Board of Water Commissioners: Otter Voice Meeting Notes

Board of Water Commissioners

Detroit Documenters55min

Unknown Speaker

00:00

Row present, Vice Chair, person, black man,

Unknown Speaker

00:07

present Garcia,

Speaker 1

00:09

Commissioner

Ken lot, and we have Commissioner forte, Commissioner Coleman as well as Commissioner Dave. Is more absent today, but we do have a quorum. I

Speaker 2

00:23

Yeah, four of us is all right, good. Next Item three, approval of the agenda, and I want to propose an amendment that item E on page five be removed from the agenda to come back at another time with that amendment. Is there a motion to approve the agenda?

Unknown Speaker

00:48

Commissioner Blackmon,

Unknown Speaker

00:50

the agenda as amended, all right.

Speaker 2

00:53

Commissioner Garcia seconds, any corrections or changes to the agenda as presented, all those in favor, please say, aye. Aye, those opposed, and that is adopted next the minutes of June the 18th, 2025,

Unknown Speaker

01:13

what is your pleasure?

Speaker 3

01:17

Yeah. Commissioner Ken laugh, but he's not saying anything. So

Unknown Speaker

01:22

approval of the minutes as presented,

Speaker 2

01:24

you might want to use your microphone. Oh, wait, this is my

Speaker 3

01:27

microphone. I pull the I'm separate from everybody else. All right, the minutes of June 18 as presented, it's been

Speaker 2

01:35

moved

and seconded. Any corrections to the minutes. All those in favor say aye, aye, and that's adopted unanimously. Next we have public comments, and I have two people who have signed up in person, and let's begin with Heider, and I'm sorry if I'm mispronouncing your name, but please come forward,

Speaker 4

02:00

Mr.

Chair. Can we read the instructions first? Yes, please. Thank you. To make a comment. If you are in person, please sign the signing Street. The sign in sheet, your name will be called and you can proceed to the microphone. If you are online, please raise your hand by the raising a using the raise hand icon on your desktop or mobile device. If you are calling into the meeting by phone, press star nine to raise your hand. If you are online using the zoom app or on the phone using Zoom after your name is called, you will get permission to unmute. In order to begin speaking, you will have to unmute yourself. To do so, press the unmute button, which is the microphone icon, if you're online or on the app, or star six, if you're calling in at the beginning of your comment, please share your full name in the community or neighborhood you live work or in or are representing the timer will start after your introduction, you will have a limit of three minutes to make your comment, and please keep your comments to public comment. This is not an opportunity to request information or data, which can be done through the city website and legislature if you're online to make a comment in order for DWSD staff to follow up with you, we kindly request you complete the comment card link that will be shared in the chat, as well as also posted on the city website at Detroit mi.gov forward slash. DWSD attached to this meeting invite you will only be called upon once. Once the chair closes public comment, there will be no other comments from the public, and all attendees will remain muted for the duration of the meeting. On site, comments will go first as Mr. Chair just invited, followed by online and on the phone. Thank you. You.

Unknown Speaker

03:57

Mr. Am Am I pronouncing it correctly? Hi,

Speaker 5

04:02

my name is lucibezi. He is Mr. Hyder Ayu. He doesn't speak

Unknown Speaker

04:09

to Oh, I'm sorry.

Speaker 5

04:11

I'm I'm here on behalf of Mr. Hyder Ayu to save his comment. He doesn't speak English.

Unknown Speaker

04:18

Okay, okay. He received a bill for $2,366.69

Speaker 5

04:25

for water. We would like to know what is that. And he never been late on his

Speaker 2

04:29

payments. Speak into the microphone please. You see the bill of $2,366.69

Speaker 5

04:38

we don't know what. What is this bill for his water bill we've been paid every month, so he's not behind on any payment. Is that a residential commercial

Speaker 6

04:51

so we can have somebody from our customer service team. I think Kim is behind you, or there she is. She's right behind you. She's gonna take you to the side. We're gonna work it out

Unknown Speaker

05:01

today. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2

05:07

Next we have, I believe it's Liz Cohen who is acting as power of Attorney on behalf of Donald Williams. I

Speaker 1

05:42

I give them thank you very much.

Unknown Speaker

05:50

Good afternoon, ma'am.

