[7:29] All the order, charter, township, a plimuth, board of trustees, special meeting, Tuesday, September 1, 5, 0, 5 p.m. Okay. Roll call. Chuck Kermey. Here.

[7:46] Dr. Schrevitz.

[7:48] Here.

[7:49] Kim Gatica here.

[7:51] Sandy Grove.

[7:52] Here.

[7:53] Bill Aix.

[7:55] Yeah.

[7:55] On his way.

[7:56] No.

[7:57] Tarty.

[7:58] It's okay.

[7:59] Joe Riley.

[8:01] Here.

[8:02] John Stewart.

[8:03] Here.

[8:04] You have a quorum.

[8:06] All right.

[8:07] A pledge of allegiance.

[8:12] A pledge of allegiance to the flag

[8:14] of the United States of America.

[8:17] And to the Republic for which it's

[8:32] So we're going to modify the agenda a little bit.

[8:35] It's confused.

[8:36] We aren't ready.

[8:37] We're going to have a discussion about a potential settlement of a lawsuit.

[8:42] We're not ready for that.

[8:45] So we're only going to be talking about an employment agreement in closed session.

[8:50] And so, I need somebody to, well, the clerk will read the words and then we'll only say employment agreement.

[9:01] I make a motion that the Board of Trustees convene in a closed session pursuant to the Michigan Open Meetings Act, MCL 15-.268-H, to discuss the following items that are exempt from disclosure as attorney-client privilege employment agreement.

[9:20] Second.

[9:21] Okay, seconded by Doroshavitz.

[9:25] So roll call vote.

[9:30] Bob Doroshavitz.

[9:31] Yeah.

[9:34] Sandy Grove.

[9:35] Yes.

[9:37] Joe Riley.

[9:38] Yes.

[9:39] John Stewart.

[9:40] Yes.

[9:42] Chuck Kermey.

[9:44] Yes.

[9:45] Kim Gatica, yes.

[9:47] And Bill X isn't here.

[9:49] There are majority voting affirmative motion passes.

[9:55] Okay, so just a little background information.

[9:58] We're doing this at five o'clock to accommodate our attorney, our employees, and others that

[10:05] have activities.

[10:08] It's not a clandestine motion, and we are also planning to potentially make a decision

[10:18] at the end in open session if the board wants to do that.

[10:23] And we are doing this today because the candidate may have potential other offers,

[10:31] and we need to give the person the proper time to evaluate their offers.

[10:36] And we want to win this person over to plim a township we hope.

[10:41] So we're going to discuss that now.

[10:44] So how do we go into closed session?

[10:46] I just made my head into a closed session.

[10:49] Yeah, I just made the motion that we do it.

[10:52] Okay, so we're there.

[10:53] So I can just have a little bit of a close session.

[10:57] Let's stand and have a 30 second moment of memory

[11:02] for the firefighter, bigger.

[11:08] Thank you.

[2:02:56] Return to open session at 701. Go ahead. I've

[2:03:02] got a roll call. Well, who did the second? Somebody's got a second. Let me, let me, let me, let me read the motion into the record. Well, first, we need to come back.

[2:03:15] Seconded by Riley.

[2:03:20] Roll call. John Stewart. Here.

[2:03:26] Joe Riley. Yeah,

[2:03:29] this is yes or no. No, it's just yes or no for going back to open.

[2:03:32] in session? Yes. Bill Eiches? Yes.

[2:03:37] Dandy Groves? Yes.

[2:03:39] Yomgetica? Yes.

[2:03:41] Dr. Shevitz? Yes.

[2:03:43] Chuck Kermey? Yes.

[2:03:45] We have a motion to go back into open session.

[2:03:48] So what do you want to do, John? You want to read the motion?

[2:03:50] He's going to give us some education.

[2:03:52] Yeah. I want to read the motion to you as that I would recommend the Board of Proof

[2:03:57] and make it so inclined to approve the contract.

[2:03:59] So move that the Board of Trustees approve the Deputy Chief of Police Employment Agreement

[2:04:11] as presented with an effective date of September 26, 2026,

[2:04:23] and to authorize the Township

[2:04:26] Supervisor, Township Clerk, and Chief of Police to sign the agreement for the position

[2:04:34] of Deputy Police Chief.

[2:04:37] So I'm not going to mention, you're not going to put his name in the convent.

[2:04:41] I've asked for his name, so I can go ahead and present it.

[2:04:45] Is the September 26th the right date?

[2:04:48] That's the, yeah, the Chief just confirmed that that will be the effective date.

[2:04:52] Okay.

[2:04:53] It's not a Saturday or something.

