[0:00] so the back area Danielle wants to use as a workout area and then

[4:53] the agenda um with a slight change we just got word

[4:58] that Danisha Brewers unable to be with us this evening so we will strike the

[5:03] presentation from the agenda can I get a second for this please

[5:08] second uh hold on there yeah I'd also like to

[5:12] make a motion to move some stuff around do I have to

[5:17] wait for this vote you want me to wait the second just

[5:21] opens up for discussion okay thank you fine

[5:26] I'm coming he also at his request or do we do a vote on this first no well

[5:33] you can realistically do it either way I mean if there's another amendment it

[5:37] might make more sense to bring up and propose the amendment

[5:40] right

[5:45] okay that's what I said all right so um I told him to go ahead and I was

[5:50] listening I would like to move the closed session

[5:55] to after the items for individual discussion with respect for the time of

[6:01] the people that we have here um and audience today

[6:06] and I would also like to

[6:11] um switch item A and B

[6:16] so B will take the place of a and then they will take the place of B

[6:23] so you want to discuss the question yeah so discuss uh

[6:29] the region affordable housing before um discussions will approve

[6:35] uh changes LLC

[6:42] why

[6:46] you have a rationale for it for moving those two discussion items

[6:51] yeah flipping A and B yes um

[6:55] I think it's pertinent to the discussion okay

[7:12] tell them do I need support on that so there's been the mayor's suggested

[7:18] changes and years suggested changes need a motion and exciting

[7:21] summer

[7:27] Motion in a second so but then we also are moving the closed session

[7:32] to after the right before future agenda items

[7:37] right

[8:06] all right

[8:12] so I guess the only issue is that we had told she's not she's on okay okay so

[8:22] then do we so we have three different motions

[8:26] we're moving the presentation moving closed session

[8:33] to after apps and then we are respecting

[8:39] doing the discussion before the approval and it was correctly yes okay

[8:53] what's the number Williams yes

[8:57] read yes Jackson yes David yes Brent yeah

[9:06] in their standard yes Miss Jones can you mute please

[9:13] public comments um if there's anybody in the gallery

[9:16] that would like to stand and address counsel in regards to an agenda item

[9:21] before we we have the opportunity to do some reference time and you will have

[9:25] three minutes

[9:32] thank you

[9:36] all right

[9:40] foreign

[9:48] minutes for our March 6 study session and the mark six regular session do I

[9:54] have a motion to approve some will support it

[9:58] all in favor say aye aye opposed

[10:04] all right we don't want to on our discussion

[10:08] uh when you affordable housing in

[10:16] thank you

[10:27] anyways do I leave this discussion

[10:33] the discussion on uh affordable housing yep

[10:37] um I believe this should be led by the city manager this is a project that

[10:45] you've worked on right um

[10:49] I think we need to discuss it openly in Council to

[10:54] um to really

[10:58] be brought up to speed as to what this exactly is and what the intent of it is

[11:04] as well yeah so this is um

[11:07] that's your request to have this on as a discussion this was provided to

[11:13] you all so myself along with EDC CEO president first ammerman but with Jane

[11:19] Jones along with Mark Newman and I believe mayor you were on that initial

[11:22] meeting um to discuss potential opportunity to

[11:27] secure um Federal Appropriations or dollars to

[11:30] address an issue in our community when talking we know that affordable housing

[11:35] or just housing is there's a need for that here in our community as well as

[11:40] addressing the underrepresentation of home ownership

[11:45] um so we had discussions on that if there is an opportunity to to kind of

[11:49] improve those issues or address those issues in our community

[11:54] um this model it was um or this pilot was creator

[12:01] modeled after um other models that were successfully

[12:05] implemented one being in Raleigh and the other in

[12:09] testing of the other one um but it would there are two requests

[12:13] one would be working on financial research to identify appropriate land to

[12:20] um to build more housing options as well as work with

[12:25] um Banks and different developers to identify a method that would work for to

[12:30] finance their potential developments also working with like I said local

[12:34] banking institutions to offer Financial opportunities to those to to essentially

[12:41] secure I'm owning a home second piece to that of that would be a

[12:47] programming aspect to provide opportunities for financial literacy I

[12:52] know a lot of individuals right now are living paycheck to paycheck so through

[12:56] these programs they would learn and are subjecting themselves to Payday Loans

[13:01] which are in my opinion predatory loans that put

[13:05] you further behind when you enter you go you take this Loadout with the hopes or

[13:10] and plans to pay it back upon your when you get paid but the interest rates on

[13:14] them are so so high that it just puts you further behind so this program piece

[13:19] would offer that financial literacy or education to to our residents or

[13:25] Community learn on how to improve your credit how to be approved to finance a

[13:31] home to become a homeowner how to better budget and manage your manage um the

[13:38] money that you bring in through working so this with um conversations we worked

[13:42] with Miss Jones to to draft an application to submit for uh the

[13:48] Congressional spending requests they are tight timelines and deadlines

[13:52] um shift from day to day um so these were submitted to

[13:56] um Senator stabenow and Senator Peter's office for for consideration

[14:05] okay

[14:08] now um in this document I see that we so we requested 2.8 million

[14:16] between the two programs between the two programs and then there's a match

[14:21] associated with this as well that it looks like about 2.2

[14:26] is that correct no so the One in-kind support for coming across would be a

[14:31] hundred thousand so we are looking at other opportunities to secure funding at

[14:35] the state level um work with other foundation and

[14:38] corporations to to support that budget okay hold on so

[14:45] let's start with the first one so the amount requested was 2 million

[14:50] um the total project cost is 4 million so are we required to provide a match to

[14:57] that so the One in-kind support would be our match which is a hundred thousand

[15:01] dollars

[15:05] so the city already has um a hundred I mean

[15:09] 1.9 million no so there's time to identify other

[15:15] funding opportunities to um to secure that to take advantage of

[15:19] this as I said earlier in our study session we won't hear an answer on this

[15:23] until probably late November December if it's even selected to move forward it

[15:29] has to be approved as a both on the Senate as well as the house level so

[15:33] there's there's always a possibility that this will not move forward so it's

[15:37] not a guarantee

[15:41] Okay so if it passes

[15:46] we're asking for two million correct we have to through

[15:53] um reaching out to found foundational

[15:56] funding corporate funding um State funding and other funding

[16:01] sources come up within with the additional 1.9 million it's not the

[16:06] additional 1.9 million it's the project support below so a hundred thousand

[16:10] hundred thousand foreign

[16:15] I think the confusion is if you look in the first page it says total project

[16:20] cost is 4 million yeah and then amount requesting is two million so we're doing

[16:25] math and where's the other two million coming your project support only comes

[16:29] in at 550. there's three items develop and research for two million building

[16:34] and renovation 1.5 and Technology a half a million

[16:38] where that's the question where's this other 2 million coming from

[16:43] um that make the four million dollar project I would suggest that the 2

[16:47] million probably allows us to get started

[16:50] that we would then and because it took probably a multi-year program that the

[16:55] development and research part has to happen first before we figure out what

[16:59] buildings that we have to do and then developers would be the ones that we

[17:03] saddling up with the 1.5 recognizing they would have access to additional

[17:07] money to help them build a project a build a building or buildings plural

[17:12] that cost more than two million correct so let me clarify so this request it's

[17:16] only for the development of research aspect of it so it's not including any

[17:19] of the actual building that's just like for the total

[17:24] completion of this program those are other aspects of that

[17:30] so right now we're just looking to research to identify methods to

[17:34] to bring new housing okay now

[17:39] um

[17:41] so this for development and research okay

[17:52] development and research of affordable housing or low-income housing what part

[17:58] of a housing affordable housing okay um

[18:03] the process for

[18:07] um

[18:10] allocating funds to a plan right for a plan like this being that we've had so

[18:17] many conversations around housing um

[18:23] has this I've been on college for a year has this been a typical way that things

[18:28] are done here where we

[18:32] um we go out and look for funding before we actually have a set plan in place or

[18:38] a plan that we've actually um vetted at the council level

[18:44] because um

[18:46] I think November or December 1 we voted on um coming back with the Strategic

[18:54] well a plan for three different plans for

[18:58] housing and then now we have this pilot plan which is already

[19:05] um been applied for funding to support it

[19:09] and

[19:12] all the way up until me asking you to talk about this in this meeting today

[19:18] it has been pretty much shut out from us all I'm not sure

[19:24] um we've seen it in the email um but that email was what two weeks ago

[19:30] I think maybe um and after after the funding was

[19:36] already applied for so

[19:40] I I don't know do you you guys have any input as far as

[19:45] strategically us as a city applying for funds before we actually have been able

[19:51] to vet or add any additional input on um something that at the federal level

[19:58] will tie us to what's already in this document

[20:07] there are several bull areas and one of them is to address and bring different