Speaker 1

05:51

The noon to everyone. My name is Liz Cohen. I'm acting in behalf of my brother Donald J Williams, who owns a property in Detroit, Michigan. Presently he's in Savannah, Georgia, living with me. The house has been vacant at 13, 556,

Unknown Speaker

06:14

meta, tall, Detroit, Michigan,

Speaker 1

06:18

from 2000 probably 21 until present, a water bill came as a result of who sell the Home, because he has to mention the last picture I

Speaker 1

06:44

I received a dangerous house thing from the city, and I went to the court about it, and they said that they would tear the house down if we could not board it up and everything. We had no money. We checked into that from Savannah and we could not do it. A realtor called about selling, and they said we can do that. So I had everything in place. The water bill that we received was for $16,000 and not 900 and some sense, house has been vacant, even though it is destroyed by whomever would go stay in it. Call those vagrants or whomever they are. So I need to look into this to have something done. I don't want the house torn down. The seller will close on the house as an investor, but I need to see why this a vacant house from 21 and they, according to the water people, they said they shut the water off completely. May 3 of 2023 for all of these charges, and everything we can't afford is charged that property that we owe $16,000 on. So I'm coming to the committee because they said to check with Commissioner when I spoke to the Attorney General, water general, the other day. So I'm before you to look into this matter in any way you possibly can to see if this can be rectified, help in one way or the other. So that's my purpose in being here to check this out for us.

Speaker 6

08:38

Yeah, and the same young lady, Kim, she's gonna, she's gonna help you work through this issue. We've got just to try to understand whether or not some of the past due balance has been moved over to the treasurer's office. And it's not all at DW Steve, but she'll she knows how to work through that issue so that. Her name is Kim, she'll be right back up. She's helping the gentleman that was in front of you, and then she'll, she'll come and get you. But we will, we will, today, help you work, work through the issue.

Unknown Speaker

09:12

Okay, thank you.

Unknown Speaker

09:15

Thank you very much.

Unknown Speaker

09:17

Miss Cohen,

Speaker 2

09:20

is there anyone else in person here who would like to address the board?

Unknown Speaker

09:29

All right, do we have anyone online?

Speaker 4

09:32

Yes, we do, Mr. Chair, and would like to give the online attendees a reminder to raise your hand now if you're going to do public comment, the first person is Cecily McClellan.

Unknown Speaker

09:45

Cecily McClellan,

Speaker 7

09:47

MS, McClellan, yes. Thank you very much for this opportunity. I have a few issues of concern. I'm representing we, the people of Detroit. This is one issue that used to be available in the water the water department's regulations was the emergency medical waiver. Well, in essence that if you had a medical issue or someone in your house, that person could supply a doctor's note indicating that water was necessary, and they would be allowed 28 days for that medical emergency for a year, and it could be repeated every other year. Now, a similar provision was added to the Detroit lifeline. We are receiving calls of persons that have medical emergencies that are facing potential shut offs, and I would like to know whether the general customer base, still have that option, that if their water, if they do have a medical issue of someone in the house that they can contact and supply the documentation to the water department, and can either prevent that shut off for 28 days or can have the water restored within 24 Hours of that shut off. Increasingly, we are getting concerns of persons that are already on the easy pay program, and as a result of large arrearages, they are being placed into very high payment plans. And in the case of at least two individuals I've spoken with, they had plumbing issues as well, and so therefore the payment plans are really unmanageable, and so they're still seeking out forgiveness. It's my hope that there can be some additional funding made available for debt forgiveness, because this is a continued, ongoing problem, and as in our it's our hope as well that at some point this year, the easy the Detroit Lifeline program will be restored, and I would like to know whether or not that debt forgiveness component of the Detroit lifeline will still be available. We're we would like to see on the dashboard, if all possible, the number of individuals that have been terminated for from the easy pay in the past 30 days to 90 days. How many are facing shut off, and how many of the customers current customers are now in shut off over the past 90 days, there are very few options in terms of any type of assistance there. We were hoping that there was still some funding available in the local water affordability program that was providing $3,000 and plumbing assistance, but that appears to have dried up as well with federal dollars. So it's crucially important that we get your support on House Bill, 4555, for water affordability in the state of Michigan. Thank you.