[2:04:55] It's a Saturday, the 26th of the Saturday.

[2:04:59] 26th is a Saturday?

[2:05:00] What's not, can we do it on a Monday then?

[2:05:04] That's a good cheeky, sorry.

[2:05:09] Let's just take our time and get it so we.

[2:05:11] Right.

[2:05:24] September 28th.

[2:05:25] So, September 28th is a Monday, which, yeah,

[2:05:29] that's probably the beginning hold on.

[2:05:31] You see that at the beginning of a, yeah.

[2:05:34] I believe it is.

[2:05:35] That's the first day of a pay week at least.

[2:05:38] So

[2:05:41] I'll make that motion as read by Council.

[2:05:47] Can I do that?

[2:05:48] Yep.

[2:05:49] Yeah.

[2:05:49] We have a second.

[2:05:52] A second.

[2:05:57] So.

[2:05:58] Roll call vote.

[2:05:59] The second did.

[2:06:00] Wiley.

[2:06:04] All right.

[2:06:05] Roll call vote.

[2:06:06] Chuck Kermey.

[2:06:08] Yes.

[2:06:14] Bob Dorschevitz.

[2:06:16] Yes.

[2:06:17] Sandy Gross.

[2:06:18] No.

[2:06:22] John Stewart.

[2:06:22] I would appreciate 60 seconds before my vote.

[2:06:27] Does that mean you want to go to somebody else first?

[2:06:30] No.

[2:06:31] No.

[2:06:32] No.

[2:06:33] A week ago my wife accurately described this as, trust me.

[2:06:40] This issue to hire the deputy chief was taken off the agenda.

[2:06:44] in the past two hours I have been presented with abundant information in

[2:06:57] regard to this applicant.

[2:07:04] I am satisfied with same and I'm ready to go onward

[2:07:10] and forward. I'm sure as I've asked this chief Nitel to encourage our

[2:07:18] applicant to consider locating to this northwest corner of Wayne County and I'm sure he will

[2:07:29] find it highly advantageous for a man in his 30s who has a wife and children and I want to

[2:07:41] We welcome him at the September 10th meeting.

[2:07:46] I vote yes.

[2:07:51] Bill Ikes?

[2:07:52] No.

[2:07:55] Kim Gatica?

[2:07:57] Yes.

[2:07:58] Joel Reilly?

[2:07:58] Yes.

[2:08:01] You have a majority voting in the affirmative.

[2:08:04] Motion passes.

[2:08:07] Thank you for putting your trust in us and our chief.

[2:08:12] We're going to make you proud.

[2:08:15] Okay.

[2:08:16] I have heard the same.

[2:08:17] Thank you.

[2:08:19] Chief, you have made representations

[2:08:21] that he will be here next Thursday night, September 10th.

[2:08:27] Yeah, all in the right answer.

[2:08:28] Okay.

[2:08:32] Can I just say one thing?

[2:08:33] Yeah.

[2:08:34] Yes.

[2:08:35] We'd like to thank you, Chief, for putting together

[2:08:38] such a in-depth review of all candidates interested in this.

[2:08:44] It seemed like you put a lot of work into it

[2:08:46] And I look forward to working with the new hire soon.

[2:08:52] Thank you.

[2:08:55] We know the public comment.

[2:08:56] Yeah, public comment on anything.

[2:09:04] I guess the first question is do we have the name of this?

[2:09:09] Chief Deputy Chief?

[2:09:13] Yeah, I think we can disclose it.

[2:09:14] Yeah, Samuel Miller.

[2:09:16] Sorry, what?

[2:09:17] Samuel Miller.

[2:09:20] Samuel Miller.

[2:09:21] And this person doesn't live in the township?

[2:09:24] Correct.

[2:09:25] Is your requirement to live in the township?

[2:09:27] No, the state law does not permit that.

[2:09:30] Okay, and I guess I had another question.

[2:09:33] The other day, see how you mentioned, the second fire station was closed for certain

[2:09:41] hours.

[2:09:42] Is there a way for the public to know or get notified when those things are closed?

[2:09:46] That's a very good question.

[2:09:48] You mean notify the public on a regular basis?

[2:09:50] Yeah.

[2:09:51] How would you recommend doing that to Facebook?

[2:09:55] On the website.

[2:09:57] An amber alert saying that it's not an emergency that it's closed.

[2:10:03] We could work on that.

[2:10:04] Maybe the fire chief can come up with a creative way to do that.

[2:10:08] It was relative that the hours were distributed to Sandy Growth.

[2:10:15] I saw an email, right?

