City of Ferndale - City Council Meeting 04-14-2025

I call this meeting to order at 07:01PM. And if you're able, please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Johnson? Here.

Kelly? Here. Mikulski?

Here. Mullica?

Here. Leaksmay? Here. And now approval of the agenda. Madam Mayor, I move we approve the agenda as presented.

Court. Johnson? Yes. Kelly? Yes.

Nikolski? Yes. Polica? Yes. Leaksmae?

Yes. Right. So our first we have a presentation tonight, a couple of them. Our first one being, with our city manager regarding the Headley Override millage reset.

Thank you, everyone. I'd like to take the opportunity tonight to respond to some common questions that we've heard about the Headley Override Millage proposal for the May, as well as just get out the facts about that particular millage proposal. A little quick background on the millage proposal. This is the the planning process behind how the proposal came to be. Certainly, there were activities which led to first the November proposal, and since then additional activities related to public input sessions, feedback, and direct engagement with residents, regarding what they wanted to see different in this military proposal.

Ultimately, what funneled most into what designed first the November and now the May revised proposal, is related to two citizen led committees. That's on the finance review and city facilities, which we'll talk about a little bit more. The resident led facilities report in 02/2022, and the finance review committee report in 2024, like I said, really formed the basis of identifying needs within the city's operations. The city facilities report looked holistically at all of the assets currently owned by the city as well as need for future facilities. Whereas the finance review committee was exclusively dedicated to evaluating the impacts of the Headley Override millage that is set to expire at the end of this calendar year, particularly on staffing, service levels, and facility needs.

Obviously, the recommendation from that report was to consider a full charter reset, which is what was, denied by voters in November of twenty four. So what are we actually considering now? Well, first, we need to understand what happened in November. There were two different components of the millage request that were on that ballot. The first, the charter amendment did pass.

That amendment sought to add language to the city's charter to dedicate specific amounts to police, fire, and parks. For those that aren't aware, the city's charter really dictates how the city operates, what its functions will be, and what obligations it has to its residents. That did not create a new millage in and of itself. That's very important to understand. What it did do is add that language permanently to the city's charter.

At this point, however, the millage rate has not been fully reset, so it is not in effect. That language exists, but the corresponding component, which would have been the millage, full millage reset was not passed. That sought to reset the full charter rate of 20 mils, which would have been a net increase at the time about 4.3 mils. That did also look at funding new facilities and making the reset permanent. Of course, we heard from residents that that is not what they wanted.

Instead, what we're looking at with the May election is a pretty dramatically different millage proposal. And I understand that the naming convention is very similar, and so that has created its own its own consternation with residents who are confused by that. But that exists simply because that is what this is. We are overriding the existing headly rollbacks that the city has experienced. So whether it's the headly rollback of November or May, that's just a title.

The difference is in the actual language, which in the May election is a dramatically lower request. So we're asking instead for voters to consider resetting the millage rate that was already approved in 2015. So continuing that trend, pressing the reset button. We're also, letting voters know that this is exclusively for essential funding purposes. So there's no new construction.

There's no planned increases to staffing levels as a part of this military quest. It is primarily for police, fire, and public works operations. There is also a set expiration date of ten years. It is not a permanent reset. And all of this is driven by the feedback that the city received, ahead of November as well as since that time as it crafted a response to residents that is more measurable, and more directly impactful to the city's operations.

Why do we frame it as a reset? Because really that's what we're asking people to do. Push the reset button on 2015. This is an example. If I showed you every single rollback, we have this every single year would be filled.

It'd be a little crowded. So we just showed some sample points along the way. But, consistently, the city is subject to a headly rollback, which is when the taxable value of a community grows faster than the lesser of inflation or 5%. We've all experienced the world economy, in the last several years, and obviously that has had its impact on the city's millage rate, to the point where 5.4452 mills was reduced down to 4.2808 in 02/2024. By adopting this upcoming military proposal, we start that clock over again.

Twenty fifteen's rate goes into effect 2026, and the city continues to be subject to headly overrides as, our taxable value increases. Importantly, where will the dollars be spent if this is adopted? Very simply, on essential staff and facilities maintenance. That's that's the core components of what we're trying to accomplish here. Essential staff, we have to call out the fact that staffing makes up the majority of the city's general fund budget by a large percentage.

That's not unusual in the in the least bit. Every community, that is a very true statement to be made. The city itself has a 44 full time positions. That's not to say those are all full at any given time. We have several vacancies right now, for example.

But the voted override millage does support approximately 34 jobs if we use the data that was previously shared in that budget cut scenario workshop. Of that, 26 are in police, fire, and DPW. The reason that such a predominant portion is within those departments is because that makes up 78% of all of our general labor costs. Police, fire, and public works are 78% of all labor costs. There is simply no way to avoid impacting those departments if the city were to lose 4 to 4 and a half million dollars a year.

Why do we spend so much on labor? Because that is our service. That is the product we provide. When you contact us for an emergency, there is a physical person who responds. All of the services that the city provides that are touched by this operating millage are directly related to people providing that service.

And, yeah, at the end of the day, those staff are really essential to maintaining those service levels. So that is why we talk about the fact that if staffing levels are cut, that directly impacts the service level within the community. The second side of the equation is facilities maintenance. Again, circling back to that city facilities report and also talking about our six year capital improvement plan. The city tries to set out realistic goals for what it needs to do to maintain its facilities.

Obviously, the facilities report also looked at adding buildings in the future. That is all on hold. There is there's no direct plan for that effort into the future at this