City of Ferndale City Council Meeting 05-27-2025

Adam, that's on here.

I had the same struggle, Greg.

If I had another set of fingers, I know I could get it.

So seem to be too fat. Well, that too.

Yeah. We ready?

No. But

Those are really mandatory, are

they? Good evening. I call this meeting to order at 07:10. Thank you for your patience. 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. God, it ain't look good.

Johnson? Here. Kelly? Here. Mikulski?

Here.

Malika? Here. Lynx May.

Here. Approval of the agenda.

Oh, I move to approve the agenda.

Can I just commissioner Cavell here? So I wanna add him as presentation.

Okay. Yep. Yeah.

With the following changes, four b, I'd like to add Commissioner Cavell, and I would like to have item seven e move to the regular agenda, which would be eight e.

Support.

Poloka? Yes. Johnson?

Yes.

Kelly? Yes. Mikulski?

Yes.

Leaksmay?

Yes.

The presentation tonight. Item four a is affirmations community center update. Hello. Welcome.

Good evening. How are you? Mayor, council members, city manager, clerk, my name is Tracy Hall. I am here on behalf of Affirmations Community Center, to share a brief of update of our recent work or work so far in 2025. For those of you that may not know, I am currently the interim executive director of affirmations.

Our executive director previous executive director, Cheryl, has left us. Well, she still she'll be with us. She her official last day was last Thursday. My official first day was Friday. She'll still be with us through the June on a part time basis as we move through this transition.

And then time after if if needed. Either way, whether she's here or not, she's just a text message away. It was bittersweet because she was one of the reasons why I came to affirmations back in December. I came as the deputy executive director. Prior to that, I was executive director of OutFront Kalamazoo, which is a very similar organization, just a tad smaller than Affirmations.

And I currently serve on the board of Quality Michigan, which is our statewide advocacy group or organization. And not so long ago, I had the great honor honor of serving Kalamazoo on the Kalamazoo Board of Commissioners. And, well, I absolutely miss it. This side of the podium is a lot easier. Although, it's bittersweet because I see the the wear orange, and that was one of my favorite proclamations that we did annually, this time of year as well.

So some recent highlights. We recently unveiled our three year strategic plan, which includes four important pillars, fund development, health and human service services, our volunteer program and board engagement and development. You can find our strategic plan on our website. We also updated our mission, vision mission, vision, and values. Our updated mission is to improve the quality of life for LGBTQ plus Michiganders through education, programming, advocacy, and providing space for community connection.

In our vision, we envision an equitable world where LGBTQ plus individuals have the right to love, live, and thrive. We also unveiled our brand new website that was many, many months in the in the in the works. Please check it out. You can also find our strategic plan, our values on there, including our mission and vision at goaffirmations.org. Some of the programs and services highlight, some of our programs and services.

Our behavioral health and care coordination services continue to expand with therapists, workshops, and clinics reporting record high attendance. Specifically, during quarter one of twenty twenty five, we provided over 1,100 mental health sessions, administered 40 social determinants of health screenings, and had over 50 attend our various clinics, housing, legal, name change, and served almost 500 folks, for quarter one at our monthly food pantry. Events coming up. We have our long standing and annual prom redo on June 27. I hope you all can make it.

It should be fun. I'm looking, I'm looking forward to it. Our our partnerships continue to grow, continue to expand. Now more than ever, we need our our partnerships. So we're still part of HeyOneOne coalition, which is a coalition across the state, health disparities coalition, as well, which is a a coalition that meets regular, includes members across the states.

And we continue to collaborate with local schools, health care, providers, and nonprofits to help meet the needs of the LGBTQ community. We have a lot of upcoming pride events. As you know, pride kicks off in the state of Michigan here with Gay in May this coming weekend. So, affirmations will be there. I'm looking forward to my first Ferndale pride.

I spent much of my time at Kalamazoo pride, and we'll be at about another eight or nine prides throughout the state, including Motor City Pride, and prides in various, Royal Oak and other spaces. In closing, I'd like to thank you for the opportunity for, having me here to provide this update, and we are really grateful, very grateful, for the city of Ferndale's ongoing support and partnership, and I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you.

I I do have a question. This is outside of, council, but I do recall have you ever given presentations, like, for age ways or the long term care ombudsman program? What was the last one? Age ways or the long term care ombudsman program? I feel like I feel like you've done a presentation, and I feel like I've met you there.

I haven't, but sometimes folks, confuse me with Erin Knott. She is the e ED of Equality Michigan and Maybe. Former city. She was former vice mayor of Kalamazoo when I was on the county commission, so we got it all the time.

Okay.

Alright. I often said I was the one that smile that smiled. She knows I tease, though.

Well, thank you. I look forward to getting to know you.

I look forward to getting to know you. I I took some pictures. I'm looking forward to sharing back with, my my folks back in Kalamazoo. They they they're proud allies. It's a pretty queer town, but not obviously as queer as, Ferndale.

And you really rainbow it up in here, so I'll be emailing, my I I still live in Kalamazoo, at least for now. My mayor and, vice mayor and the team. So thank you. Any other questions?

Congratulations, Theresa. Thank you. Alright.

Look forward to meeting you all.

Alright. Next up, we have uh-uh. Next up, we have our Oakland County Commissioner, Charlie Cabell.

Okay. Good evening. I'm Charlie Cabell, our county commissioner. First, about affirmations. You're in good hands because, you know, as they said, another county person at the helm, so can't be a bad thing.