[20:14] um types of housing here so this would fall

[20:17] under this is kind of what we're doing we're identifying a way to bring a

[20:21] different level of housing to our community which falls under what was

[20:25] approved by our Planning Commission as well as this body so we're not working

[20:30] outside coming up out of anything this we're following what has been identified

[20:34] as a goal by our by our residents because we did engage with our residents

[20:39] stakeholders through that entire process and they would like to see new housing

[20:43] options here in our community councilman bench so with regard to

[20:48] Federal funding I know that again based on my experience last year at my job

[20:54] um we get a call we got a call from our from Branch County representative saying

[21:00] you've got literally five days to submit a proposal for uh you know an allocation

[21:07] so we didn't have a chance to get our Board of Trustees on board other than by

[21:11] email and we had to graph something we had to get it to our Senator within five

[21:16] days like we found out on a Monday it had to be there by Friday there was no

[21:20] way we were going to get a meeting together for everybody to get approval

[21:23] The Proposal that was written was vague enough so that after the fact we could

[21:28] hone that proposal to meet needs that individual

[21:33] board members needed to have a say in right so it was for restoration of the

[21:37] theater we asked for a million dollars and well what does that mean it's a big

[21:42] General thing we narrowed it down while the folks at the federal level were

[21:47] evaluating it we ended up not getting it we it didn't make it past the first

[21:51] round but um so that happens all the time because

[21:55] when people this when the politicians in Washington or even in Lansing decide

[21:59] they're going to start working on budgets it's not set that like on April

[22:02] 1st is when we start budgeting they got all kinds of other stuff going on and

[22:05] then all of a sudden boom it goes and so it doesn't surprise me at all that this

[22:09] was sort of like hey we got to act fast because the deadline is is approaching

[22:14] and if we miss the deadline we're out we're out for a whole year and so I

[22:19] think that in this in defense of of the process that happened it's sort of like

[22:23] we're at the we're at the mercy of the federal government people saying okay

[22:27] we've decided we're going to start talking about budgets even though it

[22:30] it's March normally it's maybe it's April or May but you know they decided

[22:34] they want to start early so um

[22:37] I also think that it's not necessarily the one and only thing we're going to

[22:40] apply for right so

[22:43] it doesn't shut out any other plans that other people have this is just one thing

[22:49] so this does address the two two areas that we had talked about at length in

[22:54] regards to being able to have ourselves prepared to bring in Housing Development

[23:00] this is going to give us the money to start that process but also the

[23:05] educational part the resources that are also going to be given to our residents

[23:10] so these this is two different pieces of Housing and programming which is why we

[23:16] know we need what we've discussed is a necessity

[23:20] so you know with this going forward this I don't remember in my lifetime living

[23:26] here 55 years that we've seen this type of money be able to come into our

[23:32] community to be able to create developer Housing Development when was the last

[23:36] time we've seen large houses

[23:42] so we are way overdue and the fact that we have somebody who's going to be in

[23:48] our Corner fighting for us every step of the way

[23:51] this is just hopefully given us a leverage to get these funds and so like

[23:57] with the cash part and having that money already in place that allowed us to

[24:02] leverage other funds that were available at given opportune times so this would

[24:08] also help leverage us when it comes time for other type of

[24:13] Brands and funds that may be coming down to hopefully get more money on top of

[24:18] this yes thank you

[24:22] um no definitely thank you for the additional feedback I think it was very

[24:25] constructive and brought a lot of context to

[24:31] um you know what's in the document but

[24:36] a few very important points were touched on there

[24:40] um one being the residents and Resident

[24:43] feedback so resident feedback is what

[24:50] should govern Council right we should be here as

[24:55] advocates for the constituents of the city

[25:00] um our precincts and also the rest of the city as well right

[25:04] um and in doing so we need to ensure that we're able to actually Advocate

[25:11] when the planning of certain things are taking place to ensure that

[25:17] um the representation for underrepresented

[25:21] groups um is being

[25:25] handled delicately but also being addressed more importantly right

[25:31] um understand the budgetary funding and

[25:35] having funds available but I also know that if I tell the federal government

[25:41] that I'm going to do something that I'm then in turn tied to specifically do

[25:46] that thing um my

[25:54] for lack a better word frustration in this scenario is

[25:59] the fact that we're now just seeing this in a printed document inside of the um

[26:07] the council agenda whereas we probably should have been brought in on this

[26:11] conversation a little bit sooner so that

[26:16] um if we had any additional input we would have been able to have that

[26:21] um I know in the past deadline was also brought up as um one of the barriers

[26:26] possibly and I know a lot of the times we're under um a certain constraint

[26:31] because you only have a week and it's a meeting in between a meeting or we don't

[26:38] have a meeting you know in between to actually discuss it right

[26:43] um this isn't one of those things

[26:47] um the

[26:50] the follow-up conversation we're going to have with um

[26:55] Mrs Jones will be about her providing services for

[27:01] the city right now it's been said that she also helped on this now the February

[27:07] 14th date on the document that was that's in that section right I would

[27:15] imagine it's tied to this right am I far off from that

[27:23] I haven't read um

[27:27] either way um

[27:32] this document has been around for over a month and we're now just having this

[27:36] conversation last meeting I was I I was told we were going to have the

[27:42] discussion at the meeting it was put into the

[27:46] um city manager smokes which is the last thing on the agenda on my agenda and

[27:51] barely anything that we actually discussed right so

[27:56] for clarity transparency and to actually allow council members to

[28:04] have an input or Insight on planning decisions like this I think we need to

[28:10] actually have these conversations openly so that especially if there's

[28:17] in a lot of the amount of time let's have these discussions so that

[28:22] I can make sure that my constituents are represented you often make sure the

[28:28] chores are represented as well and if we have any additional input cares or

[28:33] concerns we're filled in and we're able to tell people hey look we're working on

[28:40] housing we know it's something that's a constraint here in town and we have a

[28:45] plan in place or you know if the plan doesn't meet our our demands we have

[28:50] input to try to bolster it up to try to help right

[28:56] okay I haven't talked to him but I kind of

[29:00] agree with him I would very much like the things of this importance because

[29:04] it's very important I read it over I understand most of it but I I think

[29:09] that's when we're going to have things that are because people are constantly

[29:13] saying with what's happening in Marshall Albion needs to do Elvia needs housing

[29:19] needs that and and and I agree with that but I think that there's some people who

[29:24] are brought in on the conversation and others who are left out and I think that

[29:28] everybody should be brought in on the conversation so that we all will

[29:32] understand what's happening Council in French so um

[29:39] so I I hear both of you in your comments and and I respect them both but I think

[29:44] that what I'm hearing is is that we as a council approve the Strategic plan and

[29:51] in that strategic plan there were calls for figuring out a way to improve the

[29:57] housing and Albion and then I and so our city manager goes

[30:02] out and tries to address that and now we're telling her that no we

[30:07] need to approve and be involved in all that conversation before she does that

[30:12] is that what I'm hearing or is that not what I'm hearing that's not what you're

[30:15] hearing okay what what you're hearing is if

[30:20] um one of the directors needed to purchase some heavy equipment they don't

[30:24] just go out and purchase heavy equipment they contact their

[30:29] um higher up which is the city manager and they say hey I have a plan in order

[30:34] to do this or we had discussions about tearing down Builders they don't just go

[30:39] out there and order the demolition of this of a building right instead they

[30:44] run the plan by the city manager what I'm saying is is we're all beholding to

[30:51] the people of the city of Albion that's who I answer to right right so in order

[30:57] to do so I need to be able to say yes I had input on this and you all are

[31:03] representing but you I would argue that in fact they were

[31:08] represented because they were part of strategic planning process

[31:12] so they had their input we heard from them that they wanted us

[31:18] to address housing and this is a method for addressing housing

[31:22] not being able to vet the process not being able to vet the clan

[31:28] does not guarantee that they're represented

[31:33] Colin I have a question can you clarify on on that with vetting the plan and

[31:38] just clear on administrative roles and can we how does that all pertain to our

[31:44] form of government well

[31:48] I think some some members of council were on the

[31:52] council the last time we did an MML training and and some were not but I

[31:56] think probably the best line that I think came

[31:59] from our last MML trainer is kind of the division of labor between

[32:05] Council and city managers best summed up as

[32:09] for household determined the what and the why

[32:13] the who where when and how is for the city Administration

[32:23] thank you I don't think I I'm not trying to and I

[32:28] don't think Donovan is it's just trying to tell the city manager how to do birds

[32:33] are we need to understand what is being done and what we answer to the people

[32:38] now she's voted in by us we are voted in by our Precinct

[32:45] and if we don't take under consideration the people in our Precinct then that'll

[32:50] take us into consideration either and so therefore everybody's got

[32:55] somebody else to answer to in order to get this thing done not that we want to

[33:00] tell her what to do is to instructor as to what we want to do but the thing of

