[0:01] [Music]
[0:08] I'd like to call to order the meeting of
the Lancing Charter Commission for July
[0:13] 29th at 6:30 uh in the evening. Uh Cler,
would you please call the role?
[0:19] » Okay, sure. Uh Commissioner Adam Simon
>> here.
[0:22] » Commissioner Anderson, Commissioner
Anderson is absent. Commissioner Bower
[0:26] » here.
>> Commissioner Boyd here. Commissioner Dow
[0:29] » here.
>> Commissioner Jeff
[0:30] » here.
>> Commissioner Lopez. Commissioner Lopez
[0:33] is absent. Commissioner Kawi
>> present.
[0:36] » Commissioner Washington
>> excused.
[0:38] » Commissioner Washington is absent. We
have six members present. A quorum.
[0:43] Three are absent.
>> Thank you. Uh motion be in order to
[0:46] adopt the agenda.
>> It's been moved and supported. All those
[0:50] in favor say I.
>> I.
[0:52] » Those opposed. The agenda is adopted.
Motion would also be in order to approve
[0:57] the minutes for July 15th, 2025 minutes.
It's been moved
[1:02] » supported. All those in favor say I.
>> I.
[1:04] » Those opposed. Passes unanimously.
Public comment.
[1:13] » Uh is there anyone in the Nope.
>> We have no public.
[1:19] » All right. Down to officer reports. Uh
just very quickly uh based on our last
[1:24] meeting, we had uh reviewed uh some of
the uh community education meetings that
[1:30] we were scheduling. Uh we've uh
confirmed wards one uh for Wednesday,
[1:35] September 3rd at 7 p.m. Uh this will be
at the Foster Community Center. Ward two
[1:41] uh has been approved for Wednesday,
September 10th at Sycamore Creek Church.
[1:46] Uh Ward 4 for Wednesday, September 24th
at 6:30. That will be at the Let's
[1:51] Community Center. Those were the ones
that we had discussed last week. We're
[1:55] still looking uh for Ward Three. Uh
we've reached out to the Colonial
[1:59] Village and Church Hill Downs Community
Association. Uh and uh have not heard
[2:05] anything back. Uh there was some
information that was passed out to
[2:08] everybody. It should have been at your
desk tonight. Uh it has those meeting
[2:12] dates and times. And on the second page
uh is the availability
[2:16] uh for uh basically all of September uh
for the Schmidz community uh uh um room
[2:24] or building and I think we'd be looking
at the auditorium there. Uh I asked the
[2:30] clerk to kind of weed through those
dates. I know there's some conflicts
[2:33] with city council meetings and other
things which he has done. Uh and um
[2:41] what we have available at this point uh
and if everybody would want to look at
[2:46] their calendar. Commissioner Boyd.
>> Um a couple of comments. First of all,
[2:50] on W two it says uh at the Sycamore
Creek Church
[2:56] uh between 6 and 7. Is it six or is it
seven? I wasn't quite sure.
[3:03] » I mean, we could
>> It's up to us. And then the other thing
[3:07] I'd like to point out is that all of
these dates are on Wednesdays and I know
[3:11] that Commissioner Anderson cannot come.
I don't know if she wants to come but
[3:14] she can't come on all Wednesdays because
she has other commitments. I was
[3:18] speaking with a member of the community
who works at night and Wednesdays are a
[3:23] problem for her. when we had the
community meetings for um to chart the
[3:29] charter itself to to gain input, we
mixed up, you know, some some of the
[3:34] meetings were on Tuesday, ones was on
Saturday. Now, I don't know if I can
[3:39] come to all of them or not, but it seems
to me that we should mix these up a
[3:43] little bit so they're not all on one
night like a Wednesday or a Tuesday. My
[3:48] thoughts.
Emory, if you could respond in terms I
[3:52] know this was um somewhat difficult to
put this together. What in terms of the
[3:57] flexibility on those dates and what you
um had talked to with the other groups,
[4:02] what's what uh can you just update us on
that?
[4:06] » Um yeah, so
[4:17] okay. So, East Side Neighborhood
Organization in Ward 1 and Westside in
[4:24] Ward 4 meet on Wednesday nights. So, if
you're going to hold that partnership,
[4:29] I'm assuming you'd want to honor their
already established meeting schedule.