I guess okay.

No one's gonna laugh because the city's home. I get it. Okay.

Tough crap. Tough crap. Alright.

Okay. Thank you. Alright. So, lots of updates I could offer. I would love to take any questions about the equalization contract if you'd like to give them, but a couple quick updates.

So first, mental health. And these are gonna tie together. So mental health and federal grants at Oakland County. So mental health, shout out to Jenny. She set up a meeting for June 10 between Oakland County Board of Commissioners, so myself, Colleen.

We're gonna get to talk a lot. And Oakland, Community Health Network, our community mental health agency for Oakland County, and the DDA to talk about mental health and how to work with people in crisis. So this is really cool because Jenny is talking about it in a very cool way about how we can make Ferndale and this is the big idea is how all these different entities using taxpayer money and government support and trust can come together to make Ferndale a best case or best example or best practice for how to work in downtowns and communities about addressing mental health crises in an empathetic and compassionate way. So we're gonna have a meeting June 10, and hopefully, it'll be awesome. Okay.

That's update one. Update two, federal grants. So this is gonna be sad. Oakland County has a 94 federal grants directly, and this is worth bringing up because last week, there is a bill passed out of the house that will go to the senate in DC that would really affect how Oakland County is able to provide a lot of the services to its residents. So I just wanna flag first.

We have a 94 active federal grants, all in on our triennial budget. Just to give context, we use about $300,000,000 in people's property taxes, so the property tax is you or if you're a renter, you pay your landlord and your landlord pays property taxes for you. So everyone pays property taxes that has a house in Oakland County whether you rent or own. But that $307,000,000 that comes to Oakland County is general fund money from property taxes. We get about $500,000,000 in grants or earned income, from program income or, like, fees from the clerk's office and stuff like this.

So say that to say that, we have over $400,000,000 in federal or federal state grants, so we're really keeping an eye on this. To date, we've only had to fire or, like, discontinue or lay off six people that were for a, communicable disease, grant we got from the federal government that was cut April 1 since we had to lay the off April 2, and also just related to mental health, substance use disorder. We had to let one contracted position go, and there was a grant, that we had to give back the remainder of immediately. So there's $3,900,000 in grants that we've lost thus far, which is three grants. So we had $1.97, we got one ninety four left.

So just, you know, wanna tell you this now so that when I come back in, like, two months and I go, hey, you know how we were talking about trying to do whatever? Well, most of it came from the federal government in some part, and we can't do that anymore. So just FYI. And also if anyone in the public wants to talk more about that, I got a bunch of spreadsheets and PowerPoints, we can talk about it. Okay.

If you wanna talk about equalization, I can do that too.

So I I do have a question. Well, mainly a statement first. First, I wanna thank you for your support in voting no. Okay. May I ask, the logic or the reason behind bringing that forward now with so many, municipalities struggling.

Yeah. So, should I offer more background or anything? Or Whatever

we got.

So, Oakland County since 1971 has done equalization, which this is anyone know what equalization is? Alright. Right. Because you got you live your life. Equalization is property tax assessments, basically.

It's a simple way to say it. So since 1971, Oakland County has been providing this to communities that would pay Oakland County in a contract. So, like, Ferndale contracts with Oakland County to make sure that we're, like, measuring how much people should pay in property tax and, like, how big their property is compared to other communities so that you get a fair tax assessment. That whole division of Oakland County government costs about $6,000,000 a year, round numbers, and we've been subsidizing it. Communities have been paying 4,000,000, and the county from your property taxes has been paying the other 2,000,000.

So we pay the 38 or 40 staff members that work in that division. That's a 6,000,000. So then what happened back in March is the community's got a letter saying July 1, we're gonna make your rates go up a little bit. And then in April, I think communities heard that there was a county meeting The county was gonna have a finance committee and then vote on, closing that whole $2,000,000 gap. What that meant is, communities like Ferndale would have, like, a 12% increase in your rate starting July 1.

So, yeah, I think the reasoning behind it I mean, there's, like, the gossipy answer, and then there's, like, the formal political answer. So the gossipy answer is the, it, oof. Yeah. The gossip is that, you know, the UAW got a great contract, and so then the people that had to negotiate against the UAW for the 1,500 county employees that are in the UAW noticed that the 38 employees of equalization are in the UAW and said, let's just, let's just right size these rates right now all at once and stop subsidizing them like we've been doing for fifty years. And then those UAW workers won't have to work at the county anymore.

I think that's and that's I say that gossip part because that's what we're seeing happen with communities like Ferndale leaving in droves. So Oakland County used to do this service for 32 communities, and now we're gonna keep maybe five or 10. So then that makes it hard because you can go to a private company to do this, you know, like, assessing firm. So we won't be able to be competitive with the private marketplace anymore. And so if we're gonna lose most of the vendor most of the communities like Ferndale, then, you know, why would we keep these 30 people on the team?

So that's the gossip. The, I think, press proof the political answer is the math is the math. So, apparently, we just discovered this subsidy last year, so we're gonna do something about it now. But that's not true. So yeah.

And I appreciate all you guys did to try and help make it not happen to our community. Because just to give context, Ferndale's gonna have to find a hundred and 65,000 new dollars, like, tonight. Right? Or you're going to a more a private company or something. So the county's contract goes up by a hundred and $65,000.

