some amazing students that are here with us today, and we want to take a moment to recognize them, and I'm going to let Pro Tem recognize our guest today.
Thank you, Madam President, and you said the word, these are amazing students. They are from Detroit Academy of Arts and Sciences. Y'all give them up. These are K through H students who are here today, bright and shiny faces. They could have been anywhere, but they chose to join the City Council. This morning, we talked to principal Chavis, old, real good friend of mine, known him for a number of years, and appreciated his leadership, and we know that he's now in another space where he can allow that leadership to flourish and those young folks to improve and increase his leadership as well, because we all learn synergistically. We learn from each other, and we're just so thankful for you all being here this morning, as we know madam president, especially following this last election, we got to get these young folks engaged in the civics process early. We don't want to tell them who to vote for. We won't just get them to understand how important it is to vote and be a part of governmental process, and we do not do what we need to do in the best way we can without you all giving us what we need to do. Alright? So we again, thank you all for being here. We appreciate you. We love you, and we'll continue to support you along the way. Alright? Y'all enjoy yourself today. All right,
thank you. Thank you so much for being here. All right. And we have two presentations this morning, and we can note member Young has joined us, member Benson, I think, was here when we did the roll call already. And we will start with council member Callaway.
And thank you so much, Madam Chair, and good morning everyone, and good morning to the students again, thank you for being here. If I can have Lieutenant Mark young to come up while I'm reading, usually I don't ask right there at the podium, usually I don't ask. And if you could not turn your back to turn your back to us, but not to the students, because they need to see you, these students need to see you, and they're going to aspire to do all that you've accomplished. And we know you, but they don't know you. And that's why I asked you to come up, because while I'm reading this, I want them to be able to see the man that I am reading about, absolutely,
Lieutenant Mark young, president of the Detroit Police Lieutenant and surgeons Association, to congratulate Lieutenant Mark young on his outstanding service to the city of Detroit. Lieutenant Young is a proud 38 year veteran of the Detroit Police Department and students. That means that this gentleman has been a has been a part of Detroit Police Department for 38 years. Okay? He started his career on Monday May 18 in 1987 as a young police officer, Lieutenant young started a basketball program that enabled him to mentor over 400 young people throughout his career, he expanded the program to an initiative he created called tied to success.
It's good when you get the applause of young people. I love it through the tie to Success Program, law enforcement officers and other professionals provide young males with a new or gently used necktie, and they teach them how to tie it. They also share stories of their path to success, including challenges and failures, yes, young man, additionally, with former Detroit Police Chief James E white and Dr Allen drimmer, Lieutenant young worked with clear University to create affordable and streamlined programs for Detroit officers to enable them to further their education
Come on,
this initiative has helped over 500 members of law enforcement on behalf of myself, Council Member Angela Whitfield Callaway and the Detroit City Council and the entire city of Detroit, which includes a lot of you, we congratulate Lieutenant Mark young on his contributions to the community, which includes you and us. Give him a hand.
This Okay, would you like to share your tenant? Y'all just push the button. You'll push them together.
I am humbled and honored, and thank you, ma'am, um, I used to sit when I was a young person, I had a learning disability.
I was born with birth defects. I stayed most of my childhood in the hospital. My mom stayed at my side. When I was in school, I used to stare out the window
because I got I was confused. I learned how to read, and I never stopped reading. One book sparked me. It was a book called four days. It was about the assassination of John F Kennedy, and that book sparks me to make me read about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. And from there, I read about American politics, and I never stopped reading. I shared that story with you to say I was a young person that stared out the window that did not know what God had in store for me, I want to say a few words if I could real quick. One never knows the difference one makes. But if you believe in God, the pathway is already set. And I thank you, God. I thank you. Councilwoman Calloway, it's been times I stood before you. We've had our differences, but one thing I've always had is admiration for your passion for the city and the respect that you have. And one of the things that's important that goes unnoticed often is disagreements are great when you could do them professionally and respectfully, because passion means passion, and sometimes we learn from it, not always in that moment, but sometimes when we think about it later, we come to I could understand. I could see. I could see where he where she is coming from, and I thank you. This means more to me than you'll ever know. Council President, your leadership. It is not one person that changed Detroit. It is a collective whole and body and a community. I thank you. I thank you. My friend Stephen Grady that all I wanted was a Spirit of Detroit pen. Because you know what my story embellishes the spirit of the city of Detroit. You are an ambassador to not only the city Steven, but to this world and this community, and it's far beyond your reaches. I just got a few more things. God send us reminders, to remind us how to treat individuals and relationships is powerful if you don't learn nothing else. It is not contracts. It is relationships, how you treat people, dignity, empathy, compassion and love and treating people decent that is the key to success. I appreciate you to my wife, Lena. You are the most strongest but sensitive person I've ever met. You seem to see the best in everything and everybody, including me. You love me when I don't like myself. Your heart is so pure it scares me at times. I thank you for loving me beyond measures, and I love you back. My colleagues are the Detroit Police Department. You, you are the Spirit of Detroit.
I accept, I accept this word on all of us, on all our behalf. You go out here every day with courage, character, integrity, empathy, compassion and valor and honor for people that would never know your name and people that you don't know I am humbled, and I'm inspired by you, and I'm proud to be one of you. I have been blessed. I have been blessed by your courage and your honor, and it motivates me and it makes me stronger. Just a few more words to my awesome parents Andre and nanny young that passed away. I am honored to be your child. You taught me to go to work every day. You taught me strength and character and how hard work pays off in my career. On the Detroit Police Department, I never taken a sick day, not that I've never not been saved. I say, but I understand the best cop ain't no cop, if you ain't there, I'm humbled today as a 38 year veteran, I never thought that I would be a lieutenant on the Detroit Police Department, and it was talk of me moving higher the president of the Detroit Police Lieutenant sergeants Association, the Vice President of the National Association of Police Organizations, of the associate membership, where we represent over two 271,000 law enforcement members across this great nation, three degrees, including a bachelor's in Business Administration and a master's in culture change and leadership. Being an adjunct professor at Cleary University, I teach organizational behavior, organizational management, organizational leadership, along with crisis management, crisis communications and diversity. I never thought I'd see that coming, and I wish my parents would see me this moment, I had a vision for everyone to further their degrees in education, and truthfully, my vision was people of color and my law enforcement colleagues to get their degrees. That was my vision. Thank you God for allowing that. Just one more point. Real quick. I thank God for giving a 21 year old knucklehead kid a career and a pathway to greatness to be able to touch so many people's lives. I live in this great city because I love it with all my heart and soul. We can afford to live anywhere in this world. We can thanks to the generosity of this great city. I choose to live here. It was good enough for my parents, and it's good enough for me.
I asked my father one day, why did he gravitate from Memphis, Tennessee to Detroit? And he said it was a place where people of color and people like himself can be around other people to make a difference with equality. And I held on to that. He also shared another private story. That's why I wanted to be a law enforcement officer to make a difference. Thank you. Thank you again, Steven. Thank you, ma'am, and thank you. The Spirit of Detroit shines brighten all of us, and I'm grateful for this great city, and I'm humbled by us all. Thank you. Thank
you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Lieutenant Young,
thank you so much. And we're going to present this to you, but we're going to take pictures because we have one more presentation I know the Madam Madam Chair is going to explain that process. Thank you so much, Lieutenant young, and to your wife, thank you, Madam Chair,
thank you. Thank you so much. Member Callaway, thank you, Lieutenant young, for your decades longs of service to the city of Detroit and your passion. We see it and we appreciate you sir for being here and all that you do. All right, we're going to cut off our general public comment. Member Dural has joined us, and we are now going to turn it over to council member young for a presentation. Thank
you, Madam
President. Can we give it up one more time for
Mark? Well done, sir.
Very well received. Before I begin with this testimonial resolution, there's a quote I like to begin with, with Martin Luther King Jr, who said, Dr Martin Luther King Jr, who said that everyone can be great because everyone can serve. And I think that everyone loves Geraldine Meeks Chapman because she is great.
Geraldine Meeks was born in Memphis, Tennessee, September 15, 1936
the first of seven children. Yes, her parents, jewel and Clara Meeks would later move to Ferndale in the mid 1940s because her father was employed at uni royal tire company in Detroit. Yes, and whereas Gerald D Meeks was educated in Detroit Public School System, she met Lee champ Nelson while attending Eastern High School, and married him in 1955 Geraldine and Lee had four beautiful children, Dinah, Lee champ Junior, Terrence and Lloyd. While raising her family, she decided to further her education, and with complete determination and willpower, she matriculated from Wayne County Community College and obtained an associate's degree, whereas Geraldine Meeks Nelson started working for the total action against poverty for the city of Detroit in 1965 as a part time employee, by 1968 she had worked her way into a promotion and a full time position. In 1983 she was temporarily laid off by the city of Detroit, but called upon shortly thereafter to work in the finance department. She eventually would run for Chief union steward of the purchasing department, serving for four years at local two, 799 by 1991 Geraldine Meech Nelson was elected president of local two, 799 where she remained until she retired.
And whereas Gerald D Meeks Nelson became very active in the civil rights movement in the 1960s in 1968 she worked alongside Dr Martin Luther King for the voters registration drive in 1970 under Chairman Mary Lou parks, she was active in the Michigan Democratic Party, serving as recorded secretary for the executive board of 13th congressional district.
And whereas Geraldine Meeks Nelson experienced entrepreneurship in the early 1980s as an owner and operator of a lounge in Detroit. She also, excuse me, you don't need that laughing back there, Miss Calvin. Excuse
me, that's
that's my mom. Everybody. Okay, well, okay, okay. She also has a patent for the wristband tie one on for Jesus
and whereas Geraldine Meeks met and married Walter Chapman in the 1980s Yeah, they enjoy working alongside each other at their church, conventional missionary, Baptist Church, teaching discipleship, Bible study and teaches Sunday school. Geraldine meets Chapman is an usher on the mission ministry, the pastor's aid ministry and the Board of Trustees, and whereas Geraldine Chapman received numerous accolades and awards, such as the Metropolitan Detroit chapter of the Coalition of Black trade unionists, Gloria, COVID Community Service Award, metropolitan Detroit, AFL CIO Award of Honor upon her retirement, the US Senate certificate of congressional recognition, City of Detroit, Spirit of Detroit award presented by the entire Detroit City Council, Michigan ASPE Council, 25 statewide women's committee award and many more over the span of her career. And whereas Geraldine Chapman received numerous accolades and awards such as the Metropolitan Detroit chapter of the Coalition of Black trade unionists, Gloria, COVID, service to warway, really? Yeah, all right, over where it did so it was so great. I want rules ready twice. Whereas Gerald D champion retired from the city of Detroit after 39 years of service to the citizens of Detroit. Oh, let me say it again. Geraldine Chapman retired from the city of Detroit after 39 years of service to the citizens of Detroit. However, she was thankful. However she was not finished yet in 2009 Jared D Chapman was asked by the city council president Brenda Jones to come out of retirement and accept an appointment to the Board of Review where she served to the where she has served to this day. So
Gerald D Chapman also serves as a financial secretary for the city of Detroit retirees sub chapter 98 further. Gerald D Chapman has been the appointee of Councilman Coleman, Alexander young, the second number one for the past two years on this Yeah, he's
supposed to clap it out for the past two years on the city of Detroit property assessment Board of review. And whereas Gerald D Chapman further is a world traveler and has been across the United States. She has traveled abroad to Germany, Holland, Dubai, Roma and Africa, the motherland, and many more. She has a great legacy as a mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and even great great grandmother, Geraldine Chapman has witnessed five generations in her lifetime with much more love To share. May God continually bless the name and legacy Geraldine beaks Chapman, now therefore be it resolved. The Honorable Coleman, a young the second city council member, along with the entire honorable Detroit City Council, celebrates and honors the years of excellent service in the well deserved retirement of Geraldine Meeks Chapman, your 60 years of service to the people of Detroit is a legacy of faith, belief and sheer will to succeed. Thank you for your continued life of example for all of us to see you a great Detroiter. Thank you for being a jewel in the heart of the city, Detroit. We thank you. We love you, and we are eternally grateful for your dedicated service to the people of Detroit, This testimony revolution goes to Geraldine meets Chapman, everybody you
i Wow If this honorable body may, if I may take 30 seconds before she speaks, I just like to share quickly the number of homeowners that she has helped through the many years of her service. There has been a group of our most fragile individuals that have struggled day in and day out, year after year to submit their applications. And this woman has visited their homes countless times, countless hours, and it is, cannot go, cannot go without recognition. So I will be submitting to this honorable body after the break, a resolution and a request to name that list after Geraldine Chapman.
Any Yeah, there
are. There are now more than 7000 individuals that we pay attention to on a yearly basis. And House Bill 6059, that's currently in state legislation right now that will allow these individuals to remain exempt without reapplication. The dedication and the work that this woman has brought cannot go unnoticed. So we will be presenting. The board will be presenting to this body a resolution to name that list, the Chapman's list, the
I didn't know I had done that much. Number one, I am humbled, truly humbled by this presentation, I thank God above all, for He is my Lord and Savior. I thank him that he's given me these 88 years of my life. I thank Him for everything that he has done, the determination that he gave me the perseverance that he gave me. And then I want to thank this body, but most of all, I want to thank Coleman, a young junior.
I worked in your dad's campaign in 74 we did a bus tour, like going to haunted houses. It was a fundraiser, and it was a very good fundraiser, but I can remember that so well, and I can remember sitting with your father in his apartment over in the river front
with the other elected officials. I was secretary for the 13th District. I remember being in his apartment building, and he would look over at Canada, and he would say, D, A, M, M, that Caesar's Palace, because we should have had that, and he would be upset because they got the casino before we got the casinos. But he was a determined man, too, and I learned a lot from him. I am grateful for that resolution I honestly did not realize that I had done so much stuff. I mean, I was even an activist and had a civil rights group that followed me on Mack Avenue. We had an officer called the adult movement for community amce, adult movement for community economics. And we, we would go up to the 10 cent store and the children would sit and wouldn't let people in because we were protesting. My children got arrested many times for protesting at various stores up and down Gratiot Avenue. Back in that day, we had businesses everywhere. And everybody had a business. I mean, there were black businesses, there were white businesses, there were Chinese, there were Italian, there were everybody. Everybody was flourishing, but we were still not accepted as who we were. And because of that, my children demonstrated and got arrested on many times the seventh precinct would call me and say, Miss Chad, Miss Nelson, come get your children. They're here, but I was proud of that because of the fact that it taught them something, you are as good as anybody else. Don't ever let anybody tell you that all you young people out here, you are as good as anybody you
don't ever let anybody tell you what you can't do. Don't let can't be a word that's in your vocabulary, because with God, all things are possible, and you can do great things. I continue the generations of doing great things right here, and I thank you for attending this today. Even though you weren't attending for me, you were attending for the officer, sir, I congratulate you, and I praise you for your work service for the city of Detroit. I give you all my thanks this morning. Thank you all again. I don't know how many numbers Mr. Dunwell have, but I know that I did over 100 home calls in 1999 sat down with people in their homes, helped them with their applications, took pictures on my phone and brought them back and put them into the application. And if any of my taxpayers are out there looking today, I love you all. I made those trips sometimes in the winter, sometimes in the summer, but I made those trips out of love for my fellow Detroiters and for those who are less fortunate than I was to be able to get out to do what they needed to do. Once again, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, each one of you. I love you. I appreciate you, and I thank God for you, and I ask that he give you many more services on this board. If the next election says so, we do know that there was an election coming up. So if the next election says that you're going to be here, then I wish you prosperity in that particular venue. Keep up the good work. Keep striving to do the right thing for the citizens of Detroit, and we all appreciate you so very, very much. I'd like to introduce my daughter, Mr. COVID. Nothing.
She is my she is my rock. I can depend on her to bring me to work every morning, even though she's not working. She brings me to work every morning, picks me up every afternoon, because she doesn't want this 88 year old lady out there driving by herself. Mm, hmm, I thank God
thank you all once again.