[2:10:17] No, the hours were distributed by reading to the end of the month report.

[2:10:22] Okay, but there was an email this afternoon, I think.

[2:10:25] I haven't seen it.

[2:10:26] Not, I think, I know.

[2:10:27] I haven't seen it, I did request it.

[2:10:30] And it gave the reason why we have been down since about February, I don't know the exact date.

[2:10:39] Four officers, four firefighters, that's nearly 20% of the workforce.

[2:10:44] And it's for work and non-work-related disabilities.

[2:10:54] I should know.

[2:10:55] We're managing that, and then that's one of the reasons why we have mutual aid.

[2:11:01] And we've given a lot of mutual aid to surrounding communities.

[2:11:05] So we're doing a very good job.

[2:11:09] Our people are working very hard to ensure that our stations are covered by the way.

[2:11:16] that station, even though it's the closest to the freeway, it takes the longest

[2:11:21] time to get to the freeway from that station. It's the least strategic one we have,

[2:11:26] I guess, because of the way the freeway came in at M-14, when years ago M-14 wasn't

[2:11:33] there.

[2:11:34] So I'm assuming, like, when the consulting report comes out, they'll address that issue

[2:11:39] and anything else related to that.

[2:11:41] Pretty sure they will, yeah?

[2:11:41] And I would like to add the fact that the firefighters have a contract with the township

[2:11:46] deployment that guarantees a six-man minimum, which we are not getting.

[2:11:50] So it is an issue to be aware of.

[2:11:53] Okay, thanks.

[2:11:54] Can I just add too that the amber alert's not the platform, but

[2:11:57] you were right Susan, it's the next, so the next all is what we do the communication for

[2:12:01] accidents and areas to avoid.

[2:12:04] It will be next all not amber alert, those are specifically for children.

[2:12:09] Mr. Supervisor, are you able to make a one comment on that?

[2:12:12] Yes.

[2:12:13] Just to touch on Mike's question about does he live in the township?

[2:12:17] We've done a lot of research on this, and it's very uncommon for these type of positions to live in the township.

[2:12:25] So we are lucky that our police chief does, but it's not common across this area.

[2:12:31] Thank you.

[2:12:32] Western Wayne County, what we're referring to, has very few chiefs that live in the community in which they police.

[2:12:38] It doesn't make it right.

[2:12:39] We're glad we have it.

[2:12:41] We've always had that in Plymouth Township.

[2:12:44] All we've had four police chiefs in our history.

[2:12:48] I think your number four, all have lived in Plymouth Township.

[2:12:55] What, what am I, we've got, what, you want to go before or after the whole road?

[2:13:00] It's her turn, she was an intrusion.

[2:13:02] Well, I just want to remind everyone that Lake Point has something like over 800 homes, okay?

[2:13:09] and I have heard of rumor where we might even be considering closing that station which

[2:13:17] I think would really be a mistake.

[2:13:21] And it's bad enough that you shut it down at the first signs of not having enough staff.

[2:13:29] And obviously that's telling me that we need to add staff as soon as possible.

[2:13:35] And, of course, that's not particularly easy.

[2:13:39] It's not easy finding the young people are not going into fire and or police.

[2:13:45] It's not that easy to find highly qualified, and especially when the firefighters have to not only be

[2:13:54] qualified for plummet township as far as their firefighting skills and emergency skills.

[2:14:01] but they have to be advanced life support paramedics and that is one of the

[2:14:09] recall one thing that makes it more difficult to find them so we need to

[2:14:14] hire we do need to not close late points Wilcox station and we need to come up

[2:14:21] with some way of letting residents know when that station is closed and I'm not

[2:14:29] That being a smarty, but what will they do with that information by knowing it's closed?

[2:14:36] I think just not expecting, you know, that they're, you know, if they put in a call that it's going

[2:14:44] to be there within two minutes, which is about what they could, they could be at our homes,

[2:14:49] almost any home and late point within five minutes.

[2:14:52] And I don't think they can make it from here in five minutes.

[2:14:55] the analysis when we'll see what happens, but it's possible.

[2:15:00] Well, they're pretty fast considering the station here. So, we'll have to look at that and see where it is. I don't know how yet. You know, you know what the railroads are. So, you're only avenue to get to late point. If you've got trouble and light, I just went through. Last week, I had a three car, three engine train.

[2:15:27] go through Plymouth, moved up a little further, hit a two engine train.

[2:15:33] I heard Levin was shut for 24 hours, so you know the trains are getting only worse.

[2:15:42] So counting on Heinz Drive to get the lake point is not necessarily a good idea.