City budget of Ferndale is, like, 25,000,000. So one, that's not small potatoes because also if you think about it, we just had a community fight and argument about Headley and then the second Headley and all this stuff. Like taxes, don't like taxes. Point is, a cop with a car and their kit and their salary and benefits, that's, like, $1.65. So you gotta figure out whether you're hiring a cop, keeping a cop, or paying equalization for context.

Like, that's real money, and they gotta figure it out, like, right now. So it put you between a rock and a hard place. It's unfair.

May I

ask when that vote is coming up again? Is it coming up next month?

Or No. We are, we right. We went through a couple committee process. It got delayed because of your advocacy, so thank you for that. But it, it passed, like, a week ago.

Passed a week ago. Yeah.

So you'll have to figure it out by July 1 for the new contracts.

Cool.

Thank you. Yep.

Alright.

We've now come to the portion of the agenda where it's called audience. I invite anyone to speak on anything off the agenda. You have three minutes. Please state your name and your address, and I open up call to audience at 07:27.

Hello, mayor and council. My name is Rich Sherhart. I live at 450 Channing Street. I am currently the city's accountant that handles a lot of property tax stuff. I've been here for over seven years, and I am resigning my position.

Tuesday will be my last day. They most people already know this is not a surprise moment here. And I just wanted to go on record thanking, city council, administration, current, past, everybody that's ever worked for the city. I've had a lot of opportunities, here, and I've loved every minute of it. It's time for me

to move on. But, if you, you

know, would have told eight years ago me that I would have done any of this, I would have been like, I don't know who you're talking about because I'm not that guy. But, just wanted to go on record thanking everyone.

And you won't be fully rid of me because I'm still a resident. Right. I know everybody's email addresses and stuff.

Thank you. Good night.

Thank you. And fun fact, Rich, we are almost neighbors. I live on Channing Street as well. Other side of just across Hilton.

I know

where to find you if we need tax accounting.

Hello. My name is Sam Gerwin of 29260 Franklin Road Of Southfield. Good evening, and thanks for letting me speak at the council. I wanted to form the council of an issue that they should be aware of. As a Metro Detroit resident and former Ferndale resident for several years, I know the city well and used to be a big fan of coming to the city for social events, but not anymore.

On October nineteenth of last year, I was assaulted at a Ferndale music venue. I will not discuss the venue and as such now, but I want to inform you the main purpose of me being here, the inadequate investigation by the Ferndale Police Department of my assault and the reasons for it. As regular citizens, I have no criminal record, keep my nose clean, I'm a working person, same job for over twenty five years, and I think people should know when they come into contact with the police and you're in the process, it's different than just maybe getting a parking ticket or something. But when you're involved in trying to do a complaint like it was a nightmare. I did not make a immediate complaint because the people threatened to kill me, but a week later trying to, have the complaint, was very hard to do.

I a week later, I went to the, police station to make a complaint, and I found out later it was only a witness statement. And I specifically wanted to make, like, an official complaint. So I called the the detective bureau a couple times. I got no return call. Eventually, I got a hold of, the assistant chief.

He called me back, and I I forget the gentleman within the city who, is some type of, like, liaison between the police or the city and the police. He was very helpful. And, I ended up going to the, police oversight board citizens oversight board where, the assistant chief was running it because the chief was on vacation. The assistant this is all paraphrase. I don't remember.

I don't wanna speak anymore. The assistant chief wasn't happy with the three sentence report the officer at the, scene. It was really and, someone on the review board mentioned, like, is it taken care of? And this is all paraphrased. Don't please don't quote me.

And then they said, yeah. It's taken the assistant chief says, it was taken care of. And he was very nice about it. I put a complaint in against a, a managing detective because when I called, he actually called me back a little while before this. I'm sorry.

I'm a little bit out of order. And he pooed my case. He knew all about it, but he wouldn't, investigate it because I had to go back to the responding officer and have him open it, which is ridiculous. I have a complaint in, the, the cat one of the cap the captain, O'Laren, he's, investigating it right now. He's he actually called me the other day, but it's been, like, weeks and weeks.

I I don't know what's taking so long. Rufoya and please let me know if I'm going over three minutes. I apologize. I couldn't get any information. I I've asked for a policy of where you have to go the original officer to get a complaint, and, article a raw article 74 was given to me.

It's nothing in there. I I asked about facial recognition technology because, we didn't get the name of the gentleman who assaulted me, and I got just the raw face recognition policy. I asked for all complaints against officers. I got nothing just to see what's going on. Maybe I I don't understand why, I was being not allowed to make a complaint.

So this data, I'm trying to theorize a why, and I'm I'm sorry. I love Ferndale. I know it's a very, gay friendly community, but I feel like because of who I am, I was, not allowed to make a complaint until I started complaining. And luckily, the assistant chief allowed it to be a complaint. He he made a complaint, and I asked the, the council to please I forgot to tell you that I had to call the police at the event venue.

They wouldn't call the police, so I had to call the police. So I'm asking the, council if they can make some type of ordinance to if someone says they're assaulted at one of your venues, the police call the police for a major crime. I'm asking the council to, create maybe a hotline to someone who can maybe be a liaison because, the process is, very if you're I I this is from October. I'm still dealing with this. I don't wanna be here.

I mean, I have stuff to do, you know. I mean, and I think that's that's it. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Yes, Sam. Thank you. Oh, the audience still open if anyone wants to speak. Alright. I'm closing call to audience at 07:34PM.