God, bless you. God, keep you, and may he ever shine his face upon you.
Oh, one more thing, one more thing,
yep, I have to thank you also, because I'm sure that your direction to your son and giving him the directions to keep me on for two more years was a favorable one. So and I would not be leaving now if it wasn't for my health situation. But I love doing what I do, and I'm going to try to find something else to do after I leave this so I can add something else to my legacy. So thank you all very much. God
bless you, Miss Chapman.
Thank you so much,
beautiful. Alright,
colleagues, if you can come down now and do separate pictures with Miss Chapman And then also Lieutenant Young as well. You
all right? So you want to
make sure that You should
talk about she
Hey,
Congratulations.
I'm trying
to move up.
Well, I thought, because it like you want me to,
okay, alright, everybody's camera here.
See that real village. Hey,
sick one time. Come on, you. Thank
you so proud of you did a whole bunch
Oh,
you want the council in the picture,
right? Because, if not, we can probably step aside and
everyone you already hear.
Man, more. I know it's coming soon, happening here.
Morning i
All right. Everybody can get it.
All right. Everybody this camera
right here, three.
Add one. One more, three,
two and perfect.
Right. Thank you.
Thank you, sir, Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you for all that you did. Congratulations, Mr. Young, yes. Ma'am, Yes, ma'am, thank you.
8.1 8.1 through eight point, removing them. Yeah, I saw it
all right. Thank you again to council member Calloway and member young for those presentations, and to those who are awarded, we appreciate your service, and thank you so much for all you do for this great city. And we will now proceed back to our agenda for today, the Journal of the session of Tuesday, November the 12th, will be approved. There being no reconsiderations or unfinished business. We will proceed to the budget Finance and Audit standing committee for the budget Finance and Audit standing committee,
two reports from various C departments. The two reports will be referred
to the budget, Finance and Audit Committee for the internal operations. Standing Committee,
two reports from various city departments.
The two reports will be referred to the internal operations standing committee for the public health and safety Standing Committee, and for my understanding, line items, 8.1 through eight point 17 can be removed from the agenda at this time. That was request from the administration to not refer these so is there a motion to remove 8.1 to eight point 17? Hearing? No objections that action will be taken.
So there are 13 reports from various city departments. All right,
those reports will be referred to the public health and safety standing committee. We will now move to the voting action matters under other matters, there are no items. Madam President, under communications from the mayor and other governmental officials and agencies. There are no as Madam President, alright, we will call for general public comment. Everyone will have a minute and a half for public comment and Miss Betty Lyons, you will be first. Thank you. Miss
Sheffield, Miss Callaway, why was $600 million stolen hidden from the Detroit residents? This is overpaid property taxes and satanic Dugan and Dana Nestle are holding on to this money for their own benefits in the Bible. This is called covetousness, taking what belongs to someone else, this is a sin and illegal. There should be penalties and interests to be added to this awful occurrence. Attorney Whitaker, what say you? Why did satanic Dugan separate? Saying these black folks allow this white man into their house so that they can tell him their problems, Spoken like a true white supremacist on a plantation. Why did this satanic Dugan brag about Romero and Mexican town while Detroit is languishing, he left Medical Center. He left his first wife. He's leaving Detroit when he's finished with something and has raped everything he goes on to what he wants to do. This man's character is not good at all.
Right? Thank you. Betty Lyons, Robert Pawlowski, followed by respalon, good morning
Council. Good morning Council President, thank you for the time and thank you for the time and opportunity to speak. My name is Robert klowski, my transit advocate and regular writer on DDOT services. This morning, I'd like to take and bring to you the attention regarding Section 47 dash two, dash 15. I'm aware that this is in committee, and I'd like to say thank you to to Santiago Romero for all her amazing work and trying to get this ordinance worked out and working with the public to get some answers, be able to get this factored in, I have some questions regarding Section 11 that's currently on the ordinance, which states soliciting, selling, loitering, panhandling on any Detroit department of transportation bus or at any facility. I have some major concerns with that, because there could be some misinterpretation with some of the language. You know, an officer stops somebody for doing a good deed or even doing outreach, there could be some misconceptions there, and potentially of mishandling the situation. I really would like someone to look at the language and work with the city and work with DDOT to be able to get that straightened out, because I would like to avoid all situations of racial profiling or misconception of identity, but most of all, making sure everyone has a safe space when going into services like this, making sure that all people are welcome into Detroit Department of Transportation busses. I appreciate the time and hope everyone has a good holiday. Thank you. Thank
you. Thank you. Press Gallant.
Thank you. There is a campaign connected to the highest levels of the incoming presidential administration to build more private paramilitary militias rapidly across this nation. I have studied their manual. They call anyone that means you and me, anyone calling for equality and fairness as an unhuman, and they call for crushing the unhumans. They use as their models past military dictatorships that have conducted mass extermination. You may think that this is fringe and not to be taken too seriously. However, this is endorsed by the incoming Vice President of the United States. This manual has been endorsed by Donald Trump Jr. This man manual is being promoted, and the incoming Secretary of Defense has called for building underground militias across this nation. This can't be ignored. How seriously is it a threat that's not for me to decide, but for a community to decide. And I'm calling on everyone to start working on building an analysis and looking at this, taking it seriously. What I'm saying in one minute can't begin to tell you the scope of this, but on not holding another presidential election, and we got to act. And I I'm sorry that one minute is more important than this discussion, but the police department needs to
benas. Hawk Hatley,
good morning, honorable city council members and my fellow citizens of Detroit. My name is famous, Hawk Hadley, and I'm here on behalf of the residents of District Three. Over the past several months, our community had gathered at Exodus Missionary Baptist Church to learn about the proposal for the Solar Park project for our district. These meetings spark not only excitement about renewable energy, but also a shared vision for revitalizing our neighborhood. I lived in my home since November 1976 48 years I raised my son here and witnessed both the struggles and resilience of this community. This initiative represents an incredible opportunity, not just to bring Detroit into the renewable energy age, but to show that district three residents are vital to the city Renaissance. I urge this council to continue support the neighborhood Solar Initiative and help us continue building a brighter, sustainable future for my community and Detroit as a whole, a community. Thanks you for including us as beneficiaries. Thank you.
All right. Thank you so much for coming yes council
member Benson,
alright, thank you. Just
want to thank Miss Hallie for coming down. She's one of my bosses in the third district and a great advocate for sustainability, and she's going to be one of the beneficiaries of this deal to receive investment in her home, as with her neighbors as a direct result of the solar farms. It's really that she came down to make that statement. She's absolutely right. We in the third district are a vital part of this city. Thank you.
Thank you so much for coming down. Amanda leaving, followed by Chanel Greer,
good morning. Morning from july 28 to November 19, I was employed as a Government and Community Liaison for the Office of Disability affairs. I emailed you all last week to share how I was set up to fail by Oda director Christopher Sam and I want to provide further further details publicly, I worked 113 days without the necessary accommodations in place, despite reaching out to HR and absence plus over 10 times for updates. In our first one on one meeting, Christopher told me he had fought three weeks to hire me because no one else wanted me. There a successful attempt to isolate and discourage me from raising concerns with leadership. After being yelled at by him, I requested a team discussion on trauma informed conflict resolution, but my request was ignored. I was terminated because I refused to work in an environment of ambiguity, without the resources I needed to effectively do my job, I was for fired because I asked for the accommodations I needed to protect myself from the toxic and abusive behavior I experienced from my supervisor. My question to you all is, if this was my experience in an office for the benefit of disabled residents in this city, what is the state of employment for disabled city employees across government? Thank you.
Thank you so much, Amanda, and I know we did get your email. My team did talk with you briefly this morning. Was very concerned to hear what took place, and we will be following up.
Thank you.
I know we did talk. I
do want to say this was literally my dream job, so being fired from it is absolutely devastating.
So sorry. Thank you for coming down as well. Chanel Greer, followed by Mr. Ronald Foster,
grateful morning Leaders. My name is Chanel Greer. I'm a lifelong resident of the Fitzgerald neighborhood, and I'm here to voice my support and excitement for the approval process of apartment for the street hope banners on West MC Nichols Road, located between Livernois and green line. Over the past year, I and family, friends and neighbors have been so excited to be a part of the process of the design thinking process, from the very first community input sessions to the five rounds of revisions on the final product, we've shared our ideas, offered our feedback, and made sure that they reflect what who we are and what we stand for as a community and commercial corridor, we are so proud of this collaborative process and inclusive design thinking process that we all feel ownership over once the banner permit application is accepted, we look forward to celebrating the installation of these pole banners. Thank you for your time. All
right. Thank you as well.
Madam Chair, young lady, yes. Your name, Chanel. I represent this journal on the council, and I'm aware of the banners, and I'm very, very proud of the work that you guys have done over there under the leadership of Caitlin Murphy live six. I'm very aware of it, and I'm very, very proud of we're also getting banners on the avenue of fashion, and we're also all getting snowflakes. We'll talk about that later, but thank you for all the good work that you're doing over there in the Fitzroy area.
Thank you. All right. Thank
you.
Ronald Foster,
good morning through the President. First thing I just wanted to say glad to have the children now majority young ladies, I think that's important to remind them that education is is important. Today, you guys were able to witness two black senior women speak today. One spoke of God and once was elevated. The other made references to Satan and sat down. I think that education is important so that when you speak freely, you can speak freely, articulately, without being offensive to other folks. And so the those are just very, very, very important that you guys understand and just let you know that I'm very grateful to have you all here and exercise this form of democracy. Want to tell our city council, I appreciate it this end of the year. I know guys got a lot of other things going on, but appreciate a lot of social issues. The main thing that I will ask you all to focus on during this break is to create policies get with the county, elected county, whereas we go through this new presidential thing, the strongest thing that we need our county elected officials that are going to stand up for what the elected people for, what the people here elected for, don't change up our way of life, our quality of life, for what we put on a ballot. Voted for and won on. We need you all to be leaders, despite any type of consequences what the people voted for. Thank you. Thank
you, Mr. Foster Miss Cindy Davis, followed by Eldrick Burton, followed by takeI burnin.
Thank you. With all due respect to the office of the city council members, I would like to know how illegal and unethical practices can be tolerated concerning the land bank by the council and City of Detroit. Both of my sons are in dispute with the land bank. Their court dates have been changed without them being notified. They have been canceled. They have been rescheduled. The only way I find found this out is helping them. Is calling the land bank office and being told this information. There have been no emails, there have been no letters. And my son has been bullied. The land bank went on the property while he was living there, bulldozed his fire pit and his garden, the police have been sent there three or four times before the court date was even allowed to happen. Mr. Jenkins is so distraught now I am I am speaking for him. I want to know how these things can be handled without due process. A statement was made by the land bank that he would never be allowed to get his house back, and this is before a court date when when people are evicted or removed from these homes legally or illegally, then the land bank can let their family and friends know which houses have already been worked on so that they can get in a house and and have less work to do. The neighbor across the street has complained, but they bring their dog across the street to defecate on the property that my son lives on. The mayor made a remark that, you know, they had complained, but nobody has done anything about them, you know, mess with their dog. Uh, thank you. I'm sorry that accommodations won't be made for veterans.
Thank you so much. And while you're here, will I'm not sure she's okay. It looks like you're maybe in council member Johnson's district, so she wants to respond. Thank you, Madam
President. If we can get your contact information, I've spoken with your son, and he did share with me the change in the court date. So I'd like to have a direct conversation with you, if you're representing him, so we can have a greater discussion around the court and the court's responsibility in notifying you of changes, but also the feedback that I've received from the land bank that was meant to be provided to you. So I just want to make sure that you're involved in that conversation as well. So we'll one of my team members is on their way out to get your contact information. Okay? Thank you. Thank you, Madam President, right?
Thank you. Member Johnson, alrighty. Eldrick Burton, followed by two key Vernon
Council moments that come to give honor to God who's ahead of my life, and to come back to you all again about district two solar panels projects. And it's been a pleasure dealing with y'all. I'm glad you did pass it. I found out five or six y'all voted for it, for good three that didn't, I still would support you all the same. Um, my problem with this is that I'm back here talking about the solar panel initiative again for District Two, and we all came together. We're getting regular meetings at the AAC, the ACC building. All the community is coming together like I've never seen before, and we all supporting it. We all anxious to get it on. We've been informed on every single matter. We've been informed on what we can pick this, flowers and plants and everything else, and it seems like there's opposition with the City Council doing, I guess, zoning proposal for the project or something another. So I'm back down here for that reason, but I'm hoping that y'all will all come together whoever voted for even if you didn't before. Just give it a positive thought on that matter. And my other thing, before I leave out of here, I understand that former mayor is going married has been leaving out now, and my suggestion, if I'm, if they he's not here, I see he's not here, but Vincent Tate, and my number one choice is Coleman Young, going for merit. I'm here to support them 100% and if you need my support, especially my young man, who I raised up around Bowman, young senior because I'm a seven year old senior citizen, I'm glad to that this young lady that y'all gave award to is part of the reason why I'm going down to the city my tax exempts now. Thank you all for your time.
Thank you, sir. Thank you so much. And our last in Person public comment will be mister Vernon. You Hey
everybody. Okay, so I officially came up here to say, just be in support of the street pole banners on six mile, life long six mile bus rider rode the bus so many times that when I started taking real math classes, I realized it's the 32 bus, and three times two is six. And always thought that was kind of cool. Then you got the experience riding like the number four bus downtown, you know, the Woodward, and once you hit Like Warren Avenue, you start seeing all the decorations. And so I just didn't want to understate the impact of just those little activations inside the communities on those bus rides, it makes everything just gives you something to talk about, something to be proud of. You might see something you recognize, somebody you recognize and and it might sound like just street pole banners. It might sound like a line item, but it can mean a lot to a lot of people, especially when that 715 bus comes at 745 and you need something to look at for 30 minutes. But minutes, but that's another thing for another time. Um, and with the last 30 seconds, it's been a while since I've been here, and I never really got a chance to speak to y'all. And just thank y'all for my experience here last year at the I was with 30 going on 31 and the four or five months I got to spend with y'all taught me 99% of the things I know not just about city government, but about government in general. And I've taken college level political science classes, it taught me the incredible importance of the legislative branch, and the mayor doesn't do everything in this city. You guys do so much. And I just wanted to say thank you all for that.
Thank you
so thank you mister Madam Chair, thank you mister Vernon. So the banners with everybody's talking about live six. They've have established. They have done the gotten the design work approved. They've collected the money, they've raised their own, their own money, to get the banners installed. So what that means is, on the light poles on six mile, there will be banners, beautiful banners, and then there will also be banners that this council approved for the avenue of fashion banners. When you go out throughout the city, not so much in the neighborhoods, but that's changing. You'll see banners downtown. Whenever there's a big event, you'll see banners, but never in neighborhoods. Never do you see them in the neighborhood. So the banners are coming down different business corridors, and we're starting in district two, on West McNichols and on Livernois. And then when I said, snowflakes live six, same group have commissioned a company to design snowflakes. They will be lit during the holiday season, so when the children come into the community, they don't have to come downtown to see lights and beauty. They'll be able to see that on six mile and Livernois, where we shop. So we're bringing a little bit of downtown, a little bit of the flavor from downtown and midtown to the neighborhood for all of us. So that's what that's what these residents are talking about, banners and the snowflakes that will light up. And I would encourage my colleagues, if you haven't already, if you drive down Schaefer and it starts turning into Coolidge, you're hitting Berkeley. Look with that. Look what they've done over there on Coolidge. It's amazing. Just a few snowflakes on light poles. It's beautifying that strip, and it's absolutely beautiful, and we're expecting no less to happen in district two. Thank you Madam Chair,
thank you member Callaway. All right, that will conclude in Person public comment, and we will turn it over to those who have joined us virtually. Good morning.