[33:06] it is is help me to understand don't leave me out and then all of a sudden

[33:10] you want me to vote on something that I'm really have been left out all this

[33:14] time and don't understand and as far as that strategic plan

[33:19] in a way that was a first because I know I went around to people's door and

[33:23] knocked on it in the people's houses and to different churches and everything

[33:27] trying to get those things signed and so many of them wasn't so that really

[33:31] cannot counter as what Albion is saying okay

[33:35] but I don't but it is not that we're trying to tell her with it we just need

[33:40] to have some understanding too before it comes down to we need your approval and

[33:46] vote on this mayor Tom Jackson yes Colin I need your help

[33:51] so when all this planning was going on were you a part of

[33:56] it did you know about it going on yeah that's the release of this stuff

[34:02] the only thing I did was review the um Consultants contract and make changes to

[34:07] it okay so anytime anything goes to the federal you're not supposed to know

[34:11] anything about it now I'm sorry did you say that

[34:16] anyone before any information goes to them shouldn't we know something about

[34:22] it I mean I'm lost well I don't know I I think the same I'm asking you a question

[34:26] wait I'm giving you an answer okay I think the term any would be very very

[34:30] broad okay so I'm if if something of this sort will stick right here where

[34:34] we're at was brought to the federal to the Senate and we know nothing about it

[34:41] is that okay I think is that okay I don't think it's

[34:46] a yes or no question I think what you have before I think

[34:50] what's before you tonight is maybe getting

[34:53] a little over complicated I mean what in in my mind what you have before you is a

[35:00] question of do you want two million dollars in free

[35:05] Federal money to study for development and Research into

[35:10] uh underrepresented chronic poverty uh and homeownership in Albion and the city

[35:16] is required to provide a hundred thousand dollar match

[35:20] for that for a government program I mean that's what's before you and so should

[35:25] the council be involved in the decision as to whether or not the a that that's

[35:30] something that the city warrants spending money on absolutely that's a

[35:35] question for the council whether or not that money gets approved

[35:38] absolutely that's a question for the council I think you as a council have

[35:43] in in a variety of ways given the manager big picture

[35:47] on on what she's supposed to be doing as a manager

[35:51] how she goes about that is largely her purview and brings

[35:56] anytime she needs to spend money or approve contracts or things like that to

[36:01] council for approval which in my opinion is what you've got in front of you

[36:06] that's that's my two cents on it

[36:17] there's a lot that we don't know about we're happy to get the money I mean I

[36:22] don't think anybody would turn away free money to improve our community so

[36:26] there's a lot that goes on from the hip to the seed from the city manager from

[36:33] the foundation there's a lot that goes on in different agencies and entities to

[36:39] improve our community and we're not aware of it but we're happy to get that

[36:43] money because it's improving our community

[36:45] I mean I wouldn't I mean I'm not doubting him saying that we don't want

[36:49] the money and there's a lot of money that comes in I'm just asking that

[36:54] question because this is a large amount of money if we can't match that even

[36:57] though she says she's going to you know there's other entities that's fine

[37:01] because which talks about the military anything else she's brought that to us

[37:04] and actors that we want to go forward with that okay and I believe that's what

[37:08] she's saying now but I just want more transparency because I understand

[37:12] there's I just know there's more conversation that is yet going on with a

[37:16] few of you and I want transparency okay I want everything that we do okay to be

[37:22] legal and that we have to we have to we have to hold this city up okay so

[37:30] don't don't hit me don't knock me over the head

[37:33] I was right you let me raise my hand and I said what was on my heart and the

[37:38] reason I asked you those questions okay I'm not giving sugar cookies with you

[37:41] guys all right so if I'm able to ask the questions and I want the answers and I'm

[37:47] telling you why so and you can come behind me if you would like to whatever

[37:50] but I'm just letting you know why I'm asking these questions because I'm not

[37:54] sitting in this seat if we were to get something of this sort we don't know how

[37:58] to begin how is that who's all involved with it who's really holding up who

[38:02] who's the middle man who's the body man who's taught me okay I'm not here for

[38:07] this city to go bankrupt I'm not here to stop this from being in progress I

[38:12] just want my questions answered and make sure when I say yeah I'm singing yay to

[38:17] what you guys say you are going to do and next and what maybe I don't believe

[38:20] it's going to happen but I also think there's a lot of your

[38:24] guys's questions I could be answered by Mrs Jones

[38:28] in regards to how this process plays out and I think if we are able to hear from

[38:34] her we can probably get a lot of questions

[38:38] answered in that trying to figure that out amongst ourselves well you're right

[38:42] and I just think when you put something on a piece of paper and it has from the

[38:46] uh I mean February the 14th 2023 to February 14

[38:53] 2024. that tells me something that's already started and I think this is why

[38:57] you're getting all these questions okay that's what I'm just gonna be honest

[39:00] with you when you misrepresent that or put dates like that but there I'm quite

[39:04] sure they're true but no one's going to tell us that and that's where I'm going

[39:07] to go back again legal

[39:12] and not unevitable because I don't want to date nothing I'm gonna tell you that

[39:16] now that you guys started on didn't talk to us about

[39:20] and then you want me to sign there's nothing illegal that has taken

[39:25] place or happened when talking with Mrs Jones on the date and as Colin stated

[39:29] earlier in study session it went to his office there were some back and forth

[39:32] and that's why it's here now for formal approval there's nothing illegal

[39:37] happening about putting in uh Congressional

[39:41] um spending requests a lot of surrounding communities are doing I

[39:43] actually just submitted two letters of support for Calhoun County I know Miss

[39:47] ammerman she was approached by County to support their

[39:50] um their request City about a break they're submitting two requests this is

[39:54] not it an uncommon thing for our municipalities to do and I think we

[39:59] should be taking advantage of any possible opportunity to bring in

[40:03] additional dollars to our community but I if this is not what this Council

[40:08] would like to do I have we can resend our application and we will

[40:13] we will not take advantage of this round

[40:18] yes um Okay so

[40:22] or Clarity on my position and everything that I've spoken to

[40:28] um yes I'm concerned about us having a

[40:33] possible 1.9 million that we need to raise yes I'm concerned possible

[40:38] possibly possibly um I am concerned about the process in

[40:47] which we handle these things now

[40:52] my position is when

[40:56] um such a large ask or something like this that has come

[41:01] um has been a Hot Topic right housing has been a very high topic here

[41:06] um why not bring it to council it it we could have had this

[41:13] conversation the second meeting in February

[41:16] at that second meeting in February um

[41:21] and had I not requested to have this conversation today we still wouldn't be

[41:26] having this conversation and we'd still be out of the loop as far as any

[41:30] contacts to what this really is that's what I'm saying so I don't

[41:36] understand the um the animosity and unwillingness to

[41:41] receive that feedback because that's the feedback I'm giving you all

[41:46] hey when we're going to ask for something at the federal level that

[41:53] um is going to impact all of our the citizens of Albion and possibly any

[41:59] other funding that we may be able to receive as well

[42:02] let's talk about them let's talk about it

[42:06] what's the apprehension to having a discussion that's why we meet we can't

[42:10] have this conversation in closed session and I'm not going to sit down and meet

[42:14] with each one of you individually because I don't have the time to do so

[42:18] so this is both the place and the forum for this discussion so there shouldn't

[42:24] be such apprehension to having this discussion

[42:29] hi there my name is Jane Jones I'd like to correct some information that's been

[42:32] stated repeatedly if that's okay

[42:38] is that okay

[42:44] so I'm I'm asking uh okay so it's we are just having that discussion about the

[42:51] affordable housing okay so she and correct me if I'm wrong Colin

[42:57] are we inviting her into this discussion or

[43:01] um because I just feel like she should be able to have her own discussion in

[43:05] the next topic well you can have your own you can I mean it's up to council to

[43:09] decide whether or not you think adding information from a third party

[43:14] will agent discussion on the current on the current item

[43:17] if the council thinks that it would you can you can have any third party

[43:22] at the discussion if you don't then you can wait until the next

[43:27] agenda item

[43:31] it appears oh wait oh yeah the counseling lawyer has made a point of

[43:37] ours so the mayor has to deal with the point of water groups

[43:41] so then you want to make it to a well whether or not we can allow Miss Jones

[43:44] to speak at this point it's your decision it's your decision

[43:49] and then if the council doesn't like your decision there could be an appeal

[43:53] but it's up to you to decide whether or not

[43:56] basically to say yay or native unemployment because like she had said

[44:00] that she has information and I think that can kind of help

[44:04] a green resolution to a lot of us if that's okay

[44:15] okay Jane floor is yours I think I'm off mute so I just have a

[44:20] couple of couple of concerns that were raised to make sure that they're

[44:23] clarified answers when the request for the two million dollars was done through

[44:27] HUD HUD EDI there is no match required on the federal side what typically a