We're now moving on to the consent agenda. Item seven a, approval of the 05/12/2025 meeting minutes. Seven b, resolution declaring June 2025 as gay pride month. Seven c, resolution to certify participation in Michigan class. Seven d, Proclamation recognizing 06/06/2025 is national gun aware gun violence awareness day, seven f.

I mean, yes, seven e. Excuse me. Approval of the listed appointments and reappointments to city boards and commissions. Seven g, approval of the city's annual license renewals for Adobe Acrobat Pro in the amount of $6,343.12. Am I out of order?

I feel like I'm out of order.

Well, because one of them

is because you had to skip one.

You had to skip one.

Okay. Alright.

You had to skip e. K.

K. So seven h?

No. So okay. Seven h, approval of the city's fiduciary liability policy renewal in the amount of $24,693. 7 I, approval of the purchase order for infilled material from Stone Quest in the amount of $8,400. 7 j, approval of extended work hours by DVM Utilities Inc from 7PM to 7AM for 2025 sewer improvement program.

Seven k, approval of bills and payrolls as submitted by the finance director and subject to review by the city by the council finance committee.

I move to accept the consent agenda as presented. Support.

Polica? Yes. Mikulski? Yes. Johnson?

Yes. Kelly?

Yes.

Leaksmae?

Yes. And we had a couple of proclamations on the agenda, and, I would like to give council members an opportunity to acknowledge those proclamations.

Sure.

So I will be reading the resolution recognizing June 2025 as gay pride month. The city of Fernald is a community that respects and values its various talents and diversity demonstrated by those who live, work, and gather in our city. And we, the city council, reaffirm June as the month when LGBTQ people worldwide and their straight allies recognized the historical Stonewall riots of nineteen sixty nine as where the stand for human rights and dignity began, where gay men and women, transsexuals, and drag queens stood up against injustice and unfair treatment. We proudly acknowledge that the city of Ferndale embraces its diversity and that all persons have the right to live life without prejudice and discrimination based on age, gender, gender identity, race, color, religion, marital status, national origin, sexual orientation, or physical challenges. Therefore, be it resolved that the city council recognizes and celebrates June 2025 as gay pride month in the city of Ferndale and encourages all residents to learn about the historical LGBTQ movement and that a copy of this resolution be sent to the neighboring cities that border the great city of Ferndale to the executive of the county of Oakland, to the governor of the state of Michigan, and our US representative to the house of representatives and our senators.

Missus Anna. Okay. It's nice. On the regular agenda. Alright.

Alright. So I

would like to read the proclamation recognizing the first Friday in June to be National Gun Violence Awareness Day. This proclamation declares the first Friday in June to be National Gun Violence Awareness Day in the city of Ferndale in honor of to honor and remember all victims and survivors of gun violence and declare that we as a country must do more in this public health crisis. Every day, a hundred and twenty five people in The United States are killed by gun violence and more than two hundred and sixty are shot and wounded with an average of nearly nineteen thousand gun homicides every year. People in The United States are 26 times more likely to die by gun homicide than people in other high end countries. Michigan has one thousand four hundred twenty one gun deaths every year with a rate of fourteen point two deaths per 100,000 people, a crisis that cost the state 16,800,000.0 billion each year, of which 380,500,000.0 is paid by taxpayers.

Michigan has hit the highest the twenty seventh highest rate of gun deaths in The US. Gun homicide and assaults are concentrated in cities with more than half of all gun homicides in the nation occurring in 42 cities. Cities across the nation, including Ferndale, are working to end the senseless violence with evidence based solutions. Protecting public safety and the communities they serve is the mayor's highest responsibility. Support for the second amendment rights of law abiding citizens goes hand in hand with keeping guns away from those who are in danger of themselves and or to others.

And mayors, city council members, and law enforcement officers in partnership with local violence intervention activists and resources know their communities best and are most familiar with local criminal activity and how to address it and are best positioned to understand how to keep their citizens safe. Gun violence prevention is more important than ever as we see gun violence continue to impact communities across the country. In January 2013, Hadeah Pendleton was tragically shot and killed at age 15. And on 06/06/2025, to recognize the 20 birthday of Hadiya Pendleton, born 06/02/1997, people across The United States will recognize National Gun Violence Awareness Day and We're Orange in tribute to, one, Hadea Pendleton and other victims of gun violence, and two, the loved ones of those victims. The idea was inspired by a group of Haidea's friends who asked their classmates to commemorate her life by wearing orange.

They chose this color because hunters wear orange to announce themselves to other hunters when out in the woods, and orange is a color that symbolizes the value of human life. Anyone can join this campaign by pledging to wear orange on June 6, the first Friday in June in '20 '20 '5, to help raise awareness about gun violence. By wearing orange on 06/06/2025, people across The United States will raise awareness about gun violence and honor the lives of gun violence victims and survivors. We renew our commitment to reduce gun violence and pledge to to do all we can to keep firearms out of the hands of people who should not have access to them and encourage responsible gun ownership to help keep our families and communities safe. Now therefore be it resolved that mayor Relon Leaksmae, City of Ferndale, declares the first Friday in June, June '6 '20 '20 '5, to be National Gun Violence Awareness Day.

To honor this day, City Hall will be lit up in orange on the evening of Friday, June 6. I encourage all citizens to support their local community's efforts to prevent the tragic effects of gun violence and to honor the value of human lives. Good call. Okay. We'll call.