[4:33] » Okay. And then for ward two, um, they
had proposed a couple different dates,
[4:41] the Wednesday, September 10th, or
there was a Saturday, but y'all had
[4:47] opted not to go for the Saturday just
due to varying availability. So that's
[4:50] why that one fell on a Wednesday, too.
Um,
[4:57] » okay. Commissioner Boyd,
>> do the community organizations want us
[5:01] to be a particip have our meetings at
the same time they have their their
[5:07] monthly meetings? I think at the last
time we just came up with dates. I
[5:12] didn't think that the community
organizations necessarily wanted us to
[5:16] be there at their meetings. So I guess
I'm asking
[5:19] » last year um the partnerships in wards
1, three, and four were with an already
[5:26] established neighboring organiza uh
neighborhood organization during their
[5:31] scheduled meeting. So it'll be a repeat
in one and four with east side and west
[5:36] side and then um two and three we're
figuring out still.
[5:40] » And two, may I ask did you on September
10th did you say six or seven? Which is
[5:45] it?
That is up to you all to determine the
[5:49] start time.
>> Thank you.
[5:52] » Can I see those dates? Okay. Looking at
W three. Um we have the following dates
[5:57] that are available. So if everyone could
uh take a look at their calendar. Uh we
[6:03] have two Thursday September 11th but
again we have Wednesday September 10th
[6:07] if you want to do backtoback. Uh Monday
September 15th is
[6:12] » there is no council meeting.
>> Okay. Monday September 15th.
[6:16] uh Tuesday the 16th,
Thursday the 18th.
[6:24] Um
[6:27] and that would be after the 17th. Oh
yeah, after the 17th or pardon 17th
[6:33] meeting will not work.
>> Mr. Mr. chair. Yeah.
[6:36] » Uh for the record, I will be I mean I I
can do the meetings as they're proposed
[6:41] right now, but I will be out of town uh
September 14th through the 21st, which I
[6:48] think is a Mon or the 22nd.
So, if there are any meetings and not
[6:54] that it matters, but I just so you know,
I will not be able to attend any of
[6:58] those meetings and I will be out of town
September 25th
[7:04] through September 30 as well. Thank you.
>> All right. So, that
[7:09] takes it down to
>> the Tuesday the 23rd, Thursday the 11th,
[7:16] or Monday the 15th.
Is anyone
[7:21] Commissioner Bower.
>> And that would be instead of Sycamore
[7:26] Creek.
>> No, that we're looking at W three at the
[7:30] bottom.
We're looking
[7:32] » Oh, that would be the W three word.
Okay. Thank you.
[7:36] » Does anybody have a preference for any
one of those days?
[7:41] » M. Commissioner Kui.
>> Um, I would like if possible if we can
[7:47] do the 23rd and I think that works for
your date too. Could you come back on
[7:50] the 22nd, right?
>> Tuesday.
[7:53] » It's a Tuesday at 6 PM. I can't do
anyone that's at noon or two now since
[7:58] my job is
>> Yep.
[8:01] » So, Tuesday, September 23rd at 6.
Does that work for everybody?
[8:12] » Either 12.
>> Either 12 or six.
[8:16] » Okay. So, it's either 12 or six. So
we'll do six o'clock
[8:22] and
>> it's not available after
[8:26] that.
[8:30] » Okay, we would
>> we would do the auditorium
[8:33] » and we could do that. Do people have a
preference in terms of time? 6 or 7?
[8:38] Anybody? All right, we'll do it at six
o'clock.
[8:41] » Um Tuesday the 23rd. Uh and this will be
for W three. We'll do it in the
[8:47] auditorium
>> at
[8:50] » Yes.
>> at six o'clock.
[8:56] All right. Are there other questions
regarding the schedule?
[9:03] Okay. Hearing none. Uh that is the only
report that I had. Madam vice chair, do
[9:08] you have a report or an update?
>> No report,
[9:10] » Mr. Clerk.
uh just uh that we did get approval from
[9:15] the governor,
>> but you're into that.