[44:32] Senate Office likes to see is that there's a total project cost and that

[44:36] total project cost they want to know what the CDs amount is of that total

[44:39] project cost but they want to see the total project cost as far as what that

[44:43] looks like over you know one to two year period of time like the council member

[44:47] said he was spot on so actually there is no actual match required

[44:52] um so on HUD and HUD dollars typically are get can be spent over six years

[44:57] period of time so typically cities like yourselves many of who I've worked with

[45:02] in the past I've never been before a city council meeting before or never had

[45:05] even a city console involved in a CDS request before

[45:09] um and done larger amounts they typically go ahead and have their City

[45:13] Manager work with their department heads so like Public Works would work on one

[45:16] for I don't know Police Department you could have a housing project this works

[45:21] throughout the Public Works director or through whatever employee agencies that

[45:25] they have or departments that they have but typically never never Rises to the

[45:29] level of the city council from my from my understanding perspective HUD again

[45:33] is up to six years so if I was in your shoes of course I'm Not Elected but if I

[45:39] was in your shoes and they're asking for proposals from municipalities

[45:44] you submit at the time when they're asking for them

[45:48] in this situation just so you know for the city manager's perspective the time

[45:52] frame got eliminated down to one week for the application due date that came I

[45:59] believe out of my expertise and knowledge that kind of came after the

[46:03] Republicans took control of the house there was a delay in the speakership

[46:06] because usually the house acts first for the Constitution this year that was a

[46:10] little different and the Senate acted first so we had we had a very tight

[46:15] deadline come up against us that nobody expected to happen usually these aren't

[46:19] doing in the offices until my gosh end of March beginning of April this year

[46:25] anything was fast forwarded really fast and I think it has to do with politics

[46:29] unfortunately

[46:33] so now is the opportunity to ask her questions

[46:36] if you don't have any

[46:41] yeah I don't have a question but it seems to me after hearing you know from

[46:48] Miss Jones as well as what uh Mr French had to say this is something we can't

[46:56] turn down we can't rescind our application if there's something that

[47:01] needs to be done the next time let's look at the next time but this is too

[47:06] much money to get Petty about the smaller things in terms of how it's

[47:11] going to be and the nuances let's look at the bigger picture in terms of what

[47:17] can be brought to the community

[47:22] thank you so much I don't think it's it's um that we don't want to take the

[47:27] money or anything like that I think the concern for most of us well for some of

[47:33] us um is how the process went um I've been on console for six six

[47:39] years now um my first term

[47:43] um things were coming at us and I'm just being frank about it things were coming

[47:47] at us which um within a couple weeks couple days we

[47:52] had to make decisions you know when you rushed into a decision sometimes you

[47:56] make wrong decisions so I think well um some of us are asking here today is

[48:02] to you know you basically had enough time to let us know even if this was a

[48:08] political um slow down

[48:10] it still could have been put out there that you know we doing this but it's

[48:15] being held up at the house you know just keep us informed like some of us are

[48:19] saying because what if uh somebody from the house or or higher up from Lansing

[48:26] it came to us about this and we know nothing about it that makes us looks not

[48:31] like we want to but I mean to go out and do something we

[48:37] don't know nothing about it you know it's really embarrassing when somebody

[48:40] say well hey you know I heard this that and we like

[48:43] I know nothing about it that's that's not a good feeling because I've been in

[48:46] that place before but we do um I think what's what's here today is

[48:52] we need to do a little bit better on our process

[48:56] councilman Williams yes

[48:58] um yeah I think the conversation has gotten a little convoluted in that

[49:03] um the topic of not wanting the money or we're sending the application whatever

[49:09] what have you um we're not guaranteed to get the funds

[49:13] for one and then secondly this is more so a conversation that we needed to have

[49:18] about the actual plan itself because we haven't had a discussion about this plan

[49:25] now if you all are on board with not having discussions about things that

[49:30] take place in the city going forward then we should vote on not having

[49:34] discussions on anything that takes place in the city going forward other than

[49:38] that I will um always Advocate to make sure that

[49:42] things are being discussed openly so that we are informed and we are aware

[49:47] that what's taking place here in the city

[49:50] and when we are not informed when we are not aware if a constituent asks me what

[49:58] has happened with the housing or what is happening with something you know it is

[50:02] really okay to say I don't know right now but I can get the answer for you

[50:07] that's when you pick up the phone and call one of these three people we are

[50:12] here to answer all of the questions all of the time you know we've hired people

[50:17] to do that and when we don't have the answer all we have to do is pick up the

[50:23] phone and call and say I'll get back with you as soon as I get an answer so

[50:28] but the Nuance of trying to run day-to-day activities really isn't what

[50:33] MML tells us we're here for so you know that part of it really concerns me I

[50:41] don't expect to know everything but I expect to know when I have a question

[50:46] that I always have someone to go to to answer that question

[50:53] can I call the question

[51:07] that's right councilman Williams yes um

[51:13] okay um well being that we have Miss Jones on

[51:17] um I do have a couple questions for her now

[51:21] I can reserve a few of these questions for the actual

[51:25] um her actual agenda item

[51:29] um but I do have um a question or two that I would like

[51:32] to ask her okay

[51:38] let me see

[51:41] all right Mr Jones is is there a reason why the 2010

[51:45] um Census Data was used as opposed to the 2020

[51:49] oh man I it was it was accessible to us that's what that's what we used

[51:57] we can if you want to go back and change it I mean

[51:59] now would be the time for you to change it but there was no there was no edits

[52:03] or grammars for that or grammar changes for that it went through

[52:07] um at least three or four different levels of review

[52:10] um within the city and it was never questioned it might just be

[52:14] accessibility yeah the reason I ask is because

[52:18] um the population numbers different

[52:23] a lot in between uh 2010 and 2020 um we could easily send a correction

[52:29] letter to the Senators if that's what you choose to do I would be cautious

[52:32] about um modifying application before it even

[52:36] gets approved or looked at no I think you answered my question as

[52:39] far as why the um information was used um I trust that you all know what you're

[52:45] doing as far as that goes I just you know had that question because it came

[52:50] up yeah um

[52:57] um

[53:06] yeah I think that's it I can ask the rest of them

[53:13] Jones right now

[53:20] right now all right so we're done with the discussion

[53:29] so do I have a motion to approve of the consultant agreement with Miss Jane

[53:34] Jones so I moved before

[53:40] all right so

[53:45] sitting in the Schneider do you want to get the lead on this one yeah so through

[53:51] excuse me um as stated in the study session with

[53:56] we were connected with machines um Miss Jane Jones through Mark Newman

[54:00] with the college she does this work for us her profession

[54:06] um she recently worked with the battlefield 9 say as well as album comes

[54:09] into secure funding through the last year's round I don't want to speak for

[54:14] her so I'll let her um share a little bit about herself and

[54:19] um allow you guys to answer any questions

[54:24] you're up James okay let me get back on so good evening hope you can hear me uh

[54:30] my name is James is that a yes yes my name is Jane Jones

[54:37] um thank you so much I have spent I have to think about that for a second here

[54:41] I've spent at least the last three years doing um cds's Community direct support

[54:45] which is kind of the new word for earmark

[54:49] um before that I did rfps for City councils for non-profits uh after

[54:53] earmarks were um gone away from government for a couple of years I

[54:58] worked in the U.S Senate for three or four years worked for our governor for a

[55:03] couple years was a professor of political science absolutely love

[55:07] helping organizations that are smaller in tight get funding there they don't

[55:11] have to go and um hire a very expensive person to do this sort of work for them

[55:16] I will say this um I don't have a website on purpose

[55:19] because I would get junk thrown at me every Sunday and I'm very picky about

[55:22] who I choose to work with I have a very fond appreciation for

[55:25] um album College I have a fun appreciation for the album Community I

[55:29] like that you have a direct need for housing and I think that that's a very

[55:33] strong proposal right now um I think that it is

[55:39] nonpartisan I think that that's that's good that you are looking to help your

[55:44] community with a need that fits into the priorities and the so-called buckets of

[55:50] funding that's available right now and I um this process will be long for the

[55:55] next two years cycle we're in the first year that cycle I don't know what's

[55:58] going to happen after two years after that the House Republicans just voted

[56:01] for this process to continue for at least the next two cycles we're in year

[56:03] one like I just said and so we'll have other opportunities to do other projects

[56:07] come year two that you wish you can use the money for

[56:11] programming building your innovation technology

[56:14] um law enforcement uh specialized equipment

[56:19] um everything patrol cars to fire trucks is

[56:22] all type of funny that most municipalities go after I will say that

[56:26] Senator Peters has a different take on it than other Senators do where he

[56:30] actually requested as a public entity that applies for the funding and I think

[56:34] that is a direct show that he wants uh municipalities and counties to be

[56:39] applying for these type of those type of dollars versus what traditionally seems

[56:43] to be for um any way that's a non-profit anything that anything that's not