Unknown Speaker

12:55

Thank you. Ms McClellan,

Speaker 4

12:58

Mr. Chair. The next person is Bela Walker,

Speaker 8

13:01

Walker, Hello, Matt. Can I? Can I be heard? Yes, you, you can. Good afternoon. Distinguished body of DWSD, Board of Water commissioners and everyone that's helping with City Church residents get their water cut off. My name is Beulah Walker with HYDRA Detroit. I have two questions please, and I hope the first question I asked doesn't upset anyone, but I wanted to ask a question to Director Brown and Deputy Director Mr. Sam smally, are they going to stay or leave with our new mayor administration that's coming up, and I um, second question I have, I echo Mama says, least sentiments with the 28 day water. Water hole for people who are experiencing sickness and they need water to survive. I do remember in past practices, Mr. Director Brown has always took a very good eye at cases, extreme cases, and has always advocated for city chair residents that needed water due to health issues. And I'm going to sit back and I'm going to listen and thank you all. Have a good day, Mr. Chair, the

Speaker 6

14:19

water emergency policy that has been spoken by both callers is still in place. You don't have to be in lifeline, you don't have to be an easy pay you can be a resident of the city of Detroit with an account, and if you have a medical emergency, we will adhere to the policy. That's number one. Number two, both the deputy director and I are an appointee of the mayor, and I guess we'll know in a couple of weeks, or at least a couple of months, who the new mayor will be, and it will be their prerogative with regards to all the appointed directors in the city of Detroit as to who stays and who goes. So we'll we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Unknown Speaker

15:07

Thank you. Thank you. Ms Walker,

Speaker 4

15:09

Mr. Chair, we have. Norell Hemphill.

Unknown Speaker

15:13

Ms Hemphill,

Speaker 9

15:19

peace and blessings. Good afternoon. My name is Norell Hemphill. I am the Legal and Policy Manager at We the people of Detroit. I did have a quick question about the I know there's was an item that was discussed in the committee meeting this month about the sale of our customer service centers, and I would like to ask the board that you suspend that as an agenda item for now, and ask that you do a actually, some community outreach and a study before that is sold, I've talked to a lot of community members over the last two weeks about their access to customer service and how they pay their bills, and they all expressed a longing for the option to be able to pay their bills in person and also to interact with a person when they have issues with their billing. One community member actually said that she's been having trouble paying her bill, which created a larger rear because she was used to paying it in person, and she did not know how to navigate the the online system. So I would just again, ask that you suspend the vote today, if we could suspend it for about six to eight months to do adequate outreach and actually talk to community members about whether or not that is a viable option, whether it makes sense for the community to sell those customer service centers, and if customers do need to go in person, that there's other places that are out in the community, not just places downtown. Downtown is hard to navigate for a lot of community members, and it's easier for them to do things within their own neighborhoods. So again, just asking that you consider community in some of these decisions, especially when it comes to customer service and other services that we render for our members of Detroit. Thank you,

Speaker 6

17:41

Mr. Chair, I'm just not I'm just not aware of any action that we're taking on this agenda that would involve that particular issue. So

Unknown Speaker

17:54

thank you. Ms

Speaker 4

17:55

Hemphill, Mr. Chair, we have no other hands raised all right,

Speaker 2

18:02

is

there anyone within the sound of my voice that would like to address the board? Hearing none. We will close public participation, and we will move to item six, a receipt of communic receipt of correspondence. Is there a motion to receive and file? Mr. Chair, Commissioner Blackman,

Unknown Speaker

18:26

can I be heard?

Unknown Speaker

18:29

Can you hear me? Yeah, well, you're sitting next, right

Speaker 3

18:31

next to me, a different kind of mechanism. I just want to make sure I would move approval of the move that we receive and file. Is there support

Unknown Speaker

18:41

questions or comments.

Speaker 2

18:44

Mr. Phillips, if you have any comments on the correspondence, but hearing none all those in favor, please say, aye, those opposed, and that is adopted. Item seven, are there any items from commissioners?

Speaker 2

19:07

All

right, I hearing none. Item eight, there is no unfinished business. I don't think there ever is. Yeah, Commissioner Blackman,

Speaker 3

19:16

I received a call from a community person who said that they were told by customer service that they could no longer come before this board with with concerns of their regarding their service, that it had to be filed, had to be care through customer service, I assured her that that was not the case, that that no directive that came from this board, nor from the director, that we are Still here under items from commissioners, or if I make from your public comments, to receive any concerns that customers have. So I wanted to make that a matter of public

Speaker 6

19:49

record. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. And we have 35 of our customer service agents in training in this building, and we'll make sure that they understand, they understand, and the ones that aren't here will make sure that they also get a memo to make sure that it's no misunderstanding. Thank you.