[9:20] » Okay.
All right. We're moving on to old
[9:23] business.
>> Yes.
[9:26] » My question is these are community
meetings, so we'll be on the road. Uh is
[9:31] there a are we planning to have whatever
presentation we're making about the
[9:36] charter uh made in this room so that it
can be tape recorded and on YouTube and
[9:43] the public can tune in.
>> That's one thing we'll talk to the peer.
[9:46] » Very good. Thank you. I think it should
be.
[9:48] » Yeah.
>> Thank you.
[9:49] » All right. Moving on to the
RFP.
[9:54] » Did everybody I have I don't know the
answer to this. Did everybody get their
[9:58] information in to Emery?
Um,
[10:03] anybody have any conversation that they
want to have about these? Any particular
[10:08] pluses, minuses?
Anyone?
[10:13] » I'll just say it with my comments.
Demory, I did not score any of the three
[10:16] that were outside of Lancing. So, I only
scored the local.
[10:20] » Fair enough.
>> Commissioner Washington,
[10:24] » I did not score any of them. I will
abstaining from abstain from any vote
[10:28] regarding this. I don't have dementia. I
don't remember voting to do an RFP. I
[10:34] don't remember voting to do um a PR
firm. So, I'll be abstaining and I did
[10:40] not score.
>> Commissioner Bower, did Oh, I thought
[10:44] you had some question. Commissioner
Bdon.
[10:47] » Um I I will be voting but like like
Commissioner Washington, I don't
[10:51] remember that we voted on hiring a PR
firm and I don't remember an RFP being
[10:56] voted on. I will say this is I think I
said at the last meeting. Somebody's
[11:01] going to have to do the work. It's
either going to be a PR firm or it's
[11:03] going to be the staff and the staff has
an election. And so, you know, I'm
[11:08] perfectly fine with within, you know,
certain parameters to have a PR firm do
[11:12] it. It's too bad it's called a PR firm,
but that's that's life.
[11:16] » The the the vote for the PR firm will be
tonight. No, we have not voted on that.
[11:21] » Okay. So, any other questions, comments?
Emry, do you have any information in
[11:27] terms of the scoring?
[11:35] » Do you want to come up?
>> Do you need
[11:58] Okay.
I do not yet have scores from
[12:04] Commissioner Lopez, who is not here, and
Commissioner Kawi. Um
[12:09] » for sure
>> Koi um I can if you want to pass me
[12:15] those I can
enter them into this spreadsheet so that
[12:19] you can see all of your scores but I
don't have that information yet. So
[12:22] » based on what you have what is the
score?
[12:24] » Yeah, that's
[12:29] » so that's not how rubrics work.
[12:33] » Well because it's not a total point
thing. It's a weighted thing and some
[12:37] people scored some but not others. So,
I don't think that there's like one
[12:42] simple answer to that. I can try to run
some numbers for you, but uh it might
[12:48] behoove you all to have a discussion
because not everybody scored everyone.
[12:53] » So, it's hard to determine a weight when
six people scored one and eight people
[12:56] scored another. It's
>> Mr. Anderson.
[13:00] » I mean, to me, no score is zero. And I
don't I mean I don't know if that's what
[13:07] » I think that their score is just zero
for that um in my opinion,
[13:13] » but I'm also open to just having a
conversation.
[13:22] » Commissioner Anderson you use a
different rubric than everyone else and
[13:26] had different scores. So we don't we
couldn't apply your scores to the
[13:30] rubric. So we have people who have
>> let me look
[13:34] » scored some and not others
and we have who did a a different rubric
[13:39] and then we had
>> a commissioner who uh it's not like
[13:43] inadvertently
you know so
[13:46] » okay
>> this one so we have a little bit we have
[13:49] incomplete information
>> TV
[13:50] » to be able to provide a a complete score
>> um at this at this moment so we need to
[13:56] understand what people's scores
if they have scores with them or they're
[14:00] choosing not to or what do we need to or
show the you know what what we have. So
[14:07] it's like we had some things we didn't
even know how to apply.
[14:13] [Music]
>> Hello. I talked to you this morning.
[14:16] You're right.
find my forms anyway.