[56:47] for-profit can apply for it's a year-long process it takes about

[56:51] a year to get funding usually um you have to go through the community

[56:55] process once he goes to the committee process we should be hearing um if we

[56:59] made the first round of cuts so to speak we should be hearing probably oh gosh

[57:04] Transportation HUD would be don't I I when I second when I was

[57:08] saying on a date people are gonna be like Jane said April 30th so I'm not

[57:11] going to say that but it should be early be before the second week of May and

[57:15] then we'll have another round of one more probably before June 1st and

[57:21] then um the Senate typically passes their bills the house passes their bills

[57:24] they negotiate together and then they finalized on this bill and that always

[57:28] seems to now come down um after the first CR it'll come down to probably

[57:32] passage in November or December

[57:41] anybody have any questions for Miss Jones

[57:49] right all right um

[57:54] all right Miss Jones now you're still awake a little too quick but I'm gonna

[58:00] see if I can't remember some of what you said previous to not ask any additional

[58:04] questions that you've already addressed um

[58:08] so areas that you typically have success in

[58:12] um in raising funds for um can you mention a few of those of

[58:17] course yeah it's a bigger bucket so it's Healthcare education it's Arts it's

[58:22] building a renovation absolutely it's the the what what where the buckets are

[58:26] funding are allocated for okay okay now um

[58:31] are you mainly focused on um

[58:36] Congressional spending or federal level spending or is there also like private

[58:41] spending that you you know private funding that you

[58:45] um raise as well well I don't raise money I actually go

[58:49] and consult and write the for the funding I'm not raising and solicitating

[58:52] for any dollars I don't ask for dollars for anybody on your behalf or never have

[58:56] never will um so I'm the I'm I'm traditionally just

[59:00] called a grant writer not a solicitor of funds that's actually a really big

[59:03] technical question to assume um I pretty much do federal I do some

[59:07] State and I have been asked to do some foundation work for folks which I'd like

[59:11] to do okay perfect

[59:26] okay I think so cool

[59:36] I'm sorry Johnny Hartness I just wanted to note that the there's a motion and a

[59:40] second to approve it it would need to be with the amended days

[59:47] we need to burn that out

[59:55] so then the date would have to be amended to actually when we go into this

[1:00:01] agreement

[1:00:07] any other questions for Miss Jones

[1:00:12] councilman French I I just want to say thank you for um for doing this

[1:00:17] speculative work for us we do appreciate it

[1:00:20] um and uh I'll keep our fingers and toes crossed

[1:00:26] councilman yeah um Mr Jones just for a little Clarity how long have you been

[1:00:32] working with the city

[1:00:35] well I wouldn't consider myself not working with the city because I've been

[1:00:38] under no contract I've been working with Albin college for the last oh Lord I

[1:00:42] wish Mark was here could you tell me I think we've done it for two cycles

[1:00:47] yeah and then I was I was contacted by the

[1:00:51] help me please Haley to correct me I think it was a Elven Economic

[1:00:55] Development Corporation is who reached out to me the first time

[1:00:58] to say that we have a housing issue when we did we did a phone call and I said

[1:01:03] listen the deadlines coming up if you're going to hop on this we need to move

[1:01:06] when you get in while the Iron's hot if you don't you'll be sitting sitting

[1:01:10] stale like every some other cities do and you'll never be able to be in a

[1:01:13] favor moving forward

[1:01:17] all right thank you any other questions comments

[1:01:22] but Jane thank you for being patient and being with us tonight to give us

[1:01:27] information my pleasure thank you

[1:01:34] all right yes Thompson Williams yes so um

[1:01:38] if I'm understanding this right the utilization of herb services and every

[1:01:44] use is ten thousand dollars is that the case at I mean like foreign

[1:02:02] per month so you could use me for up to like I don't know it would be silly to

[1:02:07] use me if you do like 15 different requests because we'll never get 15

[1:02:09] different requests to go through and that's that's something I would advise

[1:02:12] but if we wanted to use this again for next year it's a yearly feeser

[1:02:16] okay thank you and Johnny Hartness do you have a

[1:02:22] question or comment I was just going to say that I mean unless the original

[1:02:26] motion maker is going to accept as a friendly and then the day change to a

[1:02:29] vote with the the chain with the change dates

[1:02:34] and then vote on the main question right

[1:02:38] I would move that we changed the Consulting agreement timeline from

[1:02:43] February 14 2023 to March 20th of 2023.

[1:02:50] extending extending for one calendar year

[1:02:54] support

[1:03:03] so you vote on that report on the main questions

[1:03:06] so revolting and agreeing to change the date from March 20th and include for one

[1:03:15] February 20th

[1:03:18] yes for one year

[1:03:22] that's what we're voting on right now

[1:03:26] council member Williams yes Reid yes Jackson no Butler

[1:03:35] yes Davis yes friends yes and mayor Snyder

[1:03:40] yes now we are voting on the contract for the approval

[1:03:48] because council member Reed we're going on the

[1:03:53] what so now we're voting on The Congress yes

[1:03:58] Jackson no

[1:04:01] Lawler

[1:04:04] yes Davis yes French yes Williams yes and

[1:04:10] mayor Schneider yeah

[1:04:14] thank you Jane welcome aboard

[1:04:19] Bring It On

[1:04:23] all right next and your packets we have applications for reappointment for my

[1:04:28] timq for the building authority in nydia walks

[1:04:32] um for the CDA support

[1:04:37] questions or comments

[1:04:42] benefits local number Jackson yes yes

[1:04:48] right yes well yeah yes three yes and mayor standard yes

[1:04:55] they have a motion to approve the second reading ordinance 202302

[1:05:01] to amend uh Finance for purchase and bids

[1:05:07] support

[1:05:10] attorney Hartness um so this is the same ordinance you saw

[1:05:15] at your last meeting this is the second reading the primary changes are

[1:05:19] raising the uh managers budgeted spending Authority from 5 000 to 15 000

[1:05:24] without pyramiding um anything over fifteen thousand

[1:05:28] dollars has to be uh pursuant to our bid process

[1:05:32] um Steve here uh the uh

[1:05:38] uh city manager has to uh report all expenditures in excess of a thousand

[1:05:43] dollars uh to um

[1:05:46] to counsel um

[1:05:48] we built in a provision such that uh if the city manager goes out for bids and

[1:05:54] there are no responsive bids um the process from that point is to

[1:05:58] solicit not less than three plus three proposals to bring to council uh for

[1:06:04] approval uh based on the recommendation of the city manager for one of them

[1:06:09] um and uh the other change that we made is once city council approves a contract

[1:06:15] the city manager does not then have to come back to council to experience

[1:06:19] approve expenditures under that contract because it's redundant in that Council

[1:06:24] has already approved the contract so it's intended to

[1:06:28] streamline things in that regard but the biggest change was raising the spending

[1:06:32] threshold because uh that 5 000 personal hasn't been updated since the early 90s

[1:06:37] and five thousand dollars does not go very far the city of Albion

[1:06:43] do we have questions for our attorney

[1:06:48] pretty quick let me go council member Lawler

[1:06:52] yes Davis yes friends yes William yes Rainey yes Jackson yes and there's yes

[1:07:05] do I have a motion to approve the first reading of ornaments 202303 uh to and

[1:07:12] chapter 18 for the rental registration

[1:07:19] and it's director Arnold are you going to give us some insight

[1:07:37] essentially changing these yearly data that we require residential units to be

[1:07:42] registered on April 1st of each year in October 1st of YouTube with our adoption

[1:07:48] schedule our plans to get that rolled out this year lining up we're right with

[1:07:52] instructions

[1:07:57] in the city and that state will to start an instruction season and a practical

[1:08:04] inspection season at the same time and with the nature of our office we're

[1:08:09] going to run into that issue every year so here before we get started easier to

[1:08:12] go ahead and put that out into the registration date out past the summer

[1:08:17] and give everyone some breathing room

[1:08:21] do we have any questions for director artist councilman

[1:08:25] thank you so much was there a reason um that that we decided to do a yearly

[1:08:33] yeah so we registered events yearly in programs like this I guess in general

[1:08:38] everyone else who was doing the rental certification program was doing the year

[1:08:42] of the registration so they have a different schedule for the inspection

[1:08:46] than they do for the registration they want to make sure that they know every

[1:08:49] year where the revenue units are there's tax purposes for that accept results as

[1:08:55] well as just paying a lot of good information for our residents on the

[1:08:59] conditional properties and even I'd like to be able to quite

[1:09:03] get some better customer service people really call my office with a lot

[1:09:07] of bad questions and being able to provide them some additional information

[1:09:12] like we were planning on our registration sheets to just ask each

[1:09:16] property owner if they'd like to be included when residents come to us and

[1:09:19] ask hey who's running um and so we were going to start using

[1:09:23] it also other stuff information on where you can find

[1:09:27] housing actively to our residents

[1:09:36] when you look at the draft of the ordinance here really the only changes