Good morning, Madam President, there were 28 hands raised before you would cut off public comment. And the first caller is phone number ending in 169 Good
morning caller, 169
Hello. Can you guys hear me? Yes. Okay, great. I just want to say happy holidays. Thank you for praying for brother Cunningham. Oh, shoot. Happy holidays. Thank you for keeping brother Cunningham in prayer. If brother Cunningham makes you feel some type of way and you don't like him, you can purchase your own hand warmers, gloves and bus tickets and give them out yourself at bus stops. But if you can donate to brother Cunningham, he'll pay it for it. As always, I really respect the fact that brother Cunningham talks about his mental health and speaks about the importance of medication and therapy. It seems like he's had an unlucky life which will make anybody depressed. I'm praying the project Clean Slate program can clean his records, so maybe I can vote for him if he runs for something. He was off his meds during the period of time he was getting in trouble. Cunningham puts everything on Facebook with no shame, and I respect that. Thank
you for my time.
Alright, thank you.
The next caller is Mr. Rueben
Crawley, go right ahead.
Can you hear me clearly? Yes, we can. Okay. City, Detroit. Detroit is embroiled right now in the murder cover up, the cover up, or the cover up, or the cover up of Kenisha COVID was death now Detroit City, Corporation Council crime, comrade mallet, Junior crafty comrade, to my understanding, has a pine that the Detroit board of police commissioners cannot subpoena a closed case suicide file report for the Michigan State Police that's part of the file. Board of police commissioners has voted now twice to subpoena this file now the second time they voted to subpoena the unredacted report. Crafty comrade and got in the way. Mike Duggan claims to not know he's in the way. Mary Sheffield, James Tate, James E fraud, take Junior District Two councilman, I talked to you for 45 minutes on the phone. Explain to you how it is that Kenisha could have not possibly shot herself. That's took me a lot of time, effort. It's been three years. Nini asked for some help, and for the city to know. I talked to Kenisha Coleman's mother, and she has given me her blessings to bring it into this matter, which I plan to do. Alright. Thank you.
The next caller is Steven Holland,
can I be her?
Yes, you can.
Awesome. So regarding the v dot code of content. You know, I totally agree with the solicitation and panhandling that shouldn't be on the bus. But like some of the other transit activists have said, I do have concern about campus serves. You know, it's very important during a campaign to really educate bus drivers. You know, I did a lot of canvassing during the smart millage, and it was really lot of riders didn't even know about that. So I'm very concerned about that. Next, I want to mention, there's been a bunch of personal attacks about me from Mr. Mika Williams. You know,
it's funny, he's
willing to attack me after I called out a lady that literally said she supported mass deportation. And call it both homosexuality and abortion satanic. You know, there's a lot of toxic public comments, but Nico is a hypocrite, and, you know, I can't wait to hear his response to this, but when he calls me a Republican, I'm a lifelong Democrat, I'm part a precinct delegate. You know, I find it quite insulting that he called me that during the during the council meeting. And you know, the only someone who thank you
the next caller is William, and
good morning. Can I be heard?
Yes, you can. Okay, I
like to start off by saying I think that the awards that you gave at the start of the meeting was outstanding. I think both of those are two individuals that needs reward and be recognized. I think more legacy city, Detroit, with, you know, actual workers who live in the city continue to live in the city, should get special recognition also. And as always, I think that Detroit legacy pensioners, you know, should get more than what we've been getting, because we haven't been getting anything. Also, like to say, yesterday was an outstanding day. I started off by going to an event that city council member at large COVID Young had. Then I ended the day by going to an event that my city council person for district seven had. You know, we need to have more stuff going on for the people of Detroit. We need to have more activities for the people of Detroit. We need to do more for the city of Detroit residents. And I think right now, too many people who work for the city live outside the city. You know? I think we need to be doing something like that about that. And also we need to do something about the fact that there's so many uncertified, like 34 uncertified police officers in the city of Detroit, and how that can diversity affect liability? Thank you.
All right. Thank you, Mr. Davis.
The next caller is Rachelle Stewart,
good morning, President Sheffield and rest of the council. I just was calling in today. Thank you. Call me young for yesterday. It was very nice. The breakfast was excellent. The speakers was good, like he like Mr. Davis said, keep on having things for the residents of the city. I do want to say I wish every last one of y'all Happy Thanksgiving, and I'm extending that into the Christmas season, whether it's Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, whatever you celebrate and to have a happy new year. And I do want to say next year's budget season is coming up in January. I know we won't see each other until then, but I will be sitting out calling out things that we need to increase budgets on. But other than that, I'm gonna yield my time. I want everybody to have the rest of the year off and just be happy and thankful for the joy of life that we have, and hopefully we all will see each other at the beginning of next year. So have a happy holiday, and I love you all. Stay safe.
All right. Thank you so much. Miss Stewart, and Happy Holidays to you as well.
Next caller is, we see you
all right. Good morning.
Good morning. And through the chair, maybe heard,
yes, we can hear you. Um,
I'm calling about 18.28 I am in agreeance that we need to have a due diligence session. When I asked the young lady that was supporting this, who was representing the people from the solar industry, she said they were asking them to build, get look at flowers and things just for borders. But what you come to find out is this is some type of storm water runoff, and so it needs to be examined before we go forward with any of these solar products, because people can be all right with it here, but it affects our groundwater. So that means that's city wide 14.5, to obligate money. Just openly obligate all of the rest of the ARPA funds, while mister the councilman has four, 17.44, which has no funding for tutoring for our children, we have ARPA funds. This is certainly under the guidelines of the ARPA funds to send those funds to remediation for our children from K through 12, there's enough money to support that that. So that was and 15. Dot 20. I'd like to know if opening up the bankruptcy to do, to do what you're doing well, does it have any risk that may inadvertently cause some unintended consequences by opening it up and I 17.39, 1719, dot 21 demos for city funds for commercial business, please give a fiscal response as to why that is unnecessary right now,
right thank you.
The next caller is Betty Yvonne.
Good morning to all within the sound of my voice, I want to start off by saying thank you and congrats to miss Chapman. She's my union sister, dedicated union treasurer for our sub chapter. Ask Me sub chapter 98 she deserves all the awards and and everything that was mentioned that's going to be given to her. She has personally helped me with my hope application. So congrats to her. I want to thank the council and all the council members who have supported Diva and personally have supported me this year with my personal issues and my health. Please save the date for December 14. Diva is having our annual holiday luncheon. Please check your emails, come out and break bread with us. This is our way of giving back to show our appreciation, just something that we can do something small, but come and just enjoy the festivities with us. I wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving, and please call seniors. Call 313-446-4440, 4d. Triple, a, and take advantage of the services that they offer that you might be eligible for. Call 313-937-8291, for the elder law Advocacy Center workshop.
Alright. Thank you.
The next caller is Mike Duggan. Is the work mayor in Detroit history.
All right, good morning.
Good morning. All right, Ari, let's come back to this Caller, please.
The next caller, Carl's miles
Good morning. Carlos miles
Good morning. Can I be heard? Yes, we
can hear you. Okay, well,
I came on to speak about Miss Chapman. I appreciate her service of Detroit, and I really thank her for her service, and I just wanted to say that, and I wish and hope that the city council members or someone down at the city of Detroit can step up and try to help me get this property situation where I paid these taxes taken care of, I have the receipts and I don't understand. How can you not be able to change, go into the system and clear the mishap, and instead of just letting it stay the same, you know, when it's clearly wrong. So someone should be able to help me out the whole city of Detroit downtown, and that's what I've been trying to get done for eight years, and that is a shame and a lot of stress. So that's all I came to say. And Miss Chapman, she helped me years ago, during the first year, I ran into her over there on the a flow next door to that right?
Thank you.
The next caller is Bernard monsie.
Bernard maschsky, Good morning,
Madam President, can I be heard?
Yes, you can
Good morning, Madam President and council. Of course, I'm going to wish everyone a safe and a happy holiday season, and, most importantly, be safe. I know that I'm kind of disappointed, and this has no bearing on you to council, but rather be that it's lack of transparency on ARPA funds, and I know that this council has done its due diligence. It's been a memo to the department to see how those funds were spend it and every week, it's just been delayed and delayed and delayed. And I find that disappointing, but maybe we'll get some answer next year, given we're going into a new administration, and they may call back a lot of this federal money. Other than that, as you consider deliberations for the for the budget for DDOT, we're asking to please consider an amount that is commensurate for a department that needs to perform better than 70% on time performers. This means a budget of at least $200 million this is the only way that did that is going to meet his plan called Do Not reimagined, which is a really well thought out and well done plan that has a lot of bus rider input as well. And we would like to actually see some details in this council about do not reimagine, so that more people will be aware. Otherwise, I find that disappointed with the lack of transparency. Otherwise, I want to thank this council for all of this due diligence this year and supporting transit riders. Otherwise, have a great holiday season.
Thank you. Renard,
the next caller is Karen's iPad.
Hello, yes. Good morning.
Good morning. I agree 100% with Russ blonde. It's all about human capital, and I don't know about underground tunnels. I think it's the bike trail that's connected bike lanes, of bike trails, all these green ways and pathways. I think that's that's what's up with as relates to what Russ is speaking up. But I guess it'll be nice to have lighted flags on McNichols. That would be a nice thing, and hopefully we won't knock them all down when the snow comes, when we're skidding all around that little area, but that's going to be good. Now, does anybody know when the December Board of Review is? I need to get in there. Does anybody know yet? Have we posted it yet? Or is it not one how we do that? I'm still interested in getting in there for that. Um, now we gotta do something with the retirees, pensions, health care, all those things. Um, because the deal was, I guess you guys are deal breakers, but makers and breakers. But the deal was that we would be totally we, the pensioners, would be totally restored by 2023 and we haven't even started yet. We're saying that the Mr. Neglig said that the other pension was currently funded again because the you guys are paying for us right now. That's the way that goes. Nobody's simple enough to think that that money's sitting there for you. Come on. Now. You
the next caller is Marguerite, Maddox, Scarlet you.
Good morning. MS,
Maddox,
good morning. Ms, Maddox, are you there?
Okay, we can come back to ms Maddox, please. The
next caller is Chuck at State Fair. You
I can hear me? Yes, we can hear you Good morning.
Yeah. So I was, I'm a member or President of the State Fair thing. And first of all, I want to say I'm in favor of the solar fair project or the solar project, though I'm a little bit concerned at the the land swap deal for Detroit land bank to swap. I believe it was 60 land 60 some land parcels for something like 30 current ones for the the the perfecting bank, perfecting the church, the parking church is, as you know, last year, have had a legal agreement with the city to actually go ahead and finish their their their church project, but they have yet to, I haven't seen any construction yet occur on their front, so I'm concerned about trading all these lands away from the possibility of the current residents to have access into land bank, and they have had the history of not maintaining parcels that they have, or seem to have any plans whatsoever developing the parcels that they already had, much less, you Know, doubling their holdings in our in our neighborhood, you know, their history them has been difficult to even contact them, much for any issues that they have with their properties, and I'm just concerned about that land swap deal that the city has planned with them that would lock out all residents. I All right. Thank you.
The next caller is phone number ending in 99 Yes.
Good morning. Good morning to all the council members and the city of Detroit. My name is Joyce Moore with Virginia fire community coalition within the boundaries of the Virginia Park community. I'm just rehashing the water situation. We need a federal investigation of Detroit Water sewage department as well as the Great Lakes Water Authority. Before the new administration, it has been indicated that clean waters are right. We have surrounded by five great lakes, and yet we have to counseling question why our water bills are so high. Now we have to question the purity of our water. After receiving the letter, it clearly indicates that people do read, is the drinking water safe? And how can we get a free lead test to make sure that we don't have lead poisoning? And this has been a past ongoing situation, and it seems that it will continue for 10 years more. BARRY BROWN of Detroit water sewer department made a comment about the touching of pipes by running the water for three to five minutes to run the water for three to five minutes daily, would increase the amount of water being used by Detroit residents anticipated eventually increasing of our water bill. Most importantly, it would have an effect on those programs that monitor the usage of water, such as wrap this year in April and May, a number of residents were having their water cut off because of the overages under the rapid program, you are allocated so much water at a certain rate, and any overages are one and a half times the regular rate flushing cannot be considered. I would like to also know, when do we have tours for certain stages of the water being processed? If so, can the public get information as to when the tour is occur so that we can attend. Lastly, we must make our Thank you.
Alright. Thank you, Miss Moore.
The next caller is Paul Chanel, neighbors from linsdale. President,
alright. Good morning.
Hi. Good morning, members of council. My name is Paul Chenault. I'm from District Six. I'm also president of my block club neighbors from linsdale. I'm just calling to continue to show my support for the solar program, and that is all I yield. Actually, I want to thank everyone for what they're doing City Council, as well as the residents for calling in and the residents who did come in to share their concerns, and I want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. I do yield my time now.
All right, thank you so much.
The next caller is Frank Hammer, right.
Good morning. Good
morning. Greetings the city council. I say thanks to Russ Belot. Warning earlier, please take him seriously. Last week, I brought to your attention us. House Bill 9495 the legislation is an attack on nonprofits. It was passed by the House last Thursday with 15 Democrats joining every Republican, but one next the Senate votes. If the Senate passes it, Trump will be empowered to yank the tanks exempt status of any nonprofit that he claims supports terrorism. The immediate target will be human rights groups that oppose the ongoing genocide in Gaza, like Jewish Voice for Peace and Michigan Coalition for human rights. But it won't end there. 300 organizations, including the NAACP, ACLU and my union, the UAW, succeeded in getting the Michigan democratic delegation to vote no. Five of them, including Sri tenidar, originally voted yes, but the outcry helped change their minds. We need Detroiters to demand Senator Stabenow and Peters to say no to Trump. If we fail, the consequences will be dire. I ask for the council's assistance. Thank you very much. Alright,
thank you Mr. Hammer.
The next caller is iPhone.
Alright. Good morning.
Good morning, Mary. Yes, you can alrighty. Thank you guys. My name is Whitney Clark. I'm calling in with the Detroit community coalition. We already have our boots on the ground, and we are supporting the winning candidates for this 2025, election. So whoever can hear me, whoever wants to run, whether you I know you're getting ready to announce whether or not you're running, Mr. President, but listen, we've got the strongest ground game. We've got the strongest ground game. We're going to be we got the strongest Coalition. We're planning to turn out 100,000 new voters. And once you reach out to our to our team, we're meeting every Wednesday, 933 West, Seven Mile. That's the oasis of hope. Churches right across from the Winans church. We have a robust platform. I can't tell you about it in a minute and a half, but what I can tell you is that we have the strongest ground game. And the margins for this upcoming election, they are going to be close, and so if you're considering running, we need to hear from you right now while everybody else is sitting on their hands, so that we can make sure that our platform aligns with one another. We can abolish the land bank. You know that right? We're we're we are getting ready to reimagine the future of this city. And so we need great thinkers. We need people that are bold, and we need people that are ready to win with the proven track record of doing the work in the city, and we're going to win the 2025 election. Detroit community coalition.
Alright. Thank you.
Next caller is phone number ending in 534,
caller, 534, good morning.
Yes, good morning may be heard. Yes, you can Well, President Sheffield, I'm very disappointed, because in January this year, I told you about the bad side lot situation with the land bank, about my neighbor, they presented incorrect information to you when we did meet some time ago, you said you get back with me, and all year long, you and your staff have not addressed this. And then Tammy Daniels said she was going to be transparent about the situation. And then she moved back towards lack of transparency, brought an attorney on, didn't go through the stuff she said she would, and so, you know, shame on the whole council for letting this land bank continue to do what it does. Also very disappointed about the solar text amendment. You're basically conspiring to take people's rights away. I see what this mayor does. He goes around, gets a few people, offers them something, and then they gang up against the other people, pretty much, because they're getting something against the people who are not cool with it. That's what happened with North End landing. The supporters are getting money. The people who don't want it are offered a crumbs of three grand of I don't even want them touching my house. So and then you're doing these incredible land swaps, like 16.34 61 parcels for only 39 parcels, like really. And then the way the ARPA money is being spent is just repulsive to me. The excessive demos are repulsive.