[14:20] » If if the you know my my position would
be and it's just my position is that if
[14:25] the if the uh information was not sent
in it's not to be counted and we've made
[14:31] it very clear what the timeline was on
this we've delayed it an additional two
[14:34] weeks for this to happen. Um and so
if it's not here it's not here.
[14:42] » Commissioner Boyd
>> I'd like to make a motion on who we
[14:45] should hire.
Go ahead.
[14:47] » May I do that?
>> Yeah.
[14:49] » I recommended I did the rubric. Uh I
hope I did it right. I don't know if I
[14:54] did it right, but I did it. And I I did
spend two days looking at it and I've
[14:58] read all the proposals and like some
here I there there are some that are
[15:04] disqualified in my opinion because they
are out of town. It's a we're on a very
[15:07] short timeline here. We don't have a lot
of time and to have people to pay people
[15:12] to drive up to Lancing. I I'm just not
into it. So, I didn't take any of the
[15:16] out of town proposals seriously. I said
last time and I say it again and I said
[15:22] it in an email today. I think any of
these firms could do the work. I mean,
[15:26] clearly they have experience and they've
done work for other agencies. Um, my
[15:31] recommendation and my motion would be
that we hire Truscott Rossman. And that
[15:35] comes as a surprise to me. Kelly Rosman
was a dear friend of mine. It's not
[15:39] exactly the firm that I would have
thought I was going to come out on the
[15:42] side of, but I came out on their side
for various reasons. One, Trusscott
[15:47] Rosman is a national firm. They have
done work like this in the past. They
[15:53] can clearly do the work. Uh I think they
understand the project. I think their
[15:58] approach is right. I think one of the
firms talked about having handouts at at
[16:04] uh the zoo and on buses and all kinds of
things that are not directly related to
[16:10] our voters and this is a message for our
voters and our voters only. Doesn't
[16:15] matter what other people in Okam or East
Lancing think it is about our voters.
[16:20] Um, so I thought Trrescott Rossman had
that. And I think their affordability,
[16:25] while I'm a little iffy on all the
affordability that
[16:29] questions that were or proposals that we
received, I think Trrescot Rossman will
[16:34] do a fair job for us and they'll do a
quick job for us. They have national
[16:38] stature. They have state stature. Uh,
they know the community. They're of the
[16:43] community. They have a variety of
printers. We've talked the last time
[16:47] about union printers versus non-union
printers. Several of these firms talked
[16:51] about Instyrints. I mean, they're not a
union firm and I wouldn't not. So, I
[16:55] would say trust Scott Rossman with the
pro with the provision and the
[17:00] understanding that they are to use a
union printer.
[17:04] None of them use the printer that I
used, which was a union printer. And I
[17:08] was quite surprised because I thought
they saved me a lot of money. But
[17:11] anyway, so that's my motion. I move that
we hire Trustcott Rossman and I move it
[17:16] for this reason. We have incomplete uh
responses on the rubrics. We have a
[17:22] short timeline. You know, the AV ballots
will be out in less than two months. We
[17:27] have to move and so therefore you have
my recommendation.
[17:31] » Is there support?
>> It's been moved and supported.
[17:35] Discussion
Commissioner B. And what what I really
[17:40] liked about uh Trrescott Rossman is that
as they talked about the big idea,
[17:48] what's changing and why, and they
stressed making it simple, um
[17:56] clear,
again, not a massive uh campaign. I
[18:00] shouldn't say massive campaign, but
plain language charter guide. And I I
[18:05] liked the things that they said in terms
of especially method. Um
[18:12] and that's
the way that I feel that our vote our
[18:18] citizens would want something that is
again
[18:23] just just the facts and ex explains what
the changes are. So um I agree. I also
[18:30] looked at all of them and some of them I
really felt didn't even really
[18:34] understand totally.
This is different than a political
[18:38] candidate than than supporting a millage
campaign. This is a very different um
[18:44] undertaking.
[18:47] » Thank you. Other comments? Um go ahead,
Commissioner Anderson.
[18:52] » Um I I do like their what's changing and
why proposed method. I do think that
[19:04] their delivery may be a little outdated.