Speaker 2

20:08

Any

+3

other items from commissioners? All right, there is no unfinished business, so let's move to number nine, the approval of the consent agenda. Items nine, A through J, each of these items was considered in detail before the Finance Commission, and comes from that commission with a recommendation for approval that said, Does any commissioner wish to remove any of the items, A through J from the consent agenda to be considered separately. We're spending 10s of millions of dollars here. We discussed it. You did discuss it. All right, hearing none a motion is is in order to approve the consent agenda.

Speaker 10

21:01

So moved Mr. Chairman Garcia

Unknown Speaker

21:05

and support any discussion

Unknown Speaker

21:10

regarding

any of the items.

Speaker 2

21:15

All

right, hearing none all those in favor of adopting the consent agenda, please say aye,

Unknown Speaker

21:23

and that is adopted,

Speaker 11

21:26

but got your normal statement to remind people that each of these items went through committee and spent hours discussing these items in committee, because we have a committee structure, and the work take place in committee, and so they're here to be disposed of.

Speaker 2

21:44

Do

you use a similar technique in the Board of Commissioners? Similar you have to approve all the contracts on the committee.

Speaker 11

21:55

So basically, they're part of they're bundled, and it's a report that we just basically present to the full commission, yep. So it's bundled, not consent agenda, but they're all bundled under the one report. Yeah,

Speaker 2

22:10

very good. Then we move to item 11, the directors metrics

Speaker 12

22:18

chair. We need to deal. We need to address item number 10, new business on page four.

Unknown Speaker

22:27

A, under new business, 2025162,

Speaker 2

22:33

commissioners, would you like to make a motion? H4, page four. Tell you what I'm going to recognize myself and move that the Board of Commissioners authorized the director to approve DWSD contract, 6007295, to provide grounds maintenance services for a term of five years with Premier group associates, LC, not to exceed $259,186.24

Speaker 2

23:10

and authorize the director to act appropriately to implement this Support. It's been moved and supported is ms Welsh, i

Speaker 13

23:23

Good afternoon Board of Water commissioners. This contract supports our facility team by providing ground maintenance services for all DWSD locations. Primary work includes mowing, edging, litter Debris Removal as well as spring and fall cleanup. Bids were advertised for 36 days, we received two bids. We did issue no bid statements and determined that one vendor responded and said that they didn't have enough time to submit a bid because they were unable to obtain approved tax clearances. Premier group associates was the lowest responsive bidder. They are Detroit certified and hold three Detroit certifications as a Detroit based business, Detroit resident business, and a Detroit small business, and at this time, procurement is recommending to the full board for approval.

Speaker 2

24:11

Any

questions from members of the board or comments, hearing none then all those in favor of adoption of the motion, please say aye, aye, those opposed that is adopted. Next item, b2, 0251, 67, commissioners.

Unknown Speaker

24:37

Commissioner

Kinloch,

Unknown Speaker

24:42

oh, okay, thank you.

Speaker 11

24:44

Yes,

Mr. Chair, I move that the Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit water and sewage department authorized the director to approve DWSD contract 6007309, with LGC global Inc for the water system improvements for a total contract amount not to exceed $19,477,752 and a term of two years. This also would authorize the director to take other action as may be necessary to execute the intent of this vote.

Speaker 2

25:17

Thank you. It's been moved and supported Miss Welsh,

Speaker 13

25:23

this contract supports our engineering group by providing water system improvements by replacing and rehabilitating existing water mains throughout the city of Detroit. This project will service approximately 32,000 linear feet of water main and attached service lines along that stretch of piping. We advertise bids for 30 days. We did receive for bid responses, and LGC was the lowest bidder. They again are Detroit certified, and hold three Detroit certifications as Detroit based and headquartered, as well as a minority owned business enterprise. This contract is funded by state revolving funds and due to Egle procurement guidelines and the risk of loss of funding, is being walked on for Board approval. Today, procurement is recommended to the full board to review and approve so that we can move to the next step for this work to be performed.

Speaker 2

26:17

All

right, are there questions or comments by board members, hearing none all those in favor, please say, aye, those opposed, and that is adopted unanimously. Next colleagues, item c2, 025168,

Unknown Speaker

26:38

is there a motion Commissioner kinlock,

Speaker 11

26:42

I move that the Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit water and sewage department authorizes the director to approve DWSD contract number 6007201, with DLZ Michigan Inc, for sewer condition assessment, sewer flow monitoring, hydraulic molding. See CIP development and design services in the neighborhoods of cultural center, midbury Park, Eastern Market, Greektown, Milwaukee Junction, New Center and tech Town project, DWS 966,

Unknown Speaker

27:18

for a total contract amount not to exceed 15,915,007

Speaker 11

27:23

$46, and a term of three years. This also authorized the director to take such other action as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote.