[1:09:40] to the language or in section and subsection a numbers one two and three

[1:09:46] everywhere you see where it says October one that previously read April 1. so

[1:09:51] that's the only change that was made in those three sections we just switched

[1:09:54] April one cut over one

[1:09:59] yep any other questions

[1:10:07] yeah I'm just having a hard time with um if you already registered why you gotta

[1:10:12] registered I'm just having a hard time yeah so that

[1:10:17] um get back something we want to look back

[1:10:20] at that was in the ordinance uh we adopted in order to parental

[1:10:23] registration and now so we have that yearly registration so that we have an

[1:10:27] accurate list of what part of the properties of properties so that we're

[1:10:32] not asking to inspect our properties that we don't know right under the

[1:10:36] rental agreement

[1:10:44] we don't want to have someone registered in two years ago that you know this year

[1:10:50] imagine a situation in the future where you register once now you've sold that

[1:10:55] moments it's a different family in there and then the city starts sending letters

[1:10:58] to that address based on a previous owner's registration that start

[1:11:03] pressuring uh an owner occupied payment for inspections that we have no right to

[1:11:08] and they haven't released so it's it's the yearly registration

[1:11:12] um it's a 35 per unit registration fee which is

[1:11:17] all that's considered or municipalities fairly modest and uh yeah it's kind of

[1:11:23] essential to to the ordinance if there were changes to that I I'd love that in

[1:11:27] a longer conversation maybe we can get some coming back together

[1:11:34] mayor pretend Jackson yeah so um the fee so that's another whole yearly free yeah

[1:11:41] I just don't want to make sure that we're not going to use the word tax not

[1:11:45] taxes but taxing our um homeowners right rental and I think

[1:11:50] that is kind of the to do that every year

[1:11:55] I think it's something that we need to rework it to revisit

[1:12:01] any other questions or comments

[1:12:06] any questions

[1:12:09] yes friends yes well you know yes read yes Jackson yes Butler yes and there's

[1:12:18] Daniel yes they have a motion to approve the white men uh proposal for the medc

[1:12:23] cdbt public General stage France support

[1:12:30] yes thank you mayor so the Michigan Economic Development Corporation or the

[1:12:34] medc they recently released the cdbg public gathering spaces Grant

[1:12:38] application um So currently the DVA they've been

[1:12:41] working with Whiteman and Associates to develop a site master plan for Stouffer

[1:12:46] Plaza um they've been working with project engineer Ben Baker I'm upon this

[1:12:50] grant announcement um Ben reached on said the Stanford

[1:12:54] Plaza is an ideal project for this type of funding so we discussed

[1:13:00] um there's a subcommittee from the DDA we've met with them and we discussed if

[1:13:04] they will provide us with a proposal to move forward with this I think this is a

[1:13:07] good opportunity for the city to collaborate or partner with the DDA to

[1:13:11] submit a Grant application to get this to complete some of the projects that

[1:13:15] have been identified in that Master Plan um so the application deadline is April

[1:13:20] 28th um there is a 10 local match requirement

[1:13:24] for a total project cost the minimum Grant award is 750 000 up to 2 million

[1:13:30] um so we will be splitting this proposal cost so the city will cover 2004 87.50

[1:13:36] with the DDA remaining covering that remaining half

[1:13:40] any questions for our city managers

[1:13:48] they declared to meet up council member friends yes Williams yes three yes

[1:13:54] Jackson yes dollar yes David yes and they're excited yes

[1:14:01] did I have a motion to adjourn to closed session

[1:14:04] all in favor say aye happy roll call I'm sorry

[1:14:11] councilmember Jackson yeah Butler yes Davis yes friends yes William yes yes

[1:14:22] meeting adjourned at 11 PM

[2:12:15] right everybody please make sure that your microphones are turned back on

[2:12:24] go ahead and resume council meeting at 909 pm

[2:12:33] close up our meetings do we have any future agenda items

[2:12:45] all right oh

[2:12:50] I have to refocus just a minute I have some notes to myself

[2:12:56] um I would just like to follow up on the collaboration and to make sure when we

[2:13:04] present ourselves when we collaborate regarding that policy in terms of

[2:13:12] inter-governmental agreement in terms of who is going to do what so we will

[2:13:18] present ourselves in an organized and fashionable manner when we're dealing

[2:13:24] with developers and when we're dealing with people who are interested in the

[2:13:28] community I know um

[2:13:32] at the last meeting we talked about the housing Champion goals and we even took

[2:13:39] it to the point of a possible resolution you know EDC and uh city council should

[2:13:47] work together you know along with and I like the idea of the city manager and

[2:13:53] director of EDC working together and we want that to be

[2:13:58] solid you know we want it to be clear-cut in terms of who is responsible

[2:14:05] for what you know as it's presented to the public you know the two

[2:14:10] organizations may know the two boards may know but we want it to be presented

[2:14:15] to the public in terms of inter-governmental agreement between

[2:14:20] city council and EDC and maybe to come back and talk about who has

[2:14:27] responsibility for what and how it's going to be carried out because we're in

[2:14:32] a pivotal um position being on the edge of a

[2:14:38] marshall basically we don't want to discourage any developer we don't want

[2:14:43] them to feel that we don't know what we're doing

[2:14:46] we can't make up our own minds about something so if their their cut dot

[2:14:52] guidelines in terms of everybody's opinion then we won't need the housing

[2:14:58] Champion girls we won't need uh you know a resolution because that

[2:15:04] intergovernmental agreement will be there so we would like to have something

[2:15:09] like that in terms of what A.D EDC expects as well as what

[2:15:16] um city council expects

[2:15:20] any other item uh Christmas is she'll be here and then I would also

[2:15:28] I'm going by things people have asked me can we have someone from the connector

[2:15:32] Elvia Marshall connector come and talk about the program and how their

[2:15:37] schedules and things run because

[2:15:41] sometimes they don't run it and so people have to find other ways to get to

[2:15:48] where they're going so it'd be good to have them come

[2:15:52] and not just as necessary for next meeting but it just that idea popped

[2:15:56] into my head if we're thinking about a battery plan we better get with

[2:15:59] transportation to figure out a way whether we can get bus transportation

[2:16:03] for Albion residents out to that battery plant as we start thinking about

[2:16:07] jobs and things to see the email that came from I have an update on that for

[2:16:12] you yeah okay because there was an email oh great

[2:16:16] okay

[2:16:24] any other agenda items all right public comment so if there's

[2:16:30] anybody in the agenda that in the agenda in the gallery that would like the stand

[2:16:34] and address Council you you can have the opportunity in three minutes of Tours

[2:16:44] so okay my name is here in Albion

[2:16:50] 26836 B Drive South um I just want to say well it's a couple

[2:16:56] of points I want to know just like uh the land bank

[2:17:01] um we had a couple meetings with the community I would like to have an

[2:17:04] opportunity to speak with whoever's running the fan bank because there seems

[2:17:08] to me that it's it's like difficult sometimes to uh there's certain

[2:17:14] developers that want to do things in Albion and they're saying they're having

[2:17:16] a difficult time getting a property so I want to be able to bring instead of

[2:17:22] uh asking you guys I want to go right to the source and be up for the for the

[2:17:27] community can ask them questions so they can have their questions answered by the

[2:17:31] right person oh that's one uh two uh uh full hardly agreed with what Miss Davis

[2:17:36] was saying um I'm all for the project coming from

[2:17:40] uh to Marshall uh but I don't want a piece of the pie I want the whole pie

[2:17:46] I want so that can spawn something for Albion

[2:17:51] but like she was saying we have to be in order for that when you're in business

[2:17:56] and you're bringing that type of capital um I'm not going to spend my money

[2:18:00] somewhere where they're where we're not all on the same page because that's

[2:18:05] going the end result gonna be we're gonna miss out on money

[2:18:08] so far and I put this on me as far as me

[2:18:13] I played life like I play the game Monopoly that's the only board game I

[2:18:18] would play with my children because I'm teaching about life and they don't even

[2:18:21] know it so right now today I see my business as Boardwalk

[2:18:28] here real shortly I'm trying to buy Park Place so just you know if we all work on

[2:18:36] one Accord we can get a lot done you know

[2:18:40] and one thing other thing that I see is there's a trust

[2:18:45] uh link missing here in order to be on a good team you have

[2:18:52] to trust one another you you have to you know because

[2:18:57] I've seen it over the years I've been hoping and wishing for some young people

[2:19:01] to get on city council and be the city manager and all we we wanted that once

[2:19:06] they get there we got to support these people and you all got to work together

[2:19:10] so because we're doing the greater good for this community I want the end result

[2:19:15] is um and I'm running out of time the end

[2:19:17] result is you want the little children that grew up in Albion to have a similar

[2:19:22] story that I can tell about Alvin I don't want to hear about the what could

[2:19:26] have been and what but we can have it today we just got to work together

[2:19:29] that's it thank you

[2:19:36] anyone else in the gallery

[2:19:42] come on

[2:19:49] I'm Charles Savage and I live at 4184 Brown Road in harm of Al Smith 1209

[2:19:59] Adams Street here in Albion I moved to Albion in 1962.