You called a real call for the Alright. I believe that at I'd like to take this moment for representatives regarding this proclamation to say a few words at the podium.

Thank you very much, mayor and city council. I'm Deborah Ochevski, a member of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense, and my friend Jane Strunk is also with me. We thank you very much for proclaiming Friday, June 6, as National Gun Violence Wear Orange Day. We do have some reason for optimism. Michigan has enacted four gun safety laws due to lobbying of gun safety advocates like us and others, the groundswell of public support and hard work of state legislatures in Lansing.

In February 24, where they passed the safe storage law, which requires individuals to keep weapons unloaded and locked if a minor is likely to be on the premises. Failure to do so can result in, failure to do so in connection with an act of violence is a crime. Three other laws that were passed include, universal background checks, extreme risk protection orders, also known as red flag laws, which let us, police take guns away for a time from people who might be deemed dangerous and the domestic violence firearm ban. They also passed the safe home, safe school bills which require schools to provide parents with information about gun violence prevention. Another program we'd like to highlight is Be Smart for Kids.

It's a framework for parents, caretakers, and community leaders to keep kids safe through secure storage measures. We have a program that our group is happy to come provide to any church or school or parent group about Be Smart, which is involving how important it is to think about keeping guns safe. For instance, if your child's going to visit another family, do you think to ask, gosh, are are your guns safely secured? Because sometimes they're not and accidents happen with children. So, we would like to leave a few, rare orange ribbons in the back for anyone else who's interested, and also, placard, informing you about be smart for kids.

If anyone's interested in requesting a program, we'd be more than happy to provide that.

Typically, what we what we do when we adopt this resolution or this proclamation, we get a picture with you in council. Would you be open to that?

Can you come

up and get one? Come on. Right? And before we move forward, just one more slight delay because I I don't know what happened, but I got ahead of myself, and I didn't do this like I normally do. If anyone is here, you've been appointed to a board and commission, and you'd like to introduce yourself, please come to the podium and do so.

Very well. Alright. We are moving forward to the regular agenda. Item eight a is the resolution opposing Oakland County Board of Commissioners resolution, number two thousand twenty five dash five zero five one.

Okay. Whereas the city of Ferndale, located in Oakland County, Michigan, is home to approximately 19,000 residents and is recognized as a vibrant, inclusive community where people live, work, and thrive, and whereas the city of Ferndale employs approximately 144 dedicated staff members who provide essential services that keep our city running and responsive to the needs and of residents and businesses, whereas Ferndale manages 11,311 real and personal property parcels and has for decades partnered with Oakland County's Equalization Division to administer property tax property assessment services. And whereas under the current agreement set to expire 06/30/2025, the city pays a per parcel rate of $16.22 for each real property parcel and $14.84 for each personal property parcel, totaling approximately a hundred and 80 2 thousand annually. Whereas Oakland County Board of Commissioners proposed resolution twenty twenty five fifty fifty one seeks to increase the per parcel rate to thirty eighty six, a 92% increase, nearly doubling Ferndale's cost burden to approximately 350,000 annually without adequate consultation or justification. Whereas the proposed increase would shift 100% of the cost for property assessment services, including indirect and administrative overhead to local municipalities despite the county benefiting from centralized efficiencies and data.

Whereas the proposed rate hike is expected to generate approximately 10,000,000 in additional revenue for Oakland County over three years. Yeah. According to statements made at the 05/01/2025 committee meeting, the funds are not designated to address any specific budget gap program or public need. And whereas the process leading to this proposal has lacked transparency, accountability, and meaningful input from the cities, villages, and townships most affected reflecting a disregard for collaboration and shared governance. Whereas, an amendment introduced by commissioner Jinjo would have limited the increase to 4% for one year and created a subcommittee of county and municipal representatives to study the issue and develop long term recommendations was rejected.

Whereas it adopted the proposal would force Ferndale and dozens of other Oakland County communities, many in the midst of finalizing 2026 budgets to either absorb significant unplanned costs or identify a new service provider likely resulting in delayed projects, reduced services, or staff impacts. And whereas the Ferndale City Manager has previously been directed to explore regional or private sector alternatives for assessment administration

that

are cost effective, collaborative, and mutually beneficial. Now, there have be it resolved that the Ferndale City Council strongly opposes Oakland County proposed resolution twenty twenty five fifty fifty one and the process by which it has been advanced without adequate engagement with affected municipalities. Be it further resolved that the Ferndale City Council urges the Oakland County Board of Commissioners to vote against this proposal and instead pursue a transparent data informed process that includes the voices and interests of its municipal partners. Be it finally resolved that a copy of this resolution be transmitted to chairman Dave Woodward, all members of the Oakland County Board of Commissioners, and county executive Dave Coulter prior to,

what was already voted on. Okay. Right. But it's okay.

We have it on public record. Yeah.

I'll open up the council for any comments or questions regarding this resolution.

I have a couple comments if I may. Okay. First of all, thank you, council member Kelly, for putting that together. It's I hate that we're in the spot to have to put together a resolution about this. You know, Oakland County, they have real institutional knowledge.

We've relied on them for years. To commissioner Cavell's point earlier, the the subsidy, quote, unquote, the $2,000,000 gap in Oakland County's budget has been happening for decades. This is not new news. And I absolutely understand that, you know, inflation and staff compensation and technology investments and compliance requirements and everything has a cost, and I can understand that they would also want to shift some of that cost back to the cities that they're supplying the service to. The part that kills me is the magnitude and the timing of the increase, especially for communities that had little advance warning.