All right, thank you, Miss Warwick,
the next caller is call in, user two.
Can I be heard?
Yes, you can. Good morning.
Good morning. Happy Thanksgiving, Madam President, and to all Council. Thank you for the jobs that you do in our community. President, I would like, before you go on session, if your office can assist me with some minor things that you guys are going to be gone a month. I've not heard back from anybody from your office to assist me. And I'd like to know when is that going to change, Madam President, before you leave to go on break, can you please stop the heroin, fentanyl and drug selling out of my apartment complex that's in your district. I like to know what are you going to do to put a stop to this? I shouldn't have to keep asking for a year and a half time and nothing gets done. I've been very patient. I appreciate the work you've done, and I fully support you, and I do support you with number one vote for Mayor. Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving to you all
right. Same to you as well. Ms Shay, thank you so much.
Next caller is Bobby Johnson,
Happy Thanksgiving and happy holidays. One thing I do have a problem with is that the land bank is making homeless. They're down here. They're working with BC that Tammy Daniels is having people having the calling CPS, or threatening people to call CPS. We have a land bank home that's on plain view, and district seven and Franklin Park, they're out here threatening to put them out, giving them a three day violation, talking about, if they don't have things done in three days, they will put them out. There should be a moratorium on putting people out in the winter time, especially people with children. There should be no way that the land bank or any city entity should come in and threaten anybody with CPS or taking their children or just harassing them. This land bank is a scam. I want to know where the money goes from the land bank. I also want to know how many people on council, their family or anybody else has bought, has bought houses from the land Bay. We need some transparency, because if you guys aren't willing to do something about the land bank, there's a reason why you're not willing to do I want to know where this money is going to how we're swapping land, how the city is getting screwed while you guys are sitting up there. If you can't do this and you can't take care of this, then we don't need you as mayor, because if you can't handle the job at city council, you surely can't handle the job as being the mayor of the city of Detroit.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Our next caller is married aculan Mary Jacqueline K Mully,
alright, good morning. Morning. Can
you hear me?
Yes, we can.
Good morning. My name is Mary Jacqueline Mully. Mully. I live in district one. The reason for my comment today is to urge you all to consider appropriating the remaining CBD GDR funds for home repair throughout Detroit as a registered nurse and as an aspiring nurse scientist, I can assure you that the effects of living in homes affected by flooding and mold are negatively affecting the health of our residents. Mitigation to our homes is essential as it ensures safety for our families. This allocation is the most responsible action this council can make. You cannot put a healthy body in an unhealthy home and expected surprise, we're going on four years since the flooding disaster of 2021 with no meaningful recovery to the damage of our homes. And the World Health Organization's report on climate change at COP 2120 29 last week in Baku, urged us all to be vigilant in how we address emergency preparedness and even designated health as the argument for climate change. I would be remiss not to mention the tireless work of the Detroit disaster recovery group, of whom I collaborate with the collaboration of Councilwoman Johnson and Pro Tem for their efforts, thank you for your time. That is all
right. Thank you.
Next caller is mik a Williams.
Williams, Good morning.
Hi. Good morning, Council, Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you enjoy your recess and get some time off. You really worked hard this year. Thank you. But I want to call this morning to denounce the news of the rinsing of the two towers being torn down.
Absolutely not. Hell no,
unacceptable, and it should be rejected as soon as they hit this table. You know, I keep saying that how monopoly works.
You know,
GM is wrong for getting money from the city of Detroit and then going to move under bedrock, which they're going to combine their profits. And then also, remember when people made the news yesterday, you heard people commenting and such. They're not Detroiters. They're Russian trolls and bots. They're not even really invested in the city. But you could develop and redevelop the rinsing. You could put a major corporate Overlord in there, move their employees in, contribute to the tax base. And then also you can make the hotel and convention space around downtown Detroit and make it a harbor town of restaurants, shops and businesses to attract worldwide talent. Here, I don't understand tearing things down and continuing to make a space, and then you beg for more money. We don't have money as it is right now. So this may be a half cooked idea, but it should be rejected as soon as it hit this table. Thank you so much. Have
a great holiday.
Thank you so much. Mister Williams,
the next caller is Karen hammer.
Aaron hammer, good morning,
good morning. I want to also thank Council for the hard work they've done all year. I do think that the priorities, especially going forward, have been what they've always been. And I think the it's disgusting to say that the remaining ARPA money should be to subsidize the solar scheme. It should go first for the public schools, as the former commentator said, also for the right to Council funding completed for render renters rights, housing for incomes under $40,000 home repair, as the lady referred to, but not only for mitigation, but For seniors and other citizens and victims of floods, make the over taxed homeowners whole and make sure that water is available for everybody, regardless of their income. And there are many issues that I have spoken to over the course of this year, and I think Detroit would be best served by addressing the population that exists now and that they we no longer further making more people Homeless.
Thank you,
right. Thank you, Miss Hamburg
the next caller is C Allen Hubbard, PhD,
good morning.
Good morning. Madam President, this is a follow up from last week's proposal I sent over I've been in conversations with Councilman young the second, and just wanted to follow up and to make note of the amendment to the subject line, I added four additional HS to make nine HS in The proposal, and that is just as simply to underscore that we're talking about at least nine digits, which is a billion dollars. And what we're proposing is a simple way to ensure that all of the concerns that we have as citizens of Detroit are consistent with with the creative genius that comes from within. And what we're proposing is consistent with just that. That starts with the rules of the state of Michigan that allows us to do the work of nonprofits and to also offer stock shares as we do that. And the proposal is essentially to use that loophole in the Michigan State law and to create two indexes and allow us to benefit from that. I'm going to yield the floor for nine seconds to underscore the importance of the next billion dollar decision that we have make as a city council so
All right. Thank you so much.
We are now back to two callers who did not respond the first time. The first caller is Mike Duggan. Is the worst mayor in Detroit history.
Okay, good morning. You
Hello, hello.
Can you hear me? Yes, we do have some feedback.
Okay, we got some feedback, but I'm going to go ahead under, under Mike Duggan administration, black Detroiters are poor and sicker and less politically powerful. Under this administration, Mike Duggan has stolen $600 million and illegally foreclosed 100,000 homes. It's the reason the black homelessness. Loss of black generational wealth is the reason for the affordable housing crisis affecting black Detroiters. Duggan had Fred deer Hall and Coleman junior to lobby Lansing to implement another illegal tax, the land value tax. Lansing voted against this three times, and Duggan is back again for it again. Vote No one. No more money for the billionaires to tear down the Renaissance Center enough claw back the Hudson deal, President Sheffield, you need to lobby Lansing to change the law that prevents us from being paid back our $600 million Thank you. Member Callaway for working for the people. You're the only one who has been paid by this administration. We want, we want independent city council members, if you're not going to work for us, resign now. We need you to work for the people of Detroit, not for Mike Duggan, not for the illegit and and the men who are sitting there now who voted against the property tax reform ordinance. You need to go. Don't, don't vote again on anything else. Member, member, Benson, you need to find out why.
Thank you.
And the last caller who had raised their hand before you would cross public comment. Marguerite, Scarlet Maddox,
good morning. Good morning.
Good morning, so that that's that I could not get to the phone.
I have silly
right now,
because there is no
number one, Number one, number two is, Do not tear down south.
But he will
but he was who was downtown, downtown, played downtown And and another concern is that who officer,
not licensed, to make sure that it only disciplinary action and Action stop. Remember this year,
we are number one Long Detroit we are long
Detroiters.
He
to the New Year, faith, hope, peace, love,
just until something happened to happened about yesterday, Congress, we really we need to figure out a way to make sure that Whoever produces if
we hold them accountable to thank You. Happy
holidays. Thank you. God. Bless everyone. I'm okay,
all right. Thank you so much. Miss Maddox, and that will conclude our general public comment for this morning. We will now return to our agenda from the Office of contracting and procurement for the internal operations standing committee.
Madam President, we do have items for the budget standing committee. Madam President,
for the budget, Finance and Audit, standing committee,
Council Member durhall for resolutions, line items, 14.1, through 14.4 all our various contracts for various city departments. First up is contract number 6006768, next contract is contract number 6006827 next contract is contract number 6006804 next contract is contract number 6006802 council member durha for resolutions.
Thank you, Madam Clerk. Council member durha, thank you, Madam
President. Move approval for line items 14.1, through 14.4
any any objections on these items? Hearing no objections before resolutions will be approved.
Request a waiver for line item 14.1, through 14.4
any objections to a waiver hearing, none that action will be taken from the Office of Development and grants. Council
Member durha, a resolution noting that this line item was reported out of the budget financing on a standing committee without recommendation.
Member durha, thank you,
Madam President, move for discussion for line item 14.5 which is a resolution of authorization to provide for the full obligation of funding from the state and local fiscal recovery fund under the American rescue plan act.
Discussion, thank you, Madam
President, I wanted to have the opportunity to open it up for discussion. If colleagues had any questions.
All right, any questions or discussion on this resolution. We talked about it a little bit briefly in our committee of a whole, and I know it was discussed in budget Finance and Audit as well, regarding the authority for the administration to move forward with extending some contracts while we're on recess because of deadlines.
Discussion, discussion.
Council member Johnson, thank
you, Madam President. Is there anyone who can speak to the resolution? I'm really trying to understand how after December 31 20, $24 can be reprogrammed.
Okay, if we can have someone, Mr. Washington, please come on for this item. Yes, good
morning, Madam Chair and Committee, Miss Dotto Meyer is about to join right now.
Okay, thank you. I
and through the chair, we also have Terry Daniels online.
All right, we will promote, I think you said Terry Daniels, we will promote Terry Daniels.
Okay and miss out of Meyer. We do not see online yet. I
will notify miss, bless him, while she throws.
Can all right, Miss Terry Daniels, good morning. I will turn it back over to council member Johnson who had a question regarding the resolution before us.
Thank you, Madam President. I am looking to get an understanding of how this process moves forward after December 31 2024 considering that funds are required to be obligated by December 20, December 31 2024 how are we able to reprogram dollars after that date?
Good morning. Terry Daniels, Deputy CFO development grants through the chair. So this resolution is to allow us to keep these funds obligated through 1231, 24 so that they can carry over. If we don't keep them obligated, we will lose them the in order to use these funds after January, or continue with these contracts, if there are any excess funds, we are able to reprogram them into existing obligations with city council approval
and thank you through madam president to you. So that means that essentially, what we saw over the last several weeks where ARPA dollars were reprogrammed, we can continue doing that after December 31 as long as the dollars are being reprogrammed for an existing program, does it have to be funded by currently funded by ARPA
through the chair. So that is correct. It has to be an existing ARPA contract or obligation.
Okay? And lastly, what? What expectation can we have of you all, relative to how the dollars are reprogrammed, if need be after December 31 2024
through the chair, that will be Council's decision of how they want the excess funds reprogrammed.
And I previously indicated that I had challenged with the way the contracts were presented to council without it was just individual contracts. Essentially, we had no advance notice that the dollars were being reprogrammed. Is that how we are planning to move forward in the future?
For the chair, Terry, I can answer this question through the Chair. I'm Tanya star, my chief deputy, CFO, and what we're proposing to do is to come back to council at least on a quarterly basis, if not more often, so that we can let you know ahead of time when we've identified additional dollars. So you won't be seeing it for the first time when we bring a contract before you, you will actually know prior to that, because we're going to bring reports to you. We'll meet with you at least quarterly, so that you know when we've discovered excess bonds, so that you can make a decision or be part of that decision making in terms of how we use those funds.
Okay, thank you. Thank you, Madam President.
All right. Thank you. Council member Johnson, any additional questions on the resolution? All right. Member durha, Move for approval. Thank you, Madam
President, Move for approval for line item 14.5
right. Are there any objections? Hearing no objections. The one resolution would be
approved request a waiver for line item 14.5
any objections to a waiver hearing, none that action will be taken from the City Planning Commission.
Council Member durha, a resolution line item 14.6
council member durha, thank you, Madam
President. Move for a brief discussion for line item 14.6 line item 14.6,
all right, discussion. Thank
you, Madam President. Just wanted the opportunity to discuss briefly. This is to set the public hearing for the proposed capital agenda 2026, there are some key points obviously in the timeline that I wanted to be able to articulate. November 1 would be the submission of the proposed capital agenda, body, administration, the 13th of November, the initial review was to begin in budget, Finance and Audit standing committee. December 5, the administration, LPD and CPC will present a preliminary analysis. January 8, is the recommendation when the public hearing be set during the first bn, B FNA meeting after recess. January 14, the council submits questions and requests recommendations from the planning director, starting the 30 day response period. February 13, the administration responds to council requests. February 25 the final approval of the agenda is recommended during formal session. And March 1 is the deadline for council approval. And if not acted upon, the agenda is automatically approved. So they want to have the opportunity to outline that. With that, Madam President, I move to set a public hearing for line item 14.6 for January the eighth, 2025,
any objections, hearing none the one resolution will be approved under resolutions,
Council Member Benson a resolution, line item 14.7,
Council Member Benson,
Move for approval.
Motion has been made for approval. This is an extension of the deadline under pa 147 of 1992 for the brush eight. Development, any objections. Hearing, no objections. The one resolution will be approved. Trust the waiver. Any objections to a waiver? Hearing none. A waiver will be attached to this item. Madam
President, request a waiver for line item 14.6 as well.
Hearing no objection, a waiver will be attached to 14.6 for the internal operations standing committee from the Office of contracting and procurement. Council
member Johnson for resolutions noting that line items 15.2 was reported out of the internal operations standing committee without recommendation, and line items 15.3 and 15.4 were submitted in East scribe as amended contracts, Madam President, first up is contract number 6006695 next contract is contract number 6001570 dash a, three. Next contract is contract number 6005591 dash a, one, next contract is contract number 6005681,
Council Member Johnson, five resolutions, Four resolutions, my apologies. All
right, thank you, Madam Clerk. Council member Johnson,
thank you,
Madam President. I believe there's a request to remove line item 15.4 from the agenda. Motion.
All right, is there any objections to remove line item 15.4, all right. Discussion. Member young,
I don't mean to put you on the spot. I just wanted to ask, Was there a reason why we're removing this
from the agenda at all
through you, Madam President, to Attorney Anderson,
through the chair, Graham Anderson law department, through the chair to council member young it was recommended that we knew no longer move forward with this contractor for this specific expertise, we found a new specialist that will be Moving forward with instead.
So what's wrong with the specials we have now? There's
a conflict of interest now,
no
said, Thank you. Thank you. All
right, Hearing no objections, we will remove line item 15.4 from the agenda. Council member Johnson, thank you, Madam
President. Move for approval on line item 15.1
any objections to 15.1
Hearing no objections that one resolution will be approved. Council member Johnson,
thank you, Madam President, I'd like to request a waiver for line item 15.1
Hearing no objections. A waiver will be attached to 15.1 objection. You do object? I'm sorry, okay. Council member Callaway does object, so no waiver will be attached to 15.1 council member Johnson,
thank you, Madam President, Move for approval. Online items, 15.2 and 15.3
All right, any discussion on these two items? All right, hearing no discussion. Any objections.
Objection, Madam Chair, Council Member Callaway, online item, 15.3
the clerk would know. Clerk was so. Note,
Madam President,
any further objections? Hearing no further objections. The two resolutions will be approved from the law department council
member Johnson, 13 resolutions, line items, 15.5 through 15 point 17.
Council member Johnson, thank
you, Madam President, Move for approval. These are various lawsuit settlement requests and requests for legal represent, legal representation and indemnification. Speak Alright,
a motion has been made. Any objections? Objection, alright, we'll start with member Young.