Speaker 2

27:33

All right, is there support? It's been moved and supported Miss Welsh.

Speaker 13

27:40

This contract also supports our engineering group by providing condition sewer condition assessment, sewer flow monitoring, hydraulic modeling, Capital Improvement Planning and Development as well as design services under the services provider for this contract, DW SD is able to thoroughly analyze the condition of our sewer assets so that they can better prioritize and plan the rehabilitation and or replacement of our sewer infrastructure. DWSD procurement did advertise proposals for 42 days. We received two responses which were evaluated, and DLZ was the highest ranked proposal. DLZ, again, is a Detroit based business and certified through the Creole department and procurement at this time is recommended to the full board for your approval.

Unknown Speaker

28:27

All right, questions, commissioners or comments.

Speaker 2

28:33

Hearing, excuse me, hearing none. All those in favor, please say, aye, those opposed, and that is adopted. And then finally, item d2, 025164,

Unknown Speaker

28:48

yes,

Speaker 11

28:49

I

move that the Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit water and sewage department authorized the director to acquire the properties listed in the attached exhibit a as part of the bright mall, storm water improvement project. No. Bright more, I'm being funny. Bright more improvement project, project acquisition plan included in the capital budget and also authorized the director take out such other action to accomplish the detention of this vote. I just couldn't resist it. I had to do that.

Speaker 2

29:19

It's

been moved and supported. Mr. Smalley,

Speaker 14

29:25

good

+1

afternoon. Sam Smalley, Deputy Director DWSD, we have a very brief presentation. This is in regards to acquiring property for the brightmoor stormwater improvement project. Next slide please. As you may recall, 25 million of the $346 million Community Development Block Grant disaster recovery money being awarded to the city of Detroit from the August 2023 storms is being allocated to support phase one of this project. This project will help reduce basement backup street flooding, and it also will provide some cleaner water discharge to the Rouge River. This project will create a nine acre bio retention pond that will collect storm water and then eventually discharge it after some settling to the Rouge River. The project is currently in environmental review, but we expect the project to start sometime, probably second quarter 2026 and be wrapped up by 2030 Next slide please. This is where the project is located. Again, we are talking about property acquisition for the phase one area, and more specifically, the gold areas, showing as pond area. I believe there are five principal resident exemption properties in this area. There are three urban farms. The vast majority of the property is coming from the land bank. We are working with city council right now to obtain a resolution of necessity that will primarily be used to clean up title on on certain parcels. Some of the property is owned by people, not in the city, not in the state, and some not even in the country. So to ensure that we can get some of that title work cleaned up, we are working with council on that. We do have some visions for the future in the phase two, but again, today, we're only talking about phase one. Next slide, please. Why this area?

This is an ancient stream bed. When glaciers used to cover where we are today, it carved out ancient stream beds that provides area for permeation into the soil. The topography lends itself to this nature based solution. It, while it will help reduce combined sewer overflows. Let me again emphasize this is about flood risk mitigation and making Detroit more resilient based on the changing precipitation patterns that we've already seen. It's close proximity to the Rouge river will allow for direct discharge. And why now, because there's a lot of property currently available. The land holds that the land bank has the trends and flood risks, the changing precipitation patterns that we see. But also this project will help make bright more redevelopment ready by making it storm water ready by already addressing one of the big concerns for development and redevelopment, which is, how do we handle storm water? Next slide, please, go back. Please.

Unknown Speaker

32:55

It would seem that you talked about,

Speaker 3

32:58

you talked about flood mitigation under, why now it should also be under, why here.

Speaker 14

33:05

So one of the one of the benefits is the topography, the elevation, the closeness to the Rouge River. It lends itself to getting some of the storm water, a lot of the storm water, out of the combined sewer system. And let me be clear, we will always have a combined sewer system, even in areas where we do these types of projects, there's footing drains and other area other ways that the system is designed to accommodate storm water, but getting as much out as we can will reserve or enhance the capacity of the sewer system to help reduce flood risk.

Unknown Speaker

33:42

Thank you.