And so I think my concern would be like
[19:11] how does that messaging get out there
and reach people? Um, and so I would say
[19:17] that's the only thing I wasn't
necessarily super convinced on. And I
[19:21] like I don't want to see this on catab
buses. That's not my preference. But I
[19:26] do think that there's like a sense of
oftentimes in the work that all of us
[19:31] are doing it there's a disconnect
between like the work we're doing and
[19:35] the people we're trying to reach and
really making sure that people
[19:38] understand and they can make informed
decisions based off of the information
[19:42] that we present. And I think that I I
think I just want to know more of like
[19:49] how they're going to reach those people.
Um, I mean, yeah, we can send a mail or
[19:55] those like traditional ways, but I would
I think it is interesting to
[20:00] I think have more conversation and like
with them if chosen, I guess, of how
[20:04] they'll actually reach people um in a
way that they'll like want to get the
[20:11] information and make a decision. I don't
know, maybe I'm just hopeful.
[20:17] » And vice chair,
>> Commissioner Bower Did did you see a one
[20:23] of the firms that you thought did a
better job of because you know you're
[20:28] younger and more more with it in terms
of of um different ways of approaching.
[20:34] I just wondered if you had if if anybody
saw another firm that they thought
[20:40] did a better job of that.
>> Yeah. So 98 Ford and I know they're not
[20:46] local and this is not me advocating
necessarily that we go with them but I
[20:50] think like even their mention of
how to connect with diverse audiences
[20:57] and their experience with doing that I
think just was missed in the proposal
[21:03] from Trescott Rossman and I don't know
if I've ever seen their work in which
[21:09] they're able to connect with diverse
audiences instead of just like the
[21:14] people are typically already informed
and so I guess those are just my
[21:19] » thoughts
in your terms how you felt
[21:27] » and again this is not me advocating for
them but they talk about um they were
[21:34] selected for
sorry there's a lot of pages to go
[21:38] through um the ACLU
of Michigan hired them for 40 days of
[21:44] early voting campaign and they talked
about specific demographics that they
[21:49] try to reach and like their strategies
for focusing on those people and really
[21:54] like learning
about those demographics and how to
[21:58] reach them and connect with them. And
so, and I'm wondering too, and I am not
[22:04] a PR or marketing expert at all, but I
just think that like there's a sense of
[22:10] one message isn't going to hit everyone
the same way and different types of
[22:14] people receive information differently.
Um, and I just kind of feel like the
[22:20] days of just sending out like a press
release to like a contact list and
[22:25] sending out mailers is just not enough
for me personally. I agree.
[22:30] » That's it.
>> And vice chair.
[22:32] » Yes, I am definitely um in favor of
using a local company. I was impressed
[22:38] with the edge. And if you do a cost
comparison, if we're doing a three-month
[22:42] campaign, um Trescot Rossman would come
out to about $15,000 where Edge is
[22:48] saying for the entire campaign, it's
about $20,000. So, you're saving $5,000.
[22:52] But if it's a three-month campaign, how
how that works. But I was very much
[22:55] impressed with Edge. I thought Edge had
a had an interesting proposal, but they
[23:02] did not even respond to the second email
>> and they I disqualified them completely
[23:08] because they did not respond.
[23:12] » Other questions, comments.
[23:16] The clerk, please call the role.
[23:24] On selecting
uh Trescott Rossman as the PR firm,
[23:30] Commissioner Lopez is absent.
Commissioner Kui,
[23:34] » yes.
>> Commissioner Washington,
[23:36] » no.
>> Commissioner Adam Simon,
[23:41] » yes.
Commissioner Anderson,
[23:45] » yes.
>> Commissioner Bower,
[23:48] » yes.
>> Commissioner Boyd,
[23:50] » yes.
>> Commissioner Dow,
[23:52] » yes.
>> Commissioner Jeff,
[23:54] » yes.
>> Uh, seven yays, one nay and one absent.
[23:59] » Pass.