Member young objects the line of 15 point 13 and 15 point 16, and
if the clerk would know President Sheffield, 15 point 13 and 15 point 16.
Member Johnson, objection 15 point 13 and 15 point 16.
Member Santiago Romero, objection 15 point 1315, point 1415, point 1515, point 1615, point 17.
Madam, President. Member Santiago, remember, could you please repeat your numbers? Yes,
objection to 15 point 13 through 15 point 17.
Um waters, objection to 15 point 13 and 15 point 16.
Madam, Chair. Member Calloway,
Council Member Calloway objects to line item 15 point 13 through 15 point 17. Pro Temp, tape
my president show me. Council President, pro tem no on line items, 15 point 16 and 15 point 14, please.
The clerk would know
request, sorry. Madam President, you can show me a no online out of 15 point 13 as well as 16,
the clerk will note. And Madam Clerk, do we
have a so no? Madam President, I'm sure online I know 15 point 13 and 15 point 16 as failed items.
Those two items fail, and the remaining resolutions will be approved from the Human Resources, compensation and classification administration.
Council member Johnson to resolutions line items 15 point 18 through 15 point 19.
Council member Johnson, thank you, Madam
President, Move for approval on line items 15 point 18 and 19. These are request to amend the official compensation schedule for line item 15 point 18, it is for the Director of Digital Inclusion, which is a new position, and for line item 15 point 19, it is for the intelligence specialists.
Any objections? Discussion, discussion council member, Santiago Romero,
thank you, Madam President. Would it be possible for us to hear a little bit more about what these roles would do? Interested to hear what the Director of Digital Inclusion will be responsible for,
Mr. Washington, we have someone come on to the east for 15 point 18
through the chair. If you could give me just a moment, I do not see my representative at this time. Okay.
So for both items, 15 point 18 and 15 point 19. Mr. Washington, if we can have someone, come on. You're muted. Mr. Washington, my apologies,
Madam Chair, I was on the phone with the department. Um, yes, for 15 point 19. We have Katrina Patillo online. Okay, and I'm still waiting for the Rep for item 15 point 18.
Okay, so
Mr. Washington, do we have Yes, through the chair it I'm not sure Miss Patillo is not accepting, and she's not accepting, okay, Madam Chair, we can bring these back towards the end.
Okay,
right? Colleagues, there's any objection to move these both to the end of the agenda. All right, Hearing no objections, we will move 15 point 18 and 15 point 19 to the end of the agenda. President, yes,
I do apologize. I do believe that I missed one of my objections. I don't think it's going to change the vote, but I do want to be put on the record. Okay, for line item 15 point 13, Motion to reconsider the vote for line item 15 point 13, please.
Okay any objections to reconsidering the vote, hearing none that action will be taken, and if we can move forward now, Council Member Johnson, again for 15 point 13, motion to approve. Motion has been made for approval. Are there any objection? Objection,
Objection,
Objection, Objection, pro temp Tate
President Sheffield,
rejection, Councilman Scott Benson. Objection
member, young members,
San Diego, Romero, Objection, objection.
Member Johnson, Objection,
objection. Calloway,
so that Madam President, that item fails. That's all nine. Nos, okay, that
resolution does fail.
Madam Chair, yes, yes. Miss Matilda. Matilda did not see the notification she is available for 15 point 19, if you want to take it up. Now, okay,
we will try to promote her now.
She keeps denying the request. I'm not sure. Okay,
Madam Chair, we will postpone it to the end.
Okay, all right, we will come back to those items from the Human Resources Department, Labor Relations Division,
Council Member Johnson a resolution noting that this line item was postponed from last week formal session. Line item 15 point 20. Council member Johnson, one resolution.
Council member Johnson, thank
you, Madam President. Move for approval on line item 15 point 20. This is memorandums of understanding modifying certain retirement benefits for Detroit command Officers Association, Detroit lieutenants and sergeants Association, Detroit Police Officers Association and Detroit Firefighters Association.
Right a motion has been made. Are there any objections to the resolution? Hearing no objections. The one resolution will be approved a request for a waiver for 15 point 20, okay, Hearing no objections, a waiver will be attached to 15 point
under resolutions recommendations for the tenant spice commission.
All right, and we can move for discussion. I see Miss Ernie Barclay is here with us.
Discussion,
all right. Discussion, thank you. Council member Johnson, Attorney Barclays, go right ahead.
Good morning. What you have before you are recommendations for the tenants rights commission. This commission is a bit different in terms of the appointment process. You have four appointments on this board, two of them must be active renters. So what we've done is identified the special demographics that are pointed out within the ordinance. Additionally, the ordinance requires you to have varied types of representation within the on the board. It's the entire board, so it doesn't they don't all have to be fulfilled within your appointments, but that includes a young adult renter, that includes a senior citizen, renter, and it also includes a don't one second Ada, a student, oh, and an 80 Ada, or a disabled, a person from this disabled community. So what we have done is on the ballots, identified any particular demographics that have been outlined in the in the ordinance alongside the name, so that you would know who can fulfill those requirements. So there are four you get four appointments, and then there's a fifth appointment. There's a joint appointment for with the mayor. So what, what you are choosing on the ballot is five names, four of those, which is the highest vote getters, will be appointed by your body, and the fifth name will be recommended to the mayor's office for a joint recommendation. The
fifth as far as the ranking, gets far the highest vote. So that would be the one appointed to the mayor. Yes. She said, Yes. You said, No,
well, yeah, if I may,
we
had a conversation with the administration, and we agreed on a joint appointment that will be approved by this by this body. Because, remember, it has to be a joint appointment, and then the administration needed to be on board with whoever that is, and so that person is, is on this ballot. And if you don't mind, I'll just, I'll just tell you who that is. The Josephine Ramon, she's from district two. Ramon, yeah, Mm, hmm. She She is the one that we agreed with the administration to be a joint appointment. I can also tell you that Mary Cox can be removed. She has been appointed already by the administration
discussion. Thank you. Member waters, Council Member Benson, just
if it's a joint appointment, do we need to vote for Miss Raymond, or is that Ramon?
For Miss Ramon? Ms, you would still need to. We have resolutions for the joint appointment, so what you would need to do is still vote for her to be approved as your joint appointment. So since that name has already been chosen, what we can do is just modify the resolution to indicate that the joint appointment for the attendance right commission is Miss Ramon, and we can go from there and then, on your balance, what you would do is choose four individuals instead of five, so that they can be appointed to the Be Your representation on the on the Commission, which
would also mean with her name, should not be selected on this one, if she's our
joint that is correct, right? Okay, so two names are going to be removed, Mary Cox and Josefina Ramon, Miss
Cox and Miss Ramon, yes.
Okay, so we are to select four names, but you another resolution for us so that we can do the joint appointment for Miss Ramon. Yes. Okay, we're selecting four individuals, and just to be clear, two of them have to be active renters. Yes, they do. So we have to select two for sure that are active renters. Thank you.
Well, I'd like to point out a couple other things, brand
new member waters,
we have to have a senior citizen, and as she mentioned, someone from the disability community as well, and a single mom, single parent. That's all outline in the ordinance.
The body does have to have that representation, but your body does not have to fulfill necessarily, all of those requirements. So, so as long as within the the not, well, yeah, the nine members on the board that want at least one is a senior, at least one is a senior citizen, one is a student, one is a young renter, and one is a disabled person, then that will fulfill the requirements of the ordinance. Okay, because you have four appointments and that's more than four categories, so they may be fulfilled within the mayor's appointments also through
you. Madam Chair, yes, I was just a little confused, simply because we did outline specific things in the audience. I just want to make sure that we do it, that we do it right. That's That's why I mentioned those categories. So no, you're saying that. Okay, not necessarily, is what you're saying.
No, those have all of those four categories have to be on the board, okay. However, those four appointments don't have to be your four appointments. There are nine appointments to the board. I get it, yeah, so I just wanted to make that clear.
Okay, gotcha. I don't know who's a single parent that the mayor appointed. I don't know that their background, but you know, so
on the in the ordinance, though, that I did not see a requirement that a single parent be on the board. I thought it was, am I wrong? So I didn't. What I did see was a student. Well, if a young person, a senior citizen and a disabled individual, okay,
alright,
okay, yes, yeah, through the chair. So how do we know where the senior citizen is that's not listed? Only thing that's listed on the form that I have is active renter and disability and student slash active renter. Where's the senior citizen? So if we're supposed to have these individual categories, they're not on this form, they're not listed. So we don't know who is the senior who's not.
I don't know who's a senior who was not either. I can only go by the recommendations that have been provided to our office. So the recommendations come from your honorable body. Yeah, and think all of them, those were the 10 individuals that were recommended for appointment.
So member waters, do you know who our senior citizens that are on the list? I do.
Denisha Davis is one, and who's the other member, Johnson, there's one more.
Madam President. It was Mary Cox. So it would have been Constance Bailey. Mary Cox and denisia Davis were the scenery, but we've crossed out Mary Cox because she's already been appointed by the administration. And
what I would point out with that information is that there is, is an appointment that's a senior citizen on the board. So your body isn't required to appoint a senior citizen because they there is one on the boat, on the body Currently,
there's already one currently, sir, yeah, because Mary Cox
is a senior fan, she
has already been issued. Okay, that's it.
Well, there maybe I better not. No, I don't know. Is it okay to uplift anybody's name, or is that not right? I don't want to break any rules.
I didn't hear your question,
if I wanted to uplift the name of a senior citizen, am I able to do that? Is that against the rules? I mean, am I doing something I should not do? Yeah, you can. I
don't think it's wrong. No,
there's nothing wrong with that. Okay, I just, no, it isn't I would. I'm just trying to provide some clarity on the process. That's why. So there only has to be one senior there. There can also be more than one senior. So if you want to identify additional people who are seniors, that's fine. I'm just trying to clarify that since there is a senior already appointed within your appointments, it doesn't require you to appoint a senior. Okay, so I
want to tell you, you all about one senior, and I don't know if you had an opportunity to review the videos or not, but her background is just absolutely great for the mission of this tenants rights commission. And that's danisha Davis, who currently is the she represent maybe about 2020, different senior buildings, and she's kind of all already helping people to set up their tenant councils. She comes with a wealth of knowledge, someone that's always been doing the work, who understands things at the state, federal and local levels. And so I wanted to uplift her name as she would be a tremendous asset to this body,
right?
Thank you. Member waters, member Calloway And Madam Chair, there's
a Michelle Renee Swain, second name from the bottom. She has not only been a active renter, but an active landlord, and has been involved in the community in district two for a couple decades now. So she understands both sides, from a landlord's perspective, because she owns properties and also from a renters perspective, and she understands the law regarding both. So I would hope that my colleagues will also give her some consideration. Her name is Michelle Renee Swain, and has been a real estate agent and broker for number of decades in in Detroit and in district two. Thank you so much,
right? Thank you. Member Calloway, right? So ballots are people. We can all turn in our ballots if we have them ready to Okay,
yep. Remember young Uh, thank
you, Mayor, President.
I would just like to uplift and, uh, please encourage everybody. We hope everybody voted for, uh, Josefina Ramon, my pick. She is smart, cable, talented, gifted, brilliant, I think she's an active renter. Uh, she's a passionate, inspiring young woman. I hope everyone would
she will be your joint appointment with the mayor. Oh, it's already done. Oh, well, they
all just say it anyway. Okay, cover my bases here. I
just
want to make sure, wanna make sure everything's
okay. Number one, yeah,
make sure now. Okay,
alright, so we would all turn in our ballots.
Okay, alright, let me
you're gonna go redo another ballot now for the joint Are you gonna go do the ballot for the joint appointment? Now we don't
need a ballot for the joint appointment. I've amended the resolution to disappoint her as the joint appointment.
All right. Okay, yes.
Okay. Thank you.
Oh, I didn't put my name on it. Sorry. Just
Thank You.
Madam President, we have the totals okay for Constance Bailey Council President, Sheffield council member young, that's two votes for Denisha Davis, Council Member Benson council president Sheffield council member Johnson, Council Member Whitfield Callaway council member waters council member durha council member Young, Council Member Santiago Romero, that's eight votes for joy Letha good one. Council member Johnson, council president pro tem Tate, that's two votes for Jamie Jr. Council member Benson, council president Sheffield council member Johnson, Council Member Whitfield Callaway council president pro tem Tate. Council member waters, Council Member durhall, Council Member Santiago Romero that's eight votes for Tanisha Sanders, Council Member Benson, council president Sheffield council member Johnson, Council Member Whitfield Callaway council president pro tem Tate council member durha council member young Council Member Santiago Romero, that's eight votes for Sherry Smith. Council member Benson, Council Member waters, Council Member durhall That's three votes for Michelle Renee Swain, Council Member Whitfield Callaway, Council Member waters that's two votes for Rachel adabi, council president, pro tem Tate council member, young council member, Santiago Romero, that's three votes. Danisha Davis, Jamie Junior Sanders, all have eight votes. Sherry Smith and Rachel Adobe are tied at three votes each.
So what would happen now is that the the three individuals who already have received a majority vote will be appointed to the body. However, with the forced to see there's two options. Either you can take all of the remaining names and revote them and determine from the remaining names who you want to appoint, or we can take the two individuals who have three votes together and appoint from those two. So you still need a re ballot either way, but it's your choice whether you want to put all the names back in the hat, or if you want to just do the two individuals who received three votes, just the two, just the two
that had the highest vote, the two tied votes. I should say that's everyone's okay with that. Okay? So yeah, we can go back to that as you could just repeat the two names that were tied
so best president. Oh, go ahead.
Sherry Smith and Rachel udavi, I remember you pronouncing her name wrong.
Sherry Smith and udavi. Rachel udavi, okay,
but those are Sherry Smith, thank
you. Rachel udavi And Sherry Smith.
Sherry Smith, yeah, and Rachel udavi are the two that we're voting for at this time. Sherry Smith, I I'd like to speak to that. Alrighty. Hand member waters, alright.
So thank you. Um, since we're down to to two votes to two people for the for the last seat, I'd like to uplift Sherry Smith, who's an absolutely excellent interview and iOS, uh, she's a single mother. And those of you who didn't, who did not have an opportunity to listen to her. I invite you to listen to her. She She certainly has a lot to offer. I know who Miss Rachel you die is I appointed her to the Planning Commission, which is where she is right now. And so I'm asking for an opportunity for Sherry Smith to serve on this tennis Rights Commission, the single mother.
Thank you Madam Madam chair member Santiago Ramiro,
thank you, Madam President, as and as member waters just mentioned. Rachel is already doing incredible work with the CPC. So really encourage folks to continue to listen to her ideas and the solutions that she has for renters and many of the other issues that beach traders are dealing with every single day, both seem like really good options, but had to say as well, my encouragement and support for Rachel,
Council Member, member young,
we can only vote one. Right?
You can only vote for it before we conclude the votes. I do need to point out something also, that within the individuals you've already chosen, only one of them is an active renter. So within the next appointment, it has to be an active renter that just noticed that. So I don't know if you want to just still choose between those individual individuals, which only have one of them is an active renter, or if you want to put
them all back I gave my sheet so the two people that you mentioned are not active renter appointment. Oh, rachel is an active renter. She is okay.
If based on the information, I can't say whether Miss Smith is an active renter or not. I can only base it off the information that I was provided from the from iOS. And the information I was provided was that Rachel was an active renter, and it was the information was absent with regard to Miss Smith. Miss Smith,
Madam President, yes.
Member Johnson,
thank you. I do just want to clarify. So during the interview with Sherry Smith, she did indicate that she is currently a renter. Okay,
okay, so we choose her that would she would be fine to qualify for the second additional active renter.
Yes, well, if that's the case, both of them are active renters, and both of them would fulfill your requirements of the ordinance. Okay?