Speaker 14

33:45

Next

+1

slide, please. This is an example of the Far West project that we've already done, although what we're talking about at brightmoor, again, is a nine acre pond, so it'll be similar, but much larger in scale than what you see here. Next slide, some other examples, the Chandler Park Marsh, not necessarily done by DWSD, but another local solution. Next,

Unknown Speaker

34:18

an

example from Houston, Texas. Next,

Speaker 14

34:25

and

+1

another one from North Carolina. And let me just say, we have not started the design. So we've engaged with the community centers, community groups, since December of 2023 but once we start to get into the actual design, we will increase and continue that unity engagement. So we haven't gotten to that point. So we want the community to tell us what they want, what they want it to look like the nature and the field. Next slide, please. Next So again, there's 164 parcels. Total, 102 of them are coming from the land bank. 62 are privately owned. Again, five principal resident exemptions. There are several urban farms, some vacant lots with 18 different owners. Next,

Unknown Speaker

35:22

again, community engagement. Since 2023

Speaker 14

35:27

we're

+1

moving into private property acquisition. We are currently in environmental review, ensuring compliance with the National Environmental Protection Act. NEPA Housing and Redevelopment has the lead on that working in close collaboration with our permits and storm water team, along with, oh, hm, our consultant, so that work will hopefully wrap up near the end of 25 and hopefully construction on Phase One can start. Q1, q2, of 2026 Next please. Happy to answer any questions that you may have Yes.

Speaker 11

36:11

So

this is the part of the overall, overall stormwater management plan. These are, I guess, currently, residential properties, some farmland, and I think I saw 162 parcels. So I know it's important for us to address all the flooding in the increase of rainfall that's occurring right now. So it has been determined that these particular properties. And this, know, this challenging over in, you know, as I called it, bright, more area, but 164 parcels of land. So this is the highest and best use that has been determined to use this large track of residential property, because I'm just saying so

Speaker 14

37:01

this this project, the location, the topography, the closeness to the Rouge River, lends itself to this type of project that will not only benefit the bright more neighborhood by reducing flood risk, but even the way that the regional GL W A system flows, which is from the north to the south and from the east to the west. In this area, it not only helps brightmore, it helps surrounding neighborhoods as well,

Speaker 11

37:31

as far as esthetically in the I guess, you know, just looking at the diagrams, how would it be compatible with the current, I guess, residents residential development over there, but any potential future development? How would it lay within that? Yeah, if a developer say, hey, there's some additional vacant lands in this area, I want to develop a subdivision, because that's a whole nother conversation over in this community. How would it fit within

Speaker 14

38:02

we

certainly see this project as a community benefit. And speaking of community benefits, we're going to engage with the community to see, are they looking for walking paths or benches and things of that nature that CDBG money cannot be used for, but we're looking for grant money and other sources of funding that could be allocated towards that. We think that the pond itself, the example that we show from Far West, very positive feedback from that community about that improvement, and the one that we're looking to create at brightmoor, we think will help add to that. And we think it, I think it will help encourage redevelopment.

Speaker 11

38:45

Okay, so, just saying, so to blend in and one thought would,

Speaker 6

38:50

community is going to design it. We're not going to go in there and tell them, I tried that once at the far west where I wanted to put in a giant slide with snow that you community said, No, we don't want that. Let me tell you what we want. So we're going to work with them. But right now, developers are paying, is it $670 a square an acre for drainage charges? So now you get, you can get a developer to come in put in low income housing around this pond, which will look like a lake, nine acres, will look like a small pond, but it'll look like, you know, you've put low income housing around it, retail development, but more importantly, the developer, you know, for the next 30 To 40 years will get a mitigated drainage charge, because hopefully we'll be pushing the drainage charge off the new project, into this into this pond. Those are the type of things that can happen. Now we've had more than 300 or more parcels on hold for about five years, and now we've got the footprint, and so we were able to release the rest of those parcels, and individual developers could buy them, and

Speaker 11

40:06

so developers will benefit by having this thing. Okay, million

Speaker 6

40:14

dollars will be saved by developers because of this, this project.

Unknown Speaker

40:19

Commissioner Garcia,

Speaker 10

40:22

yeah, I think one of the things that I would like to ask, and I think as I was looking at this, is that looking forward and planning forward, and it's a long process, I'm sure will improve the value of the area based on maybe not flooding, based on prevention, in my understanding that that's part of that whole plan,