>> It does pass. At this point, I think
[24:04] this goes back to purchasing or
procurement. they will reach out to
[24:09] Trescott Rossman and start discussing uh
contracts and details in relation to
[24:15] that. Commissioner Boyd,
>> uh we'll have to at some point I think
[24:19] Trroscott Rossman or one of the
companies wanted to have a meeting. So
[24:24] we'll have to decide who from this
commission meets with the vendor. I
[24:30] think Commissioner Anderson makes a very
good point about making sure that this
[24:34] is um you know it's a bilingual
presentation and it's available to
[24:38] people of other cultures so that
everybody knows what we're talking
[24:42] about. I think that's important. But I
at some point I would just make sure
[24:46] that every who is going to meet with the
company includes those kinds of
[24:50] questions because no matter who we chose
tonight, we all have questions whether
[24:56] it's about pricing, whether it's about
methods, whatever. Thank you.
[25:01] » As soon as we get some information back,
I'll make sure everybody gets a copy and
[25:05] we'll go from there. Um I think we had a
meeting scheduled for August 7th. Has
[25:12] that been taken off? I yeah I believe at
the last meeting you announced we would
[25:15] not be meeting August 7th.
>> All right. So just want to make clear I
[25:18] know Commissioner Bower reached out with
a question regarding that.
[25:22] » Right. Right. As we were just confirming
no meetings.
[25:27] » Yeah. All right. Um
now is the time for public comment.
[25:32] Anyone from the public who would wish to
comment?
[25:36] [Music]
Hearing none.
[25:40] Uh commission remarks. Anybody want to
make a remark? Commission Washington.
[25:47] » Um, I'll accept this.
>> I just I'm always the dissenting voice
[25:51] on this commission and for that I am not
ashamed. I'm actually quite proud
[25:56] because I do represent a whole segment
of our city that most of you have
[26:02] ignored. So, I I'm just going to say
this. Um,
[26:08] I still haven't voted on whether or not
we want a PR firm. We were simply handed
[26:14] PR firms after the RPF already went out.
I don't like that process. We are a
[26:20] commission. We have a chair, but we do
not have a king. So having said that, my
[26:27] biggest concern is now that you all have
voted for it, that we are very
[26:32] deliberate in the content that it is
absolutelyformational
[26:37] only and not weighing one way or the
other. Thank you.
[26:43] » Right, Commissioner Boy.
>> I just to echo what you're saying, it
[26:47] has to be. That is the law. But I think
you voted for it, didn't you? Didn't you
[26:52] didn't you vote for the Trescot Rosman
for
[26:54] » I said no.
>> Oh, you said you you voted no.
[26:58] » So, no.
>> Okay, you voted no. Okay, thank you.
[27:02] Thank you. I didn't understand.
>> Any other comments, Commissioner Que?
[27:07] » Just confirming our next meeting is
August 7th.
[27:09] » No, we have no meeting scheduled at all.
>> Right. Okay. It will it'll
[27:14] » I want to confirm.
>> We do not.
[27:16] » These are our scheduled meetings on
August 7th.
[27:19] » Correct.
And um be before we adjourn, can we
[27:24] clarify six or seven on the September
10th for Sycamore Creek?
[27:30] » On September,
everybody on September 10th,
[27:36] 6 or 7 o'clock. When do you want to
meet?
[27:39] » Six.
>> Six o'clock. Okay. Six o'clock. Is it?
[27:42] Anything else?
>> Okay.
[27:44] » And for the record, that is my birthday
and I will be at the meeting. That's my
[27:48] son's birthday.
>> It's not my birthday. Commissioner
[27:53] » Sigmore Church is the one that's on
Pennsylvania.
[27:55] » Yes. Okay.
>> All right. Commissioner Anderson,
[27:59] » just a reminder, I will not be at any
Wednesday meetings, but I will be at the
[28:03] Tuesday meeting um in the third ward.
>> Thank you.
[28:08] Other comments?
Commissioner Bower,
[28:13] » you want me?
>> Maybe we need to meet more often since
[28:17] none of us are tracking very well. So,
just to clarify, when does the
[28:21] commission meet again?
>> We have no schedule, but for the
[28:25] » our community sessions. So, at this
moment, we don't have a
[28:28] » That's correct.
>> Correct.
[28:30] » Okay. Thank you.
>> Yep. Anything else?
[28:34] » We're adjourned.
[Music]