It's it's just too much when we have tight budgets, and we're already in the midst of preparing our fiscal twenty twenty six plans and just trying to figure things out, especially after a millage. I will say I talked to Dave Coulter this weekend about it, and he gave me a lot of good information, a lot of good insight. I will say they are planning the formation of a real study group that is a a step towards collaboration to engage stakeholders from municipalities across Oakland County. And, really, it's it's to look at long term affordability, ensure equity and cost distribution, and protect the long term sustainability of a high quality public service. The problem is that should have been done before the change, and now we're at a place where we have to adjust, and it's it's just a real bummer.

So I'm very happy that you introduced this resolution so we could send that signal.

And I would just, add that, you know, I think that this feels a lot like a self created problem on the county's part. This is a situation that, you know and I think the thing that bothers me the most is is this discussion about it being a subsidy. Well, it's not a subsidy. We and our residents pay our millage to operate the county. And instead of doing what we had to do as a city and go to our residents twice to ask for a tax, really, not even increase really, just to go back to the rate we originally had, and have that two votes on the matter to finally get something success succeeded.

What it seems to me is that the county is avoiding doing the really hard thing, which is telling its residents we need more money. And instead of doing that hard thing and saying we need to increase the operating millage just like cities are increasing their operating millage, they decided to balance the books on the backs of jurisdictions that don't require a vote of the public. You can just increase your fees on your payers, and then you don't have to have a plebiscite for the county to vote on whether you need taxes. This is a backdoor way of increasing our costs, which then means that we're gonna be down the road of having to increase our millage and ask for a tax increase to keep up with these costs. And so they've backdoored a tax increase by ramming it through cities and townships.

That's what this is. And that's frustrating because there are very smart people at the top of the county who undoubtedly knew that that's what this was, and that's frustrating. So thank you, council member Kelly, for putting this resolution together. It's so perfect. So I move we adopt the resolution indicating Ferndale's opposition to the county board of commissioner's decision to dramatically increase fees for local unit assessing services.

Court. Johnson?

Yes.

Kelly?

Yes.

Mikulski?

Yes.

Polica? Yes. Leaksma?

Yes. Alright. Now we're going to item eight b, approval of of contract with assessment administration services LLC.

Well, we've already discussed the background need for this item pretty extensively. But to summarize again, the city has historically contracted for these services with Oakland County. We are, at the precipice of seeing a dramatic rate increase related to those services, to the point where it's really untenable for our existing budget to continue that relationship. I did present for council's consideration a cost benefit analysis that looked at the two payment options that the county offered, the proposal from assessment administration services, and then a third option of bringing services in house. Ultimately, the cost benefit analysis looks to not only just the cost impact of this, but how the timing, the benefit to the community, and other key factors are considered as as we weigh which course to take.

Moving forward with the contract with assessment administration services does appear to be the best alternative at this time. Obviously, that will be a very new relationship for us, so we will wanna watch closely to make sure that we're meeting the goals and parameters that we have for excellence in our community communications. But all things said, moving forward with that contract would present the city with actually a very minor cost savings compared to what we had budgeted for this year, which at the time was a more reasonable fee increase of about 3% for the county. That this year would reflect about a $15,000 savings over that budget. We do have a representative, two representatives from AAS here if there are any specific questions real regarding their services.

You two wanna introduce yourself?

Evening. My name is Lisa Griffin, and I'm with assessment administration services. This is Mitchell Elrod, and we are excited to have a partnership with the city of Ferndale. If you have any questions, we'd be happy to answer them.

Also, if you have any questions regarding this firm and the direction that the city is proposing that we move into.

Through the

chair, how many cities do you work with?

Currently, we have 26, and there are cities, townships, and villages.

Do you expect any sort of transition issues around, you know, I don't know, data migration? I don't even know if data migration is part of this.

It it is. So we don't you know, you're gonna stay on the county system for now, so we don't expect there to be any issues with that because all that data will stay where it is. The only issues we've had or we've talked to other communities about are just maybe some, information being transferred over to the city such as record cards, forms or or applications that have been made in the last year, such as like veterans exemptions, poverty exemptions, reports, just, you know, things like that. So we have a letter prepared that we can, give to you to give to the county for a transition.

And I will note Ferndale is not the only community that is transitioning away from the county to AAS. At least Madison Heights and I don't know if there's been any other movement.

So yes. So currently, we have 26 with this, you know, coming about with Oakland County. We've we've, picked up Madison Heights, Oxford Township, Orient Township, and, Commerce Township. So it's been a transition for us as well because it's kind of, you know, coming in all at one time. But

Actually, a question for the city manager. With potentially moving in this direction, the savings that we will incur regarding making this move, Is there any benefit in the long term regarding how this will impact, our taxpayers?

And a $15,000 a year savings, it's not likely that it would, impact the tax bills of the other day. We do still have to see if this ends up requiring any additional in house staff time, just because there are there will be fewer physical staff present, although AAS is committing to a certain number of hours on-site each month.

And I would say generally, like, you know, we committed to sixteen hours per month, but likely we'll be here more than that. And I would say you'd have a presence in the office, as well, you know, probably weekly for for a set amount of time.

Okay.