[2:20:06] with my wife and daughter and Mr Williams there was no housing in

[2:20:11] Albion in 1962 available to my wife and my child

[2:20:17] and I'd like to see that change in the near future

[2:20:23] what we and Mr Smith and I are out here for is to address

[2:20:28] one item and that's the front lawn of the karma correction the Albion American

[2:20:36] Legion Post it's referred to as Barnes Park

[2:20:42] have any of you been down to Barnes Park recently

[2:20:46] yeah don't lie and say it's been there this Reed thank you yeah if you have and

[2:20:55] down there don't bother to go with a picnic lunch

[2:20:59] because you will not find a table or anything that you can put that picnic

[2:21:05] lunch on to eat and if you plan on growing

[2:21:09] don't take your own Grill now the reason Mr Smith and I are up here is because we

[2:21:16] as part of the Albion American Legion want to take on that Park as a project

[2:21:23] this year to refurbish all those tables all the underpinnings and make that a

[2:21:32] park that is a park it has been deflected since

[2:21:37] 1983 when the responded by the Land Development on the Lansing and then

[2:21:44] there was a nice gift of I think I said I quoted the wrong number the other day

[2:21:49] five thousand dollars in one year and then fifteen hundred dollars next to

[2:21:54] make sure that was acceptable that's what Mr Smith and I are here we

[2:22:00] can see anything we met with Mrs Miss Snyder we went with Miss Jackson we

[2:22:07] showed them the pictures they had said oh really

[2:22:11] let's see what we can do we are going to take that on with the council's

[2:22:16] permission and everyone else to bring that back to this it wasn't thing that

[2:22:24] your people want to enjoy if you were to go down there on the fourth of July

[2:22:29] you couldn't have done it you'd have to sit on the grass and the trees are

[2:22:35] overtaking the river we have to work with the DNR so that's a task that's in

[2:22:40] front of us we're up to it and we want to take it out so that's why we're

[2:22:45] sitting here as long as we have been and being patient thank you

[2:22:53] there's a collaboration that we are going to work with Miss Snyder and Miss

[2:22:58] Jackson on uh and what uh Mr

[2:23:04] well he had failed to mention is we are funding this we are going to pay for the

[2:23:09] lumber we're paying for all the nuts and bolts screws washers we're going to do

[2:23:12] all the Labor uh we're going to have the Boy Scout Troops down there with us uh

[2:23:17] we're going to clean up the park completely build all new picnic tables

[2:23:21] well the bases are still paint those uh pressure treated lumber on all the

[2:23:26] tables uh the only thing we're asking from the city at this point is uh grills

[2:23:32] uh and trash cans and fix the water fountain

[2:23:36] other than that it's our baby and permission yeah thank you thank you very

[2:23:42] much

[2:23:46] anyone else like to stand in a dress I was like Council

[2:23:50] pardon

[2:23:53] you're done

[2:24:03] hi my name is Virgie ammerman um I live at 305 East Main uh in Homer

[2:24:09] and I'm the current EDC president and CEO of Albion and I'm happy to be in

[2:24:15] that role um uh I wanted to

[2:24:20] recognize uh Mrs Jones's Jane Jones's comments about how much she appreciated

[2:24:27] that we have a housing lead and how critical that's going to be so I take

[2:24:32] that as this council tonight opted to contract with her for her Professional

[2:24:38] Services and I believe that's because you see her as a professional subject

[2:24:43] matter expert and for her to say that it's good that we're having a lead I

[2:24:48] think that gives us an idea that from the external point of view that's very

[2:24:52] critical so I hope that that um was Was Heard by you it was heard by

[2:24:58] me and I appreciate her for that comment um we are working very diligently with a

[2:25:03] new housing committee to have an oversight uh that is a mix between the

[2:25:07] city and the EBC board to make sure that we're creating housing in the

[2:25:12] appropriate ways um as most of you know uh by now I'm

[2:25:16] very process oriented um I'm very transparent

[2:25:21] I mean I'm also collaborative and strategic and

[2:25:26] uh intentionally compassionate so um I grew up here this is my hometown

[2:25:30] this means a lot to me so if I ask a lot of questions or I'm very curious you

[2:25:36] just need to know that's how I learn and that's how I find out what I need to

[2:25:41] know so I can do the right thing and make the right next steps I did

[2:25:45] appreciate the opportunity to be involved

[2:25:49] um with the discussions with Jane Jones I was introduced to her back in October

[2:25:54] by Mark Newman who's on my board and very much appreciate that and we began

[2:25:59] conversation shortly thereafter between the city manager and the mayor and I as

[2:26:04] we began to formulate those applications so it was good to have a template that

[2:26:10] was used in the last round by Mr Newman at Rustin and then we just uh kind of

[2:26:16] you know did some changes so it was good to have that much time to spend on those

[2:26:21] we took a little break over Christmas holiday but it was nice to have a long

[2:26:25] period of time and I think that it would be good for us as a process to make sure

[2:26:32] that others are aware of some of those things so that we can you know be in a

[2:26:37] Unity um I know we just helped city with a 5.8

[2:26:41] million dollar infrastructure ask that was for the roads and um I did circulate

[2:26:46] that out for letters of support and I do appreciate that you were able to provide

[2:26:50] those things

[2:26:55] anyone else

[2:26:59] or in city managers reporter yes thank you mayor so copying my report

[2:27:04] wasn't included in the packet number one so the American Legion service project

[2:27:07] yes council member Jackson and I we met with those two fine gentlemen in the

[2:27:11] back on Tuesday March 7th to discuss the proposed service project for Barnes Park

[2:27:16] um so I have reached out to the DNR to get approval so that we can remove or

[2:27:22] they can remove some of the trees within that watering clean up that area

[2:27:27] um we're very thankful that they are offered to take on refurbishing all of

[2:27:32] the picnic tables at last week's um Recreation advisory commission we the

[2:27:37] board discuss amending our current Parks and Recreation master plan

[2:27:41] um it was shared at council meeting a few meetings ago president Jackson the

[2:27:45] other improvements to that Barnes Park when talking with

[2:27:50] um our grant administrator through the state they recommend that we do include

[2:27:55] those projects in our master plan it just opens us up to additional grant

[2:27:59] funding to to fund that additional proposed project so that's in the

[2:28:03] process but we are very thankful to um for the American Legion offering to

[2:28:08] assist us in cleaning up that park space on the DDA they held their regular

[2:28:14] meeting on March 1st um the biggest topic of discussion was the Downtown

[2:28:19] parking study the downtown speaker system and the public gathering space

[2:28:23] grant program um with the Downtown parking study

[2:28:27] um the results of that study shows that we are in a good position to support the

[2:28:31] new development that has already begun to happen and will continue to happen in

[2:28:35] our downtown area we have um enough parking while I would say more

[2:28:40] than enough to to support that I think we wanted to get ahead of that new

[2:28:45] development make sure that we can support the new businesses and the

[2:28:49] residential units that are planning to come to the downtown area that parking

[2:28:53] study supported what we kind of already thought they also provided us with some

[2:28:58] budget information on how much it would take to repair not only a full lot but

[2:29:03] even individual parking spaces um so we will be trying to work that

[2:29:07] into our budget so that we can start to improve the parking lots in in parking

[2:29:11] spaces out that surround our downtown area

[2:29:15] I'm the medc um myself and CEO president of immerman

[2:29:20] we met with our medc rep mashallah Bauman on Wednesday March 8th just for

[2:29:25] our monthly check-in meeting we just discussed the two current projects um

[2:29:29] which are the cdbg rental rehab and then the first stage of the Albion plan

[2:29:34] um she did share with us that a second round of the revitalization and place

[2:29:38] making program um will be announced by the medc in the

[2:29:41] near future so I know that we were going to discuss possible projects that we

[2:29:45] could take advantage of that grant funding so stay tuned for more

[2:29:48] information on that um summary with employment the Workforce

[2:29:52] Development Committee a few members of that committee and I met on Thursday

[2:29:56] March 9 to discuss summer youth employment opportunities here in town so

[2:30:00] the group Now is working to identify the need for a 2023 youth employment we do

[2:30:04] realize that we're kind of starting a little late in the game for this um this

[2:30:07] year summer season but still getting that data will help put us in a better

[2:30:11] position to make sure that we are ready to go come next summer

[2:30:17] baby held their regular meeting on Thursday March 9th

[2:30:21] um I did send out an email I believe was the end of last week to you all so