Pro Tem, my
question is, there we go. I think we've been made aware that Miss Josefina, she is also an active renter, So wouldn't that, but she's your joint. Even though it's a joint that would not qualify, it does not
both the mayor and the council gets four appointees, and then there's a joint appointee within the four that both the mayor and the council gets. Two of those must be active renters, which is the next which has nothing to do with the joint appointment.
Thank you.
I think everyone has turned their ballots in, and we will wait for the clerk. Madam President, we
have the votes in. Okay for Sherry Smith, Council Member Benson, Council Member Johnson, council president, Sheffield council member Whitfield, Callaway council member durhall council member young council member waters, that's seven votes for Rachel Davi. Council Member Santiago Romero, council president pro tem Tate, that's two votes. Madam President Sherry Smith has the most votes, which is seven for the fourth appointment.
All right, she will move forward with as the fourth appointment to the tenants rights commission. That
is correct. Okay,
so Madam Clerk, can you just read off the four names again, and we can move for approval for the four names that have been listed for line item 15 point 22 Yes, Madam
President, the four names to be appointed to the tennis right commission. Our Denisha Davis, Jamie Junior, Sanders and Sherry Smith. All right. Council member Johnson, a resolution right. Council
member Johnson,
thank you, Madam President, Move for approval.
Alright. Are there any objections for the appointment to the tenant rights commission? Hearing no objections before names will be approved for the tenant rights commission.
First waiver,
a waiver has been requested, and Hearing no objections that action will be taken for the Planning and Economic Development Standing Committee under unfinished business council,
President Pro Tem James Tate, an ordinance noting a roll call line item 16.1, and also noted that this line item was postponed from last week formal session.
President Pro Temp Tate and President
through you to the clerk's office, just to make sure, did I read this one already? Think I did?
Yes, you did. Proto,
okay, yeah.
Did a lot of reading last week. Madam President,
I move
so to put on the record last week, I did move the ordinance be placed on the order of third reading and considered red. And so today I move that the ordinance be passed as submitted,
right and before we move you want to speak? Okay, before we move forward? Dr powers, did want to speak about something, so go right ahead. Dr powers, yes, please, if you could please speak into the microphone. I
um, Yes, Madam President, there appears to be some confusion relative to the number of votes required for the approval of an ordinance. An ordinance is like any other motion. It only requires a majority of those present. So if there are only five members present and three vote in favor of the ordinance, it would be passed. The confusion has come up because of the way the bolded words are. It makes it sound as if six votes are required for the passage of the ordinance, and that's incorrect. It's it needs to be reworded so that it's clearer. The Six votes are required under the charter for immediate effect. So if it passes by five votes, it can't take immediate effect. It needs six according to the charter. And then, of course, the third issue is when it becomes effective, and that's upon publication, and a certain date. I hope that clears it up, but no ordinance requires six votes for approval.
Thank you so much, Doctor powers, and we're working with the clerk's office to amend the the agenda is moving forward to reflect that. So that is to say six votes. It'll just say a majority is needed, and then six votes for immediate effect of the ordinance,
Madam Chair,
just put majority majority. Okay, perfect.
Gotcha member
Calloway, yeah,
thank you Madam Chair and thank you doctor powers. I requested clarification on this point last week, because I see what it says, But if what it says is not what's met by what it says, I understand it. So I thank you for the clarification, and it's going to edify everybody on this Council. Thank you so much. All right, thank you.
Member. Calloway, yes.
All right. Is
there any discussion on the proposed ordinance that is before us? Proton Tate has moved it.
Yes. Madam Chair, yes. Discussion, yes. Discussion, so thank you, Madam Chair, I will be a no on this ordinance in July of 2024 Detroit City Council approved several resolutions concerning three solar farm projects. These decisions are final, and the three solar farms will be constructed as planned on Tuesday, November the 26th Detroit City Council will consider a proposed solar farm zoning ordinance that will set the standards for private and governmental solar farms. The ordinance treats private solar farms differently than governmental solar farms, raising concerns about the rational basis for treating the two groups differently. The proposed solar farm ordinance will open the city of Detroit to civil litigation by any private solar farm investor seeking to build a solar farm in any residential area in the city. This is a serious concern, and the reason for my no vote on this proposed zoning ordinance, and I have a copy for the clerk. Thank you so much, so much, Madam Chair, thank
you so much. Member Calloway, any additional discussion on this item? All right, Hearing no objections. Excuse me, there being a roll call required. Will the clerk please call the roll council president
pro tem Tate Yes. Council member Mary waters,
yes.
Council member Angela Whitfield, Callaway, no. Council member Coleman Young Yes. Council President Mary Sheffield, yes. Council member Scott Benson, yes. Council member Fred durhau, the third Yes. Council member Leticia Johnson, yes. Council member, Gabriella Santiago Romero, no. Madam President, seven yeas and two Nays. This motion passes right.
The ordinance is approved. President, pro temp Tate
President, I move, Madam President, I move that the title of the ordinance be confirmed,
Hearing no objections that action will be taken. Thank you. Colleague. Under unfinished business
discussion,
Yes,
Madam President, this point of information, we do have a a lunch for the colleagues today. So we have a long session, and the lunch has been delivered, and there is warm food as well. So we'll need to make a decision at a certain point when we will break. And there is food available for the public as well, but we do have to prioritize who can eat in the certain order, and so we'll need to make a decision at what time that break will occur. Here this FYI, alright.
Thank you so much. Kim, yes. Member young,
would the good member like to tell us what he has provided in terms of food to eat, and can we have a motion for a break to eat that food right now?
For sure, discussion or
so, we
have selected for a healthier option with low carbs and high protein for those who eat as such and for those who do not eat protein, there was an option for you as well.
Alright. Oh, hi, colleagues.
Is there? Do we want to try to get through more of the agenda now? Or do you all want to more of the agenda? Yeah, okay. People want to continue
more discussion. Do we have a natural breaking point when we adjourning. Me, I was trying
to get through most of the agenda to see so I think if we get to about two o'clock, 132
o'clock, understand there's warm food, and by that time, it will no longer be
warm. It's the will of the body. It sounds like some people wanted to get through most of the agenda, so I'm just letting, let's continue, and then we can check back in at about maybe 130 just
educating people. There is warm food wherever. Okay,
thank you so much. Member Benson, all right, we're now moved to under unfinished business council,
President Pro Tem James Tate, an ordinance noting a roll call, line items, 16.2
President Pro Temp Tate, Madam
President, I move to take from the table and ordinance to amend chapter 50 of the 2019 Detroit city code zoning by amending article 17 zoning district maps, Section 50. Dash 17. Dash 43 district map number 41 to revise the zoning classification for the five parcels, generally located on the west side of junction Avenue, between eldritch and Christian C streets, commonly known as 1503150915171521
and 1545 junction Avenue, from the r2 to family, residential district zoning classification to the b1 restricted business district zoning classification laid on the table. October 24 2024
Hearing no objections that action will be taken. Pro Temp Tate, Madam
President, I move that the ordinance be placed on the order of third reading and considered read
Hearing no objections that action will be taken. President Pro Temp Tate,
I move that the ordinance be passed as submitted. There being a roll call required with
the clerk. Please call the roll
council member Whitfield, Callaway council member young Yes. Council President, Sheffield, yes. Council member Benson, yes. Council Member durhall, yes. Council member Johnson, yes. Council Member Santiago Romero, yes. Council President, pro temp Tate, yes.
Council member waters, yes, nine yeas, That motion passes. Madam President,
the ordinance is approved. President, pro temp Tate
Madam President, I move that the title of the ordinance be confirmed, Hearing no objections
that action will be taken under unfinished business
council. President, pro tem James Tate, an ordinance noting a roll call line item 16.3 Pro Temp Tate,
Madam President, I move to take from the table an ordinance to amend chapter 50 of the 2019 Detroit city code zoning by amending article 17 zoning district maps, Section 50, dash 17, dash eight district map number seven, to revise The zoning classification for certain properties, commonly known as 149815, 149815061510151615241528153415401546
and 1556 ferry Park and also 26482650, and 2658, West Grand Boulevard, from the existing r2, two family residential district and the B for general business district. Zoning classifications to the SD two, special development district, mix zoning, mixed use zoning classification to allow for the expansion of the mold town museum laid on the table. October 24 2024
hearing, no objections that action will be taken. Pro Temp Tate, Madam
President, I move that the ordinance be placed on the order of third reading and considered read.
Hearing, no objections that action will be taken. Pro Temp Tate,
I move that the ordinance be passed as submitted. There being a roll call required. Would
the clerk please call the roll? Council member waters Yes. Council member Whitfield, Callaway Yes. Council member young Yes. Council President, Sheffield Yes, Council Member Benson Yes. Council member durha Yes, Council Member Johnson Yes. Council Member Santiago Romero Yes. Council President, pro temp Tate, yes. Nine yeas, That motion passes. Madam President,
the ordinance is approved. Pro Temp Tate. Madam
President, I move that the title of the ordinance be confirmed, Hearing no objections
that action will be taken from the Office of contracting and procurement
council president pro tip James. Take 15 resolutions. Line item 16.4, through 16 point 18, all our contracts. First up is contract number 6004900
dash, a one, Contract Number 6006751 contract number 6006853 contract number 6006838 contract number 6006823 contract number 6006822 contract number 6006819 contract number 60068249 item, 16, point 12 is contract number 6006810 contract number 6005631 dash, A, one contract number 6006820 contract number 6005220 dash a, one contract number 6006851 contract number 6006534 contract number 6004858 dash a one. Council President, pro temp Tate 15 resolutions.
Thank you, Madam Clerk. Council President, pro temp Tate President,
I move approval of items. Line item 16.4, through 16 point 18.
Lorena motion has been made. Any discussion on these items? Right? Any objections, hearing, no objections. The resolutions will be approved and President Yes, pro tem request
for waiver online items, 16.5 through 16 point 18. Please.
Any objections to a waiver on those items. Hearing none the waiver will be attached to 16.5 through 16 point 18. I you from the historic designation advisory board Council,
President Pro Tem James Tate, two resolutions, line item, 16 point 19 and 16 point 20.
President Pro Tem Tate, Madam
President, move approval of both line items, 16 point 19 and 16 point 20,
all right. Motion has been made. Is there any object objections on these two items? Hearing no objections. The two resolutions will be approved from the housing and revitalization department. Council President, pro
tem James Tate, eight resolutions, line item 16 point 21 through 16 point 28
pro Tim Tate, Madam
President, move approval of line item 16 point 21 through 16 point 28
All right, the motion has been made, and these are various commercial facility exemptions, property rehabilitation certificates, obsolete property rehabilitation certificates for various properties, excuse me, projects and also a request for the authorization to accept and appropriate the US Department of Housing and Development Block Grant disaster recovery, right? And there's a motion to discuss. Discussion, all right. Council member Johnson, thank
you, Madam President, there was a lively discussion in ped relative to line item 16 point 26 this is to appropriate the additional CDBG Dr funds above and beyond the private sewer repair funds that have already been allocated. And I have some concerns relative to the $17.3 million that's being allocated for affordable rental housing development. I believe several of my colleagues have that concern as well. And Madam President, I would really like to bring this line item back after recess, so that we can have some discussion with the administration, just ensuring that we continue to provide assistance to our existing residents, recognizing that we have as a city, supported over a billion dollars in affordable rental housing development projects thus far, and would like to just make sure that these funds are going directly to impact and address residents who had a backup in 2021 as the dollars were sent to the city of Detroit in response to that disaster, also noting that there was a declared disaster for August of 2023 and some additional CDBG Dr funds are likely to come to the city to address that disaster. So I think it's important that we ensure these dollars are being utilized to address the disaster, because there are so many residents who suffered from it, who have yet to receive any support. And so that I'd like to make a motion to bring line item 16 point 26 back, to postpone it for one week or after recess.
All right, so we can motion on the floor. We'll move to discussion. And I see director Schneider is here. She wants to speak on this item here with us in person.
Thank you. Julie Schneider, director of the housing and revitalization department for the department, for the record, so what you have before you is a request to both accept and appropriate the second allocation of funds that we received from HUD via the Congress, as well as to accept and appropriate 10 million in mitigation funds that will be used for collapse sewer drains in the city, as well as a request to expand the boundaries of the private sewer repair program to include neighborhoods that were severely impacted in in each council district, which expands from the current restriction on only providing services in districts for six and seven. So the additional dollars that are requested, we're requesting $17.3 million for affordable rental housing, as well as 18, a little over $18 million to provide capital improvement for homeless, emergency homelessness shelters that were damaged in those floods, ten million to provide the about a little less than ten million to provide services to repair collapse sewer drains throughout the city of Detroit. Since 2015 HRD has invested $208 million into home repair services in the city of Detroit, those primarily go to homeowners. That includes the 43 million we've invested 100 about a $160 million into affordable rental housing. We've leveraged that about six, about seven or eight times to get to that $1 billion figure. We receive these dollars to address the needs of all Detroiters, not just homeowners that were impacted by the flood, and that is why we're at it. We're requesting money for the homelessness shelters that were damaged, as well as to repair and construct rental housing. The reason that that's important as the program allows or want cities to address issues that were pre existing to the disaster causing event, and also that were exasperated by that event. So under this proposal, $43 million would go, likely to primarily serve homeowners of the city. We're asking for $17 million to go to serve rental households in the city of Detroit, 18 million to serve those to improve shelters in the city that were damaged by those floods, and ten million to about it's it's between nine and 10 to to address collapse sewer drains in the city of Detroit. Congress has had quite a bit of time to appropriate dollars for the 2023 floods. They have not so I am not certain that they will do that. There are two major hurricane disasters that happened this past year that Congress has not appropriated any FEMA, any additional dollars for. There is talk at the national level that they will look to re appropriate dollars that are not obligated by the end of this year with a new administration coming in, a new Congress, I do think that is a concern that we need to be mindful of. We did public engagement on this in April and May. Residents did not tell us that they did not want us to put money into affordable housing. They did not tell us they didn't want us to put money into homelessness shelters. We received a couple of comments, but overall the feedback was positive. We waited to come to council because there were requests that we look at expanding the boundaries of the PSRP program. We've been responsive to that, and that's why it is in front of you today in the form that is in it is in front of you.
Thank you. All right. Thank
you. Any questions on this? See a couple of hands. Pro Temp Tate, no Member. Member. Benson, all
right. Thank you. Just through yourselves to Director, are these dollars at risk? Are we sure they're at risk, or are we sure that they're not at risk? Or is that still up in the air right now?
So through the chair to council member Benson, HRD, participates in what's called the National Community Development Association. It's a kind of organization to provide information on what's happening at Congress to grantees like like us, they've they've advised that, because of the, because of the two major disasters, Milton, and I'm sorry I can't remember the name of the other major hurricane that caused all of the flooding in the in the south within the last couple of months, there were two major hurricanes that was extensive flooding prior to the election. And that that there is advisement that there is money needed to address those disasters, and as such, they've advised those or those entities that don't have all of their funds obligated that there, there could be a rip next year. We've never received disaster recovery dollars before, so it's hard for me to say that. How real that risk is, I think, with a new new administration, with a new Congress that will not be divided given our our geography versus the geography of those states that were affected. I'm taking it as a as a real risk.
So your professional assessment is that these dollars are at risk based on other needs, and if we don't spend these in a timely fashion, the new administration may not allocate them or may claw them back. Would it be not allocated, or be a claw back
through the chair to council member Benson, if we do not obligate these funds prior to the new administration coming in, and there is a process after if Council were to approve them, there is a process that happens at the HUD financial level to actually get us the obligation fully committed. I think there is a risk that they would be clawed back. Okay,
so we are at risk, although it's a risk that we're not sure about. It's just that we're concerned with the new administration. And so there is a higher level of risk for these dollars, although we're not sure of that level at this time. Yeah,
yes, through the Chair, I believe there is. And the reason that you're seeing them now as as opposed to before, was because we were trying to be responsive to some of those concerns that we had heard previously, about expanding the boundaries and about making sure that we were specific in how those mitigation dollars were going to be used, and so that required us to do additional public engagement, which brings us to this particular point, okay,
thank you
President. Thank
you pro tem, followed by member durha. Thank
you, Madam President, through you to Director Sonic afternoon. So you said floods. So we, we're addressing the floods, those entities, home owners, who are affected by flood in 2021 as well as 23
and the infrastructure through to through the chair to pro temp Tate, what I was meaning to clarify was that I think there was maybe a suggestion that we might get money for the 2023 floods. But there's been other flooding events that have happened in the city of Detroit that were declared disasters the 2014 floods. For example, we did not receive an allocation of Dr for for that event. So it's been quite some time since the August of 2023, floods and and there haven't been dollars made available for so
just cut you off. So are we saying that it is dedicated to 21 which a lot of folks, which I thought it was, or is it also dedicated to other flooding, flood events as well.