Speaker 6

40:44

it is. And you know, a lot of those blocks have one house on the block,

Speaker 10

40:49

but you can't get flood insurance. So

Speaker 6

40:55

and the people we've negotiated deals with, they they want this to get approved and passed, so that they can move on some of those homes that may be worth on the tax rolls $20,000 they will be receiving $100,000 there's an urban garden. We call it a they call it a farm. So it's farm, you know, it could be up to $300,000 so we're not, you know, we're not using eminent domain to go in and just, just pay a we're paying a rate if, if you're renting, you'll get a year's rent free, plus moving expenses. It's a win win for the people that are there, or the for the future development that and the possibilities that can go there. And you know, first thing I saw on the news when I woke up this morning was Macomb and Oakland County flooding, because they got three inches of rain. If that rain had have just moved south, gotta go somewhere. And you know, most of you have heard me say this, we have this once in a lifetime, opportunity to be the greenest city in America, because we control the land. No other city, there's no Boston or Philadelphia or Charlotte that owns the land in the land bank that we own. So we have this opportunity to be able to do these type projects. And most importantly, I'll let this just be my my comments, you know, in the Director's Report, because what I was going to talk about, we have the team, we have the engineering team led by Sam but Lisa Wallach, and the storm water management people that are able to have these shovel ready projects, so that when We find money that was in the Biden administration, $25 million that's already been approved by city council for construction. We just need to acquire the land, get the environmental done this this fall, tear down the abandoned homes or the ones that we buy. And come spring construction season, we're ready to begin construction. So this is, this is the way you mitigate flooding in the environment that we're in, and we're doing, our team is doing a great job, and I will opportunities.

Speaker 14

43:16

We've done a lot of work on the west side from when the upper Rouge tunnel that was approaching a billion dollar expense was canceled around 2008 we were required by our permit with then Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to address that area on the west side. We have met all of those requirements, and now we're looking all across the city, especially areas near the Rouge and Detroit rivers, for similar types of projects. So didn't want people to think we're only thinking about the west side. We also have a number of projects now looking all across the city. Yes,

Speaker 3

44:01

a project of this size, can I can I'm using a different kind of mic. Can you hear me? Okay, a project of this size, and you're dealing with the neighborhood association. Of course, I think the leadership and those who attend those meetings would certainly be elated at what we're doing. How do we know that the information is getting out to the rest of the community so they can be advocates for us as well.

Speaker 14

44:24

The project was mentioned multiple times during the mayor's mandated charter meetings. We've been meeting with community members block clubs, making sure that we're we have the right touch point so far. So I think that our team has done a great job. I don't know, Brian, if you want to expand on that, but we think that we are hitting the right touch points.

Speaker 3

44:47

I would just want to know that not enough people attend these neighborhood association meetings. We may think, well, we're hitting all the touch points, but in terms of getting people to understand the possibilities for them individually. I just, I think it's an ongoing effort. It's not just a one or two times meeting effort.

Speaker 14

45:09

I think, as Director Brown said, I think the the people who are left in this area specifically are very anxious to get moving forward with this project. And just to add a little clarity on the property acquisition, what we are offering is two times the appraised value, or 90,000 minimum all of our actions, we are offering 18 months of rental assistance for tenants. Urban farms will be a going concern. Valuation, and all of our actions will be consistent with the Uniform Relocation Act, because the fall the project that follows this is federally funded, so those are the rules that we're following.

Unknown Speaker

45:54

All sounds great. Thank you.

Speaker 4

45:56

Matt, madam, Vice Chair, just to add to what Deputy Director Smalley said one thing is that these property owners are calling us every week asking when we're going to be ready to purchase their property. So we get those calls pretty frequently. They're very eager. We have done very deliberate outreach with the department neighborhoods and council president pro tem Tate's office, because this is his district. He's been advocating for this project, and we have been doing mailings, door hanging, door knocking. So when we do have community meetings with the neighborhood, along with direct outreach to the property owners, we have had a robust attendance, sometimes a full room to explain this project, and we've done different locations, and just to explain further, that when we do these projects, not only do we do a lot of pre communication and outreach, we continue that into construction. So the four far west storm water project, we are doing committee meetings every quarter to update the community on that project, and we will do so with bright more as well.

Speaker 2

47:11

Any other comments I heard that we're going to city council to get a resolution of necessity, which I presume means we're putting in our back pocket, using eminent domain to acquire property where the owner doesn't voluntarily agree to take the windfall we're offering them.

Speaker 6

47:32

There's one owner that the city has given a lot of property, and so we need this leverage to be certainly we're not going to spend a million dollars on property that we gave you just a couple of years ago and and you never developed it. So there's some negotiations going on. But once we have this, this tool in our back pocket, I'm sure that the settlements will go a lot quicker.

Speaker 2

47:58

Some of us are old enough to remember poletown And yes, okay, and look, if you're offering three times,

Unknown Speaker

48:12

it's a different ball game.