[2:30:25] um and to share that final report from our Saturday strategic goal session so

[2:30:30] myself and my team we met on Tuesday March 14th to re review and discuss that

[2:30:34] final report um as suggested in the final report we

[2:30:37] are working to refine the proposed goal statements and identify initiatives to

[2:30:42] address those goals and we will bring that back to council and then it will be

[2:30:46] up to the city council to prioritize the goal statement so please um we should

[2:30:52] have that report ready to go by the first April meeting

[2:30:54] um and we are meeting actually tomorrow to continue to to refine and fine-tune

[2:30:59] that document for you all the collective bargaining process has

[2:31:04] begun with two Union um Union groups it's hard to believe

[2:31:07] that we're already almost through a three-year contract with all four unions

[2:31:11] myself as well as HR Director um event we met with our police officers

[2:31:17] Union as well as our t-pom or public services Union so we will continue to

[2:31:22] meet with the both Union groups to hopefully come up with some agreeable

[2:31:26] terms for a new um contractual agreement and then we

[2:31:30] still do have two more two more Union groups that we will have to begin that

[2:31:34] process with and then as um Miss amberman stated with

[2:31:38] the assistance of the EDC we submitted another appropriation request to the

[2:31:42] office of Congressman Tim Wahlberg um McIntosh Park as well as Holland Park

[2:31:48] they've received quite a bit of revitalization or enhancements over the

[2:31:52] past few years um so with the complete replacement of

[2:31:55] the North Albion Street Bridge the second phase of Macintosh Park in the

[2:31:59] expansion of the Alvin River Trail along the North Albion Street we thought it

[2:32:03] would be a good idea to leverage all of those projects that will happen this

[2:32:07] this year to request um I believe was 5.8 million to fully

[2:32:11] replaced the Waterway water main sewer Main and then the road within both of

[2:32:17] those areas in which we'll hopefully complete those revitalization

[2:32:22] um efforts that have been underway for quite some time so hopefully

[2:32:28] um we get some good news on that and then also

[2:32:31] um I will be participating

[2:32:34] um as a MML 1650 Panama panelist member for women leading local government at

[2:32:39] the University of Michigan Sports School of Public Policy event on Monday March

[2:32:43] 27th I'm really looking forward to sitting with some of my colleagues I'm

[2:32:48] Rebecca Fleury Backpage city manager and then former Albion city manager Dr

[2:32:52] Sheriff Arrow will also be a panelist member

[2:32:55] um and just get to engage with the students to share our experiences and

[2:32:58] leading local government um and then this past Friday I had our

[2:33:03] quarterly meeting with the County Administrator controller and then the

[2:33:06] surrounding um city managers a lot is happening in

[2:33:10] Calhoun County the big topic of conversation

[2:33:13] um was the county-wide transportation initiative that has been well underway

[2:33:16] for quite some time this started pre-covet and then once covet hit it

[2:33:20] kind of stopped um but we are in the process of

[2:33:24] um finalizing that and Council if you can um recall it was last spring I

[2:33:29] believe when we had two individuals Doug Farrell who was the assistant Community

[2:33:32] Development um director for the county and I'm

[2:33:36] blanking I'm pitching her face but she oversees Battle Creek's Transportation

[2:33:40] they came and gave a presentation on on that service for um Town County

[2:33:45] um we all I just emailed out a letter that we received from the

[2:33:48] administrator's office today so next step they are looking to develop a

[2:33:52] County Transportation Authority so this this board will oversee Transportation

[2:33:58] which will be county-wide or Cal Calhoun County obviously you have to identify a

[2:34:03] level of funding so they are looking for a county-wide millage to support this

[2:34:07] Authority um it will not be on the ballot I

[2:34:09] believe until August of 2024 going into effect in 2025. but the next step all

[2:34:16] municipalities or jurisdictions in Calhoun County they have the option to

[2:34:21] either opt in or opt out so if you opt in to support this Transportation

[2:34:25] Authority you will then receive service if it is approved by the county voters

[2:34:30] if you opt out unfortunately you will not have access to to that

[2:34:35] transportation service so that's the next step I shared in my email

[2:34:38] Administration we will be bringing forth a recommendation for Council to consider

[2:34:42] on whether we should opt in opt out I will say we are looking to opt in

[2:34:46] because we all know Transportation has been a big topic and we need

[2:34:51] Transportation here in our community so it will also be

[2:34:55] um transportation within the actual City so you can go from the store to areas in

[2:35:01] town but then also county-wide so it is a step to further address the lb

[2:35:07] Marshall connector because that just goes from Albany to Marshall

[2:35:10] um in that same meeting I had talked with Derek Perry he is the Marshall city

[2:35:13] manager we are we'll be scheduling a meeting to discuss the Albion Marshall

[2:35:17] connector I'm councilmember Reed maybe the reason we haven't seen some

[2:35:22] levels of service we have to identify a new funding model for that the current

[2:35:26] funding model is not supporting uh the the maintenance for the vehicles and to

[2:35:31] cover the costs for to provide that service so we'll be having that

[2:35:34] conversation and see how that plays a part for this full county-wide

[2:35:38] Transportation um administrator controllers um Kelly

[2:35:42] Scott she also discussed what we all know with a blue oval

[2:35:45] um battery plant coming that we will probably develop a subcommittees

[2:35:49] county-wide with all of the local city managers to discuss how do we put

[2:35:52] ourselves in good positions to support this this new development that's coming

[2:35:56] to our area it's not only going to change the city of Marshall but but the

[2:36:01] entire County she addressed talked about housing we know that every not only City

[2:36:05] volume but housing is an issue in all of the Cities here in the county so we will

[2:36:09] be meeting to discuss that being able to support this plant by providing

[2:36:14] Workforce um so I will provide you with more

[2:36:17] information as those meetings begin to happen

[2:36:20] um also in the report you have individual Department updates from all

[2:36:22] of the all of the individual departments and

[2:36:25] with that I will be happy to answer any questions

[2:36:30] um yes just dawned on me in terms of uh Intercity uh collaboration in terms of

[2:36:37] Transportation do you think in this grant we can well we used to have a taxi

[2:36:43] driver uh taxi service but maybe employment for someone in the community

[2:36:50] to do Uber not I mean uh Uber type of Transportation or a taxi or something

[2:36:57] like that in terms of uh Intercity Transportation as well as

[2:37:03] um enter County transportation so if it's

[2:37:07] approved that's kind of what it will be um

[2:37:10] um Kelly said she kind of referred to it as Calhoun County's Uber service so it

[2:37:14] will be able to transport you within the city limits but then you can also take

[2:37:18] it and it can transfer transport you all the way to Battle Creek Marshall Homer

[2:37:23] Springfield wherever you need to go if that jurisdiction participates all right

[2:37:27] it's not like the BC go on series yes oh okay Branch County area code okay but

[2:37:35] that's what we need because if you don't have a car you can't go anyplace

[2:37:40] the other thing I like the idea Human Resources uh I like the idea of the

[2:37:46] board member orientation and I would like to kind of extend that to council

[2:37:53] member orientation and I don't know if there's a format that has been in place

[2:37:58] previously you know during the middle training

[2:38:03] no I'm talking about here you know orientation to work for lbs City Council

[2:38:11] Members not just coming to the Council seat and say oh you do that is that how

[2:38:16] you do it you know so you know as you are you know because orientation is very

[2:38:22] important you know so just some minor things that we may not know about

[2:38:27] including the computer you know and the systems that you know we haven't we

[2:38:32] haven't been thrilled to but when you're thinking of new new orientation for

[2:38:38] employees you know as board numbers come on we may want to just have a sit-down

[2:38:43] conversation even you know with the new board numbers as they're coming on board

[2:38:47] to kind of bring us up in terms of policies and procedures

[2:38:53] any other questions can we uh welcome you with new BBW

[2:39:01] director we're gonna actually have our new

[2:39:06] gentleman Elmer Garrett sorry

[2:39:14] uh Mitchell and myself conducted some interviews in early

[2:39:18] February and we are fortunate enough to have Elmer Garrett accept our position

[2:39:25] as part of the Public Works superintendent

[2:39:28] um we're very glad to get him from the school district of Olivet actor with

[2:39:35] his management skills and directorship with their facilities Elmer

[2:39:46] well real short here all right um I'm just I'm happy to be here uh 22

[2:39:53] years at Halloween college and then they took me now that we're like wait a

[2:39:57] minute I want to be back home so the opportunity came up Haley Kevin mayor

[2:40:02] Snyder I just want to thank you guys and I look forward to the opportunity of

[2:40:06] serving the community so thank you we're very happy to have you on thanks thank

[2:40:11] you he and I got to run the campground

[2:40:14] together today

[2:40:19] any other questions or comments or city manager later

[2:40:25] all right do I have a motion to again opposed

[2:40:45] okay

CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING - 20 Mar 2023

Transcript