[2:15:49] So CSX has been having some problems closing our,

[2:15:54] They did joy road for three days and beck road for at least one day.

[2:16:03] So there is something going on that our Congresswoman is working on it also because

[2:16:08] they don't answer to anyone they accept the federal government because that's who

[2:16:13] they're controlling documents come from and they have that attitude.

[2:16:19] We were here first and the rest of you guys came later, so top it out.

[2:16:24] I said, but you know, when you got a three-engine train,

[2:16:27] you can imagine how many cars were on behind it.

[2:16:30] So, yes.

[2:16:33] Well, first of all, I want to thank Susan

[2:16:36] because I've thought about that for years

[2:16:37] having lived in Lake Point in the same house for 42 years.

[2:16:42] Access to Lake Point, but for being blocked by trains.

[2:16:47] What's that?

[2:16:47] Access to Lake Point, but for being blocked by trains.

[2:16:52] Oh, I am deeply grateful for you saying that.

[2:16:57] This afternoon I got six pages emailed to me about Samuel Middler.

[2:17:04] Then I'm willing to let anybody review this in my office on Main Street, if you want

[2:17:10] to stop by.

[2:17:11] There are days that I think more people stop into my office than stop into the second

[2:17:16] story, the second floor office of the supervisor because we're so accessible at 1142 South Main.

[2:17:24] But finally, the chief has done an extremely thorough, comprehensive search, that's my opinion.

[2:17:35] And he has included the professional opinion of several, if not many, other chiefs of

[2:17:48] police and most significantly alcox, the city police chief in the city of Plymouth.

[2:17:56] So,

[2:17:59] we were given a lot of information between five o'clock and seven o'clock.

[2:18:08] So I will final comment, I pulled the typical John Stewart.

[2:18:13] I called Sam Miller at four o'clock.

[2:18:16] He returned my phone call at 430.

[2:18:21] Thank you very much and good night.

[2:18:23] I do have something I would like to say first and foremost what it would do by finding a way to notify the

[2:18:29] public is that it lets them know that there's a staffing problem with the fire department.

[2:18:36] In addition to that, the fact of the matter is that the chief fire chief has a procedure here in

[2:18:42] Plum of Township right now and that is that on the days that there are six men only on duty,

[2:18:47] There is no first response ambulance out of station 1.

[2:18:53] We have to wait for station 2 or station 3.

[2:18:56] So when station 2 is also closed, we now know we have to wait for station 3.

[2:19:01] And I think it's important for the citizens to be aware of that.

[2:19:04] That is a fact.

[2:19:06] So you're saying station 1 on Haggardy Road does not have an ambulance ready when there's six people on.

[2:19:14] That is absolutely correct because the battalion chief has that bright shiny new red truck

[2:19:19] that this board bought for him, and that's his vehicle, and the fire chief does not want

[2:19:24] the battalion chief transporting out of the community despite the fact that he's a paramedic.

[2:19:31] So if they respond, they respond in a fire truck with the battalion chief and an additional

[2:19:37] fire fighter slash paramedic, but they can't take you anywhere in the fire truck.

[2:19:41] So, I'm just making the point that every day that the staffing is low, six men, there is no first response ambulance out of fire station one.

[2:19:53] If they come great, if they come timely, great, but there's no guarantee, that's the biggest issue.

[2:20:00] And people at the late point, we can't depend on you either, so I just want to make that point.

[2:20:06] Motion to adjourn.

[2:20:09] Do we have a motion to adjourn?

[2:20:11] I actually want to make comments.

[2:20:12] You have to count.

[2:20:12] Okay.

[2:20:13] I'll be glad to second John's comment, right?

[2:20:15] But first off, number one, our police chief is phenomenal.

[2:20:19] The entire staff does a great job.

[2:20:21] The metrics, top 10% town chips, we applaud the effort, okay?

[2:20:26] The search you did is thorough, the candidate's outstanding, okay, for the record, right?

[2:20:29] It will help, right?

[2:20:30] And the morale will continue to be good, so I applaud what you've done.

[2:20:34] Okay, that being said, we've got to work on both sides of the house, right, fire as well as police to continue making this place safe and

[2:20:42] resident safer. So with that, that was my only comment and I would like the second John's comment to adjourn.

[2:20:49] So I have a motion to adjourn from Stewart, seconded by ICE.

[2:20:55] Just two please.

[2:20:58] Okay. All those in favor?

[2:21:00] Aye.

[2:21:00] I

[2:21:10] 720 p.m. I'm sorry. It wasn't on the

Plymouth Township Board of Trustees, September 1st, 2026

Transcript