So the dollars that we received in two appropriations from Congress are all meant to serve the events caused by the June of 2021, flooding event, which could range from us providing you can the types of services that you can provide, or types of activities range from like, we could have done things for small businesses, but we've really focused on the housing portion of of these dollars. So it's a broad range of activities that you can provide services for. There has to be a tie back to those, to those flooding events, or to the events. And
I'm just, I'm just strictly as are we talking 21 or 20 other flood related events? Are we talk because I know you mentioned 14, because we unfortunately had quite a few, which is sad. But are we talking about these dollars being allocated towards because the reason I'm asking the question is, if it's for additional flooding, flood related events, how are we prioritizing
specifically issues that were caused or exasperated by the June of 2021? Floods, not early June. It was the late June event, specifically late June of 2021,
and do we know if there were any of the folks who or entities homeowners who also had flood related damages From previous flood related events,
through the chair to council president pro temp Tate. One of our analysis that we used to identify, initially, some of the hardest hit areas was to identify areas that had persistent claims. But in order to, for example, in the private sewer repair program, they have to have a tie back to the June of
the answer is yes, or the answer is yes. Answer is
that we use that in our initial analysis to identify hardest hit areas. But the what makes a household eligible is the June of 2021 floods.
Thank you for that. I'm just asking again, based on the data, do we have if we don't have it, we don't have it, do we know if any, if there are any repeat any folks who had flood related damages from previous years, as well as 21 that may fall into this will house? That's all I'm asking.
Through the Chair. Our analysis was on the various flooding events that occurred later in June of 2021 so we did not compare to the 2014
event, right?
Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you pro tem council member, durha. Thank you,
Madam President, and I guess through you to director. I guess that was just my concern with it. Timeline wise, I know congress is scheduled to have their first session january 3, in which the the the composition of Congress as it is now is going to be a lot different. And we, from my understanding, our, our first formal session is January the seventh, and so that is a particular concern of mine, because I don't want to get in a situation where we send any dollars back to DC, particularly those who have already come through and we have the possibility to utilize those dollars. So I do think that is a real concern. And I know you kind of answered this when member Benson asked this, but is this also, and I know you have communication with other municipalities as well when you guys talk about housing, is this a concern, just not here in the city, but just across the country, particularly of whether those ARPA dollars and or funding CDBG dollars. We just passed the ARPA resolution right for that. What are those discussions like, even with other municipalities? Are there fear and other cities as well,
through the chair to council member durhall In the first time we experienced or worked with this administration. Every the budgets that were put forward to Congress called for the elimination of the HOME program, which is our sole federal source that's really devoted to affordable housing investment, as well as the community development block grant program. Those budgets were stored because, largely because there was a divided Congress and the negotiations that happened between them. So those concerns that we experienced in 2016 to 2020 are all very much on part of the conversations that we're having. It's why the US Conference of Mayors made it their their sole agenda item is making sure that affordable housing investment continues, because there is a pretty significant concern, both with other grantees, as well as some of those trade organizations that that there, there won't be funding for for these really important services going forward. So yes, the disaster recovery funds are certainly one that we're talking about now, and is, I think, at a real risk, although I'm not saying I can predict which risk, but I think it is something that we have to be cognizant of because of the severity of those, those other disasters that happen recently, but well as the funding we typically use to make this work happen that to provide affordable housing, which was exasperated by the number of rental claims that we had after the June of 2021, floods, that this is dollars that are needed in order to serve these critical needs.
And I would say just Just a follow up, we all know again, the disaster that happened during the flooding. We also know that a lot of residents who applied for FEMA were not able to get FEMA. Some did not have rental insurance. And as I think you draw an interesting point, as we talk about the hurricanes, even, I don't think the need has even been fully expressed, and how Congress is going to address that at that point. So I do think there are legitimate concerns. Again, I do not want to send $1 back to DC, but do want to see that we are going to utilize it in a way that's beneficial for residents. And so the engagement that you talked about, though, and you're saying when you went out and you talked specifically about these dollars, can you just go a little bit deeper into that with residents, how that process was and what those conversations were like,
through the chair to council member der Hall. So the engagement that I'm speaking of happened in believe, April and May of of this year, and so we conducted several community meetings to get people's feedback. And so we've been really conscientious when we're doing this engagement on what are called Action Plan processes to try to make sure to provide our audience with information about the flood, about the dollars, about what the dollars can be be used for. After we do that engagement, we we post the the draft plan. I'm sorry, the draft plan is posted just before, before we do the engagement, it opens a public comment window. We receive public comments. We respond to them, and I believe Gordon Pearson is on that could speak more specifically about some of the comments that we received. But I know after after that process, there was a desire that I heard that we try to open up the PSRP program or private sewer repair program to more areas of the city, and so we are being responsive to that in in this in this request.
Thank you, Madam
President,
thank you council member Johnson. Thank you, Madam
President. So I just want to clarify the private sewer repair program that is currently available. Is it available for renters to apply?
Through the Chair to council member Johnson, rental properties are eligible to apply. We have not seen many rental households participate. We have been doing extensive community engagement by by working to do actual door to door outreach. We've been attending community meetings. We've been getting information out through schools in the affected areas and and I think, quite reflective of other programs we have that are eligible, are open to rental properties, we just do not see significant applications from rental properties. CDBG requirements are quite extensive. When you're working with a rental property. They're even more extensive because the landlord needs to enter into agreement that they will keep that property at an affordable rate for some time.
And can you give percentages, what percent of qualified applicants have been renter rental properties versus owner occupied properties?
Through the Chair? I'd have to ask Mr. Pearson to give you that that level of specificity. And I don't see him on the screen. I believe he is, he is on, but we do go through those numbers weekly, and and it's, it's predominantly, I mean, mostly homeowners, but he is the one. And Mr. Razzo are actually doing the eligibility checks, and so they could provide you with the specific data on that.
Can you speak to and we can come back to that or get that information from them. Can you speak to what your expectation is relative to the 17 point 3 million that's earmarked for the affordable rental housing development and how that will impact renters who had a backup in 2021
through the chair to council member Johnson, says, I mentioned last week and earlier today, the purpose of the funds is to address the issues that were exasperated by the June of 2021, events. There were 31,000 claims submitted by renters to FEMA. About 25,000 required relocation assistance. We do not know if that relocation assistance was offered on a short term basis for an extended amount of time and forcing people to relocate. We have as as many of those renters were in single family homes. We have said that we will have a set aside for single family, likely rehab. And if that goes successfully, then we're certainly welcome. We're certainly happy to offer that more broadly. Thing is about rental housing for single family rental housing we're paying about we're subsidizing those units about three times more than we are a multi family unit. So it's not the most efficient way for us to make sure that affordable housing is provided at the scale that's needed within the city of Detroit. We will also make sure to prioritize by awarding points to projects that are in the kind of most impacted areas you had mentioned last week as well. Did Pro Temp tape that? How do we know that a specific renter is going to be able to have priority access to any one of those units that are funded in part by these funds, I am certainly more than more than more than willing to commit to exploring whether or not that is a preference that we can provide. It would likely mean that we are saying that people that were renters in June of 2021, would have priority access to that. I will need to follow up with the Fair Housing Center of Metropolitan Detroit to make sure that that is something that that we could do before saying, you know, designing the outlines of that program, but that's certainly something that we can do to make sure that they are will, they are given priority for that tie back, but I would need time to get figure out exactly what I can do under fair housing laws.
Thank you. And I see that other colleagues have questions about this. I just want to lastly say that if there's a concern about the dollars not being provided to the city. I have concerns about the 17 point 3 million, essentially, to me, being utilized as gap funding for affordable rental housing development projects that we've seen far too often at this table, that still don't quite get to our Detroit residents, I would be interested in knowing, percentage wise, the development projects that we have done over the last two years that have been affordable. How many Detroiters end up in these properties, as opposed to individuals coming from outside of the city to benefit from the affordable units that are being created. But I will yield to my colleagues and just lastly, point out the fact that, well number one, we can amend the resolution so that it excludes the $17.3 million and move forward with everything else, if we're so concerned about the dollars not being provided by the new Congress that comes into place, and also just want to share with everyone that the state has received federal fund funds From the 2023 backup to do case management work, which is the prelude to receiving CDBG Dr for us locally. And with that, I will yield to my colleagues. Thank you, Madam President. Thank
you member, Johnson pro Tim Tate,
so I was asking, I share a number of concerns we have. Member Johnson, do you believe that if we postpone this item at least to the end of the agenda, that will allow us an opportunity to have conversation over lunch, after lunch, before this session wraps up, and see if we can get a little closer before we put any finality on a vote of either voting today or bring postpone a vote until January, through you, Madam President, to member Johnson
Johnson,
thank you, Madam President, through you to pro tem so we had the same discussion on Thursday in ped and I personally had the discussion with HRD in my one on one, meeting with them, and my position has not changed. I have not had anyone present to me, any alternative suggestions. I think the question is, how this body is preparing to move forward. I have indicated some thoughts, suggestions for us all to consider, but it really depends on the collective body as to how we move forward.
Remember Johnson outside through you again, madam president member, Johnson outside of the post, if you would put up, put it on tape. I know you said possibly bifurcating is 17 plus million. Maybe we put that on the floor and see if that is even a possibility, and give reflection from the director on that Through you, madam president, is that option? Yeah,
through the chair. So we have to do public engagement prior to coming to you. That is a process that is required by the legislation. So we, we, we did that. We met that process. So if there's a change to the action plan that's being submitted to HUD, it would have it would restart that process. I believe it's a at least a 60 day, 60 day process between when we would have to amend it, and then the public comment period that has to remain open. I will just note that when we do, when there is a process for by which the public submits their request for what we do with our dollars, the number one and number two items that people request that we invest our dollars in, and it switches, sometimes once one and the others too is Home Repair and affordable housing. And so in this proposal, roughly half of the dollars would go to Home Repair and about less than a quarter, less than a Yeah, less than a quarter would, or about a quarter would go to affordable housing. So we have tried to be responsive to what we hear from the public in how we are proposing to allocate these dollars. My
last question, Madam President, is, with these dollars here, how much of a once they're dispersed, or once it's decided where they're actually going to be going, how much of that decision will need city council approval
through the chair. Every investment we we make, every agreement we have put in place, must be approved by city council. So every single dollar of the of the, I'm sorry, excuse me, of the affordable housing as well as the homelessness dollars, all of those would require contracts to be approved as well as, or you're, you're approving our ability to enter into development and loan agreement, say, one more time you got real low all. So all of them, every single dollar for affordable housing, every single dollar for homelessness, would require city council approval, as well as any outstanding contracts for private sewer repair.
So just for clarity, what today does is allow the city to basically accept these dollars, allow you all to allocate them. But whatever is is is done with those dollars? The final resting place lies on this council to say yes or no, or every one of those, every single dollars that we're discussing today. Is that correct?
That is correct. Thank you.
Thank you. Council member, Santiago Romero, thank you, Madam
President. I have the same concerns as my colleagues, and would rather put the 17 million into the private sewer repair program. This is something that I'm hearing from residents every single day as the need, and I am being told to not support this going to the affordable housing projects stream. So if we move forward with everything else that's being proposed. We can do so, but the 17 million I believe should be going to private sewer repairs, this is the one thing that I hear over and over and over again from residents in District Six. Thank you for expanding. Who's eligible for more money, but it sounds like we need more. So I just don't understand why we're we're putting into affordable housing when the one thing that I hear most often from my residents is a need for private sewer repair funds
director Schneider, through
the chair to Council Member Santiago Romero, 46% of Detroit households are renter households. They often renter households are are not the ones showing up to community meetings. They're not as engaged civically. That's it's not my it's not my opinion. That's kind of a demonstrated fact about public engagement. So 31,000 renter households submitted FEMA claims. There is a significant need. And what I'm what we are proposing in this is some balance in who is likely to receive the benefit of of these dollars. We are. One of the reasons why we expanding the number of districts and the number of neighborhoods served is because we're not getting that the level of applications that are necessary to expend the $43 million so we, despite pretty extensive efforts to to increase those applications, we're just not seeing the rate of applications that are needed in order for us to to fully extend that $43 million so that is why the neighborhoods are expanding. Is because we do need greater inflow into the program as it's absolutely important to me that we serve as as many houses as we can with those dollars before there's potentially another incident in the spring or summer of next year.
Session,
are you finish members? Santiago, Monroe, thank you, Madam
President, and thank you Director. Snyder, I completely understand that just brings another question to me, which is the eligibility requirements, the process itself, if we haven't, because I hear it, I hear the need, and then I hear the difficulty that it is to access these resources. So understood, but I think that there are many issues here. One, if we're getting to residents. Two, if we get to them, if they're eligible, if the process is easy enough. Three, if we have the funding. So there are a lot of issues here, and I would welcome having discussion offline or bringing this back till next year to figure out how we best do this, but I would support this going to affordable housing if I knew, though, that we really aren't missing people that need the sewer repair work, but I don't think we're getting to them, and I think it might be us missing them. You're right. It's hard to get to residents, but the other piece that I'm thinking is the eligibility requirements, it sounds like is a problem as well.
Director Schneider through the chair, those eligibility requirements are not set by HRD right there. They're federally required, and if I could relax those requirements, rest assured, I would, but there are 13 pieces of documentation, 13 pieces of documentation required. And HRD works to provide as many of those as possible, so that we're not putting that that benefit on the residents. But some of those, I cannot. I cannot. Well, none of those can I relax. And some of them, for example, if people providing us income documentation, well, HRD cannot. We can't provide someone's income documentation to worse to ourselves, obviously. All right, thank
you. So, yep, just really quick. So I am pleased to see that this is expanding areas. I noticed something that we talked about. District five was left out the first round. And so I know that there's other areas that have been impacted by the storm and also are in need of private sewer repairs. But I'm a little bit confused on your response. So it's a $17 million for gap funding for affordable housing, or is it going to also ensure that, as you just mentioned, that the renters who were not included typically in the process now have access to the funding. So what is it for gap funding for affordable new affordable housing developments? Or is it to assist renters who are trying to apply for private sewer line repair? You just clarify what exactly the 17 is for. Again, please to
the to the chair renter households and their their landlords, and if you could speak up a little bit louder, renter renter households and their landlords are currently eligible to to apply for the private sewer repair program. And I believe Rico razzo has those numbers on how many renters or renter households are currently applying, the 17 million would be to preserve and create affordable housing, including some single family rental housing. In response to council member Johnson's question about, how would I assure that renters who were impacted by the June of 2021, floods received some of this benefit? What I suggested was several things that we would do. One is prioritize those areas that were most impacted by the floods, and we do that by awarding greater points to those areas. And then two, I will, I'm committed to identifying whether or not I we can prioritize renters who were impacted by the June of 2021, floods in the application process. In order to provide real clarity in that, I need to do my diligence on fair housing requirements. So
you're comfortable with the current allocation, I think you said as $43 million to address the current needs. Now there's going to be expanded city wide for private sewer line repair and not needing an additional 17 or any additional money to support the request to date
through the chair based on the rate of interest in the program. Yes, I am okay,
because I do agree that we get tons of calls. I get tons of emails about people trying to get access to the program now that it's open city wide, my concern is that there wouldn't be enough funding available to address the need. But you're stating that you're comfortable with the amount of current funding, and then the additional 70 can go to other projects. The affordability portion that you're proposing to
the chair based on the rate of info, and we are going to continue to prioritize the hardest hit areas. Yes. Okay,
all right, any additional Yes, Council Member young and then council member Benson. Thank
you, Madam President. I just wanted to ask you, just again, I think the question has been asked about the timeline, but I want to ask you a little bit differently, is this money going to be available if we postpone this, especially with the current administration that's coming in, and that's what, that's what I have a concern with.