So I had sent some questions, written questions earlier, and and thank you for responding to those and and wonderful responses, excellent responses. I'm gonna ask just a couple of those questions so that we can have that response be Sure. Public for the for the public.

I'll let Mitchell respond because he wrote those answers.

Nicely done, Mitchell. So how do you assist residents through the board of review process, especially our more vulnerable residents like the elderly and disabled? This process can be complicated and confusing.

Sure. So like I said in the in the email back to you guys today, March review is going to be the biggest meeting that when taxpayers come in to appeal their assessment. Any questions about their upcoming values, that's our that's our busiest time of the year as assessors. We give we try to push as much inner information out as we can. It's all the meeting informations on their assessment notes, which they get two to three weeks ahead of time, phone numbers, emails to call with any questions.

July and December is when we see more, the exemptions, like, at the poverty level. So, in the past, me personally, you know, if if resident physically can't make it to city hall or town, you know, whatever, we will mail we'll, you know, mail everything to their house for them. You know, we'll email it to them. If they need help with the counter filling them out, I've I've literally the the one resident in the community I worked in the past had a hard time writing. So with his permission and someone, you know, as my witness per se, I helped him fill out his, you know, poverty exemption for him.

So anything like that, we're more than willing to do.

That's fantastic. Thank you. That's the sort of, you know, care that we're looking for here in our, you know, our community. So to sort of piggyback a little bit off of council member, or mayor Pro Tem Mikulski's question, how does this how does your staff sort of get up to speed when you bring on a new community? So kind of capsule summary, what does that look like?

Because each community is different. Right? Your stock of buildings, unimproved properties, improved properties, commercial, industrial, residential, all that kind of stuff is different everywhere. How do you get familiar with a community when you're coming in and taking over? Sure.

So for people that have never, like, for example, been to Ferndale before, we would probably, like I said in the emails, we'll probably have them, especially, like, when they're out doing field work, just go drive around. Get yourself familiar. Find all the main roads. Go maybe go focus on this subdivision for a day and get your, you know, get your bearings and everything like that. We use a lot of GIS, for mapping.

I mean, we use it for property analysis. We use it, you know, if something looks weird on a property, we're gonna pull up GIS and verify it. So that kinda gets you familiar with that area as well. Like I said, a lot of mapping. We're gonna use Google Street View, and then like I said, you know, we're gonna go out into the city, into the neighborhoods, and see what's going on out there.

Thank you.

And the process briefly, if you can share what would be, the process if we decide to not, for whatever reason, not continue with a three year contract?

So early or do you mean Early termination.

It should I should've said.

So in all our contracts, we do a thirty or sixty day an hour. Is that is that what you're referring to? If we decided to, end the contract? Okay. So actually, we decided to end.

Either way. It's either party. Yes.

Through the chair. So you have a staff of about 25, I believe?

So we have, currently 18 full time and 11 part time.

Okay.

And what is their background? When you're hiring people, to do this work, where are you where are you getting these people? What kind of background and experience do they have coming to you?

It varies. So we've been in business since 02/2009. So we've had Mitchell, for example, out of college and worked with us in the summer and just, you know, decided that's what he wanted to do to do for a career. When we are out looking now for employees or, you know, prospective employees, actually, we've had one contact us from the county because I believe they think they're they may be getting lay off. So we're actually hiring an employee from the county.

And some employees we are hiring and we're gonna train in house, you know, because it's difficult, I think, in the assessing basically profession right now to find certified people. But I could say most of our staff, I believe we only have one currently, and he's in college still that is not certified. So, you know, but we are currently hiring more people, and they will be going through the process of certification, and one is already certified. Actually, two are certified that we're hiring.

Certified assessors?

Assessors. So the state of Michigan. Yes.

Okay.

So there's four different levels of certification.

You're are you getting people from, like, real estate?

Funny funnily enough, we have we actually had a few that are deciding to change careers, so it just depends. I mean, we've had a few that are, I mean, graphic artists. They've taken a buyout from their company, so they wanna transition in a career. Like I said, one from the county. So different just different, you know, areas.

We do try to look for people, obviously, that are you know, have experience, but, it's sometimes difficult but, you know, we feel fortunate actually to hire the one from the county because he's he's got quite a bit of experience.

Are you are you expecting to staff up a little bit more?

Yeah. I mean, right now, we've added three full time and one part time. So, yes. I mean, we are looking at, depending on how this all ends or finishes with these communities. It'll just depend on, like, the needs and, you know, obviously, we wanna, you know, give you the best, services that we can.

We don't wanna over promise and under under deliver, so we wanna make sure that we're gonna follow through on what we promised you.

And then my final question, madam mayor, is to the city manager. Are we continuing our conversations with our sort of sibling communities throughout the county and and continuing to at least advocate and have serious conversations about a regionalism approach or a coalition of cities that can join together in these sorts of efforts.

Yes. I I will say that there was consideration for a regional approach to this issue. Unfortunately, as you heard tonight, we were not giving them a lot of timing Yeah. You know, consideration to make this change. So for the time being, you know, weighing weighing the cost and benefits, this is absolutely, our best alternative.

I think we're very fortunate to have found, an assessing firm with the depth and experience that AAS has. I know other assessing firms either are at capacity and weren't able to provide services or or just didn't have, the the experience that I felt comfortable bringing to counsel.

Well, I just have to say thank you for investigating this because So quickly. So quickly.