Speaker 6

48:13

We have to be fair to everybody. I mean, the people that are getting three times. We can't give somebody else five or more, we have to be fair to everyone. So

Speaker 2

48:23

Okay, any other questions or comments?

Unknown Speaker

48:30

Does this require action by us?

Unknown Speaker

48:36

All

right, there was all right. There was a motion

Speaker 2

48:40

hearing

no other questions or comments. All those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, and that motion is adopted. All right. Directors, metrics,

Speaker 6

48:55

I

think I said what I was going to say in the previous agenda item be an opportunity to read it, and if you got any other questions next meeting, we'll be more than happy to

Unknown Speaker

49:12

answer all right

Speaker 2

49:14

comments by commissioners. Commissioner Blackman, we

Speaker 3

49:17

have a fire hydrant update, please. I in

Speaker 14

49:25

terms

of the painting, or in terms of operability. As of Monday, there were 186 of our 30,000 hydrants that weren't working, so our team is doing a great job keeping that well below one half of 1% in terms of painting. You may have noticed that we've painted many of the hydrants on the major roads coming in and out of Detroit. I'm not exactly sure where we are into the neighborhoods, but I know that's part of the plan is to get into the neighborhoods.

Speaker 3

49:58

Thank you, because my neighborhood association asked me to get a report, be able to tell them what you said those types and so on six mile that have been painted not yet, on six mile, they have no I said had at the last meeting, they hadn't seen those. Oh, okay,

Speaker 6

50:14

okay, one thing I gave every city council person, they got $1.3 million in their budget to do whatever in their community they wanted. And I asked them all, we could paint every fire hydrant in your district on on the main streets, the secondary streets and the neighborhood streets. And I'm telling you, you'd get all kinds of thank yous from your community if you did that, not one took me up on it.

Unknown Speaker

50:44

Good to know. Thank you.

Unknown Speaker

50:47

Any other items from commissioners,

Speaker 2

50:52

or comments by commissioners, comments By the chair? I have none. Are there any other matters I

Unknown Speaker

51:04

one more time

Unknown Speaker

51:08

passing judge,

Speaker 2

51:09

oh, I appreciate

Unknown Speaker

51:16

Commissioner Blackman.

Unknown Speaker

51:22

So okay, go ahead.

Speaker 3

51:30

I think we wanted to acknowledge the passing of Judge Virgo Smith and the wonderful work he did throughout the years the highest team in which he was held. We've lost two outstanding public servants in the last month, so some of us were closer and throughout the years that worked with him, but we certainly want to send our condolences to the family and to the community.

Speaker 2

52:01

Yeah, I first met Virgil when we were both at Wayne State University, and

Speaker 2

52:15

through coincidence, we ended up living across the street from each other in Palmer woods and his son, Virgil Smith, the third that we all know as Kai, was the same age as my son. So in my son's early years, those two would tear up the neighborhood on bicycles and skateboards. So Virgil has an incredible legacy at his memorial service, the folks who spoke were mentees of his, and there were so many of them, so yeah, we acknowledge that.

Speaker 3

52:57

I don't know if we I wasn't using my microphone, and I was been admonished for that, so please forgive me, but I certainly wanted you to have the opportunity, because you had years and years and years of association with him. And also, I think we, I'm not sure, since our last meeting, the passing of Council of Commissioner Irma Clark, I don't know if we, we acknowledged her last time. I don't think at that last board meeting when I certainly wanted to do it at the board meeting, yes, because of the work that she had done throughout the years and the good she was able to do throughout the years, and she was highly regarded. It was one of the most impressive ongoing services I've attended.

Speaker 2

53:40

I shared the same birthday, which was a fun day to have your birthday. It's July the fourth. Oh, all right. Is there anything else to come before the board of commissioners?

Speaker 12

53:56

Chairman, I'd like to take a quick moment to introduce to you Elizabeth Morales, who is at the side table. She's a new senior general counsel working for me, and she may be appearing in front of the board. And so I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce you to her.

Speaker 2

54:11

Well, you know what your prime directive is, keep us out of jail. Happy.

Unknown Speaker

54:22

Thank you. Is there anything else to come before the board

Speaker 2

54:27

hearing on a motion to adjourn? Is in order, Mr. Chair, it's been moved and supported. Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much. We are adjourned. You. The

Speaker 3

54:49

recording stopped. You handle that well? Thank you. You handle that well. Sometimes, yes.

Speaker 12

55:02

Walter, It's okay. Oh yeah. Yes, okay. Yes.

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