I Sorry i was through the chair. Sorry, I was making sure clarification on that. So through the chair, that is, that is the risk that I'm trying to make sure to communicate that we do not know whether or not, if they are not obligated. I do not know whether or not a new Congress is going to look to reallocate these dollars to flooding events that are more recent, where there is a need for for funding. Because, listen, I
understand my colleagues are saying, I have some concerns, too. I think we definitely need to be able to fix what we're talking about, sewers and things that nature. There are definitely things we could do with this money. I'm just concerned that if we don't jump on this now, we're not going to have this money at all, and we probably might not have it for a long period of time, not the way that we're having this now with the current administration that's coming in. I just personally think we need to be able to take advantage as much as we can. You know, I understand what people are coming through. You know, the biggest room in the world is the room for improvement. Could these things be better? Absolutely, you know, but it is what it is in this situation. And so I'm just concerned about timeline. I'm also concerned about lawsuits about ARPA dollars that we're having. I just think we need to approve this. Now. I would not be comfortable postponing this at all. Alright, so
there's a motion on the floor to postpone this to after recess, and we're still doing discussion, but I do want to get back to the original motion was to bring this back after recess. So is there any other discussion on that motion. Then after this, I would like to move forward with the motion. Member, Benson, thank
you. And so I'm looking at the resolution here. I see 47 million. I see 95 million. I see 10 million. I see 37 million. I'm not seeing is it 17 million? Can you help me make these numbers tie as to what's eligible, what we can spend? So I'm just trying to find out, how do we
through the through the chair to council member Benson? So we received two appropriations from Congress for the flooding events, or I'm sorry, I'm sorry for the June 2021 flood. So the initial appropriation was, believe 47 million, or the initial action plan approved was 47 million. I We actually received an appropriation of slightly more than that. So we did community engagement for that initial appropriation within that we were suggesting, that we were we were proposing to use some of those dollars to address flooding in Jefferson Chalmers during those community engagement events. The residents of the proposal was to was related to the stop log. We heard loud and clear that that wasn't something that the residents of Jefferson Chalmers wanted. So we took that out of the plan that occurred
just real quick. I missed what you said, what was off the table? What was taken off the table?
It was utilizing some of the dollars, some of the mitigation dollars that are now proposed for the collapse drains. But the proposal at that time was to use it for the stop log in Jefferson, Thomas stop log. I'm not a water engineer, so it's related to the canals. Block it off. Yeah, yes. So during the public engagement process. It was clear that people did not, did not want that, so it was removed as an item during the community engagement process. That's a distinction I'm drawing, because we're not in the community engagement process right now, and so the as is required by an action planning process through HUD. So as we were completing that process, and we are asking council to accept and appropriate those dollars, Congress appropriated an additional amount of funds to complete what was known as our calculated unmet need, and
so to floods, related to floods, related
to the floods, yes. So the total appropriation is around 95 million. Council has previously accept and appropriated 47 million. We are requesting, I'm
a slow swimmer, so 95 million now minus 47
million. Yes, okay,
we are requesting to accept and appropriate that balance,
which is 48 million, okay,
yes, my on the fly math skills are Maybe and so we're requesting the following breakdown, and mind Gemini, I don't have a spreadsheet in front of me, so this is by my by my memory, $17.3 million for affordable rental housing. Say again, please, 17 point 3 million for affordable rental housing, a little more than 18 million, or just about $18 million for homelessness, emergency shelter, capital repairs, 10 million, a little less than ten million for collapsed sewer drains that you see throughout throughout the city, the additional dollars are going towards administration of the program and and planning costs. Okay,
so, so the 10 million and the plus the so 28 million will be going towards sewer repairs, and then the last 17 will be going towards affordable housing, because there's capital homelessness, capital repairs, as well as the 10 million for sewer so 718, for homeless and capital repairs, blood related. And then 10 million for collapse sewers, home, residential, home related. And then the 17, that's the concern I'm hearing this table for the affordable housing. And then I've also heard that of this, 18 of the 28 other areas outside of Jeff Chalmers are now eligible to receive some of those funds. That accurate
through the Chair will the proposal is to prioritize four, six and seven, but we would, it's not it would not be restricted to four, six and seven.
So we so then the answer is yes, other areas would be eligible outside of Jeff Chalmers,
yes, but Jefferson Chalmers would be in that priority area, yes.
And so then, what's the likelihood of other areas receiving any funds? I mean, there's a huge level of need there.
The likelihood of outside of four, six and seven?
Well, I see Mr. Razzo
HRD. I will not be involved in choosing which collapsed drains would do that. That would be water, sewer based on, I'm
just looking for facts. Just what's the likelihood we're saying that is highly we're giving likelihoods as far as likely the level of risk to send money back because we didn't spend it based on not making decision today
through the chair. I think it's possible, but I think that there is significant need in four, six and seven. Of course, the eligibility criteria will still be required. It'll be on it's done on an area basis, because those sewers provide services to an area. So I think they most likely are going to be in four, six and seven, but I think there's we are making sure that that other areas of the city can be served as well.
So then what you are telling me is that district three should not have any expectation of any resources.
So through the chair to Mr. Council member Benson, I think we're talking about two different things, so that the $9.4 million little less than 10 for collapsed sewers, is public infrastructure. What I think you're asking is, if we expand the boundaries for private sewer repair on the the residential, single family homes, yes, there's a high likelihood that district three in the expansion will receive a number of households that will will get private sewer repair, full replacement
out of this pot of money.
We already have that pot of money allocated that $43 million for private sewer repair that's already there. What is in front of you is an expansion to an additional 70 or so neighborhoods that would allow us to then receive more applications. And if, if you would allow me, I can give you guys a breakdown on on rentals. I know that's a big question that came up to date. We've received 1676 applications, pre screen applications for private sewer repair. 1012 of those have passed initial pre screen, meaning that they met initial eligibility criteria to move forward to document collection. 900 in one of those 1012 are owner occupied. 11 are landlord sorry, land contracts and 100 are rentals. We've approved to date, 309 private sewer repairs we've completed 300 up to this point. 300 of those are owner occupied. Nine are rentals. So owner occupied housing far outweighs any of the rentals that have applied to the program. And when you look at the numbers and we talk about offering other people in this city the opportunity for these services, my team can only do so much. We can make all the calls. We can send mailer after mailer. We can door knock, but if people are unwilling to meet our team halfway and submit the documentation required by the federal government. We have to move on. We can't stay in one area because we know there are so many other residents that need this service. So I hope I answered your question, but that's where we're at as of today. Okay,
just wanna
make sure I'm clear that third district residents are currently eligible not
for private sewer repair. So it's only in District Four, six and 722, neighborhoods that were most impacted from the flood. If an expansion is approved and we can start marketing to all districts, every single district will be in the expansion. Some districts have more neighborhoods and than others. I think in District Four, on top of the six or seven neighborhoods that are approved, they'll get an additional 12. District Three is going to get somewhere around eight to 12 neighbor right now, we stopped at 94 so this expansion will go north of 94 and it'll it'll open it up to a
lot. And when does that Request for Authorization occur?
So this is what we're doing here today.
And so this would, if we authorize this, this would expand the net correct to a district three where we're not receiving any support right now. And though we still do have a need, although not as great as others, but we still do have a need. Correct.
Okay, thank you.
And to that point, the current amount, the $43 million and I want to hear again, you're stating will cover the entire expansion. There's no need to tap into the earmarked $17 million for affordable housing. You're confident that the $43 million with the new expansion of new districts city wide, will cover all of the requests from residents who have sewer, private sewer application applications, or who will be applying for the program to address the need.
That's correct to the chair right now, if you look at the numbers, we're closing in on 1700 free screen applications, and we've approved 300 so we know we're going to need 5000 or more applications to meet the 1500 private sewer repairs. We plan on meeting with this $43 million so it allow us to bring in even more applications to approve a higher number. Right now, we're just we're hitting a wall with all the outreach we've done in the neighborhoods that exist right now. You know, we've done 300 today. We have another 1200 to go,
okay, all right. Member waters and then general banks. Member John say, I
like the fact that you have, what did you say, 900 owner occupied, who have applied, of that, who are eligible, actually, of that. How many do you know my district? How many of those are eligible, starting with District Four. I mean, just a general number, yeah,
right now it's through the chair to council member waters. It's pretty evenly split across three districts. So if we look at 900 District Four has, by far and away, led the pre screen applications, the private sewer repairs, they're a little bit higher. They're outpacing some of the other districts. District Six is probably in third place out of the three. But you know, if I'd have to break down 900 I'd probably say, you know, 400 are probably in District Four, and the remaining are split between six and seven. Alright?
So I just want to say for the record, I I appreciate the fact that we are really going after owner occupies. Because, you know, homeowners need some some help too. I hate that we have the income restriction so because there are a lot more people who cannot afford to do those repairs, who go to work every single day, but adjust above that, that threshold So, but anyway, so thank you.
Thank you. Member Johnson,
thank you, Madam
President. I'd like to try to wrap this up and put a bow on it, so when I look at the neighborhoods that are included in the private sewer repair program. Currently in District Four, they are probably my more middle income communities, and so when we talk about the number of households that qualify, I think currently in District Four, where the neighborhood is eligible. We have a number, a high percentage of households that don't income qualify, and so that kicks them out, right? I want to just repeat some numbers. So with the 43 million that is currently allocated for the private sewer repair program, you're indicating that we will service about 1500 households. I believe you said you had 1012 qualified applications
through the through the Chair of the 1676, we've received, to date, little over 1000 have moved forward to collect documents so they meet the initial eligibility criteria, but in order for them to fully be in the program, they have to submit those 13 documents. Director Snyder had had reference. Once we get a complete application, we review everything. They get approved for the program, and then we have the contractor go out and create the scope of work and perform the work. Ultimately,
okay, and what are the initial qualifiers that put this over 1000 applicants within the process where now you're going to request the additional information through
the chair to council member Johnson on the pre screen form that residents fill out. It's having a tie back to the June 25 2021 flood storm in the form of FEMA claim, private insurance claim, DWSD claim. Second is being income eligible, so total household income is reported on that pre screen application. And then the third biggest piece of eligibility is being in one of the 2022, eligible neighborhoods that exist today. And
I could add just one thing to that, so that's the who's met, the initial pre screen, and our team has been working to do to do direct outreach to them, calls, mailers, etc, and of those, I believe a little over, between three and 400 have actually submitted the documentation with with Weeks, months of outreach to those households. And that's why we're suggesting we do not have, we're not getting the volume of applicants in order to to spend the $43 million through
the chair to council member Johnson, what we've been experiencing over the last probably a month at this point is is dealing with not a great picture of total household income. So our team, although we do our due diligence and look at all the documents submitted when it gets to bank statements and W twos and SSI, SSD, we're starting to see a lot of residents are not truthful about total household income, which we have to be truthful when we're dealing with federal dollars. So that has kicked a number of people out, as well as the number of dlba land bank homes that were bought, and they want this program to help replace the sewer line for a house that they're renovating and not occupying. So we've we've started to see a lot of those households being kicked out as well.
So can you confirm that all of the 1000 applicants, qualified applicants, have been reviewed, and you are standing between three and 400 households that have applied and truly qualify for implementation
through the chair that 1000 number is just people who have submitted the pre screen application. Nothing has been reviewed in terms of documentation, because they have not submitted anything. Director Snyder was mentioning all the outreach we've done. Some of these households have received multiple phone calls, multiple mailers. We've canvassed neighborhoods as well. I know your team has been out canvassing, and there's just been no response. So out of those 1000 households that have been approved, we've only had 309 to date that have submitted all of the necessary documentation to actually be eligible for the program, and we've replaced or repaired 300 sewer lines to date. So every week, our team is trying to chase down documentation, doing house visits, doing intake at community centers, you name it, our team is doing it. We're small, but we're mighty. We have four case managers that are that are out in the community. We're looking to hopefully bring a couple more on if we do end up getting an expansion, because we know it's going to take more work out in the field, and
this has been over how many months we've been pursuing or actually opened up the private sewer repair program. Yeah,
through the chair. We formally launched the program in early February, and then we, everybody started submitting the pre screen. Our team was brought on. A few months after that, I want to say in in June, our full team was brought on. So they started reviewing documents and approving applications, and we, we officially started construction, August 18. So in the matter of three or four months, we've we've done 300 sewer repairs,
and I know that was possible because of the basement backup protection program, right? So the vendors, the contractors, were ready to start rolling. We just needed to get applications in. So again, my concern is more about how many people will we will be able to service in 99 neighborhoods now with the same amount of funding that we currently have allocated. So we're talking about a total of 1500 houses in 99 neighborhoods throughout this entire city, 1500 households. So we already have 300 so it's more 12. Is it 1200 in total that we have available for households in 99 neighborhoods in the city of Detroit to apply for. So we're talking 1200 houses. And I personally do not think that the $43 million is enough to get us where we'd like to be. I know there were well over 1500 or 1200 households throughout this city that had a backup in 2021 that have not gotten any support to this day. And I think that we should all be running to our constituents in the neighborhoods that now qualify to get them to sign up so they can be first in line to get the resources that we're allocating for this program, instead of adding the $17 million to make it 60 million to be able to provide For more than the additional 1200 households throughout the city, that's that's the only point I want to make.
Thank you so much. Member Johnson, all right, so we will proceed now at this time. Member Johnson, did you want to keep your motion on the floor, or
did you so? Madam President, thank you. I do like the thought that Pro Tem elevated, which is asking the administration if we can bifurcate the 17 point 3 million to move forward on the resolution as it is today, and then come back to because I think that's something for all of us to consider. I
agree. I just don't think that we can. I think they've already mentioned that this went through robust Thank
you. Madam President, I'm not sure that. It's not that we cannot do it. It just means that they would have to have another public comment period so to approach hood to
ask for for sure, we would have to postpone this whole process again, which would jeopardize the risk of funding. That's That's what I understood. But yes,
Madam President, I don't believe that's the case. So initially the 47 million was allocated. Now there is the additional 48 million. There's just a process that you have to go through with hood in order to be able to allocate those dollars. So if we did not allocate the 17.3 we could do that later. Okay, if the administration was willing to do that
to the administration to Director Schneider and Mr. Razzo,
through the chair to the council. HUD has said that they will. They've been very clear to us that we need to submit a complete grant application. You know, we've it's we did this. We did a public engagement process. We heard were deliberate and trying to make sure that residents of the city had an opportunity to provide their feedback on how we were allocating these dollars, we did not hear, you should not money. Invest money into affordable housing. I have never stood before this, this body or or in front of community meetings and had people tell me we should not invest in affordable housing. 46% of the city are renters, and so we're asking that these $95 million that that some dollars do get allocated to the benefit of 46% of the residents of Detroit. I understand the concerns about spreading the dollars too thin, but there's a large portion of this population that are not going to be served at all if there's no money going towards rental housing. So we're asking that that less than a quarter of these dollars serve serve those households, and so the the process of community engagement is in advance of of this conversation, and so if we're changing the way that we're allocating dollars, it would require us to restart that process. It's not a timeline that HRD controls, it's a timeline that is, is is given to us that we have to follow when going through this action planning process. And so, you know, we've, we have a meeting with with your offices, if I had believes that this was a more widespread concern. We probably.