Yeah. Well, I was

not gonna come up here and tell you guys we were spending a hundred and $65,000.

We appreciate that. Any other questions towards EAS?

Through the chair. So the certification that you're getting through the, through the state, or your staff. Mhmm. Everyone who does an assess does this work has to be certified through the state. What type of training is that?

Like, how in-depth? You know, is it a forty hour training for over six months? You know?

There's four levels of training. So the first one is an MCAT, which is like a technician, and that's, a very basic certification. So that only requires, like, three days of training, then you take a test, and you're certified in MCAT, which is a technician. The next three levels are, I bet they're a year. So you go through a year of classes.

Each level is a little bit different. I think the first, two after the MCAT are various classes with tests at each section, and then at the end, there may be another large test. I don't know. I've done it was been years since I've done it, but Mitchell is probably a little bit closer. I they they change it all the time too.

The state does. And then the final one that, Michigan master assessing officer is kind of a comprehensive where you, write different papers along the way, and then I I believe there's a test at the end. Is that how there's two tests? So and then Is that what you've taken? Yeah?

Okay. Yes. Okay. So

Well, you answered one of my other questions was is do you have to be recertified? So you're saying it's been a while since you've taken gone through it, so Yes. We I'm assuming not.

Yes. Well, we have

to do sixteen to twenty hours of recertification each year.

Okay.

So, and that changes each year too that the state sometimes they make it 12, sometimes 16, sometimes 20. So it changes each year, but we do have to do recertification each year.

Excellent.

I move we approve the three year contract for assessor of record services with assessment administration services LLC in the amount of $177,420 with a 4% annual escalator effective 07/01/2025.

Support.

Johnson? Yes. Kelly?

Yes. Mikulski? Yes.

Polica? Yes. Weeks May?

Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Item eight c, resolution authorizing redemption of series 2,016 UTGO bond.

Okay. Well, I Donnie's over here. He's real jazzed about this one.

I know about this one.

Thank you to council member Johnson for putting on our radar the question of the city's, current fund balance pertaining to its debt millage. Myself and, finance director Whitfield were able to look into this question a little bit further and identify, that the city was in a position to be able to pay down one of its debt issuances, specifically the 2016, general obligation tax bond. In doing so, we will use a substantial portion all of the, existing reserve balance, but this presents a cost savings to the community as we would no longer have the interest payments on those future years of debt payments. So this is the resolution for redemption of that bond series, paying an aggregate balance of $3,000,000. And then we can talk in a little bit more detail, at the next action item about the impact that that change has to our debt millage.

Phil, is there anything you wanna add to that statement?

I think that's what I was referring to when I said any impact to the, citizens, taxpayers in the future. I think that's

Oh, okay. Yeah. You're

I knew. Yeah.

You're getting ahead.

Okay. Alright.

I mean, I would just I would just note that, you know, this is, you know, like like any opportunity in life when you can pay off your debt early, if you have the ability, you're going to save money because you're not gonna pay interest over many more years. And so our ability to sort of what's called call our bonds, which allows you to redeem them and pay them immediately, is a great opportunity for us. This is going to save the city, you know, money, but it's it is going to save the taxpayers money, through, which we'll see in the next agenda item, but spoiler alert, there is a tax reduction that comes as a result of this item. So doing this is, you know, this council, and this city administration continuing to follow through on the promises that we made going into the Headley conversation that we would continue to be serious about finding ways to save the city money, to work hard, to find solutions, to continue to lower the burden on our residents as much as possible while maintaining the level of service that we love. And I think this is a a major step for us and and a huge piece of keeping that promise.

So I move to authorize the redemption of the series twenty sixteen unlimited tax general obligation bond with an outstanding aggregate balance of $3,000,000. Support.

Johnson?

Yes.

Lukolski?

Yes.

Kelly?

Yes.

Polica? Leaksmay?

Yes.

Let's vote now.

Item eight d, resolution to revise and reduce the tax levy request for fiscal year twenty six.

So as was shared, the city is presenting a revised FY twenty six tax levy, form l forty twenty nine that would reduce the debt millage that is required for fiscal year twenty six to now reflect, what would be a lower payment, net of the existing fund balance reserve and debt millage fund. This is expected to reduce the debt millage by about, well, by exactly point seven five two eight mil. Not a hugely, overwhelming impact to residents, but a net savings of of about $75 to a hundred dollars a year on tax bills for residents. Any questions? Or, Phil, did you wanna add anything?

Again, you pretty much knocked it out the park. But, again, because of the previous action that you guys just, passed, this will allow us to reduce the tax millage and actually going forward puts us in a better position if need be that we have to actually buy out for other infrastructure needs. So this is gonna be this is actually a big win for the city and the residents.

Through the chair, is there a second resolution regarding the water rates too that needs to be

The the resolution is basically a repeat. The only thing that's changing that resolution is the, debt millage rate. It went from 3.2779 to 2.4751.

Yes. So we're asking you to, adopt a revised resolution. You'd previously adopted this resolution with the old millage rate. We're saying we don't need to levy that much anymore. Everything else should be the same other than that millage rate.

Absolutely. Correct.

And I think, you know, for the for the attending and viewing public, you know, I think there's a really important distinction we need to make about which millage is being affected here. So when millage. Yeah. When folks voted, for the Headley override, that is just it's an operating millage. Right?

So that's going it's general fund. It's additional funding to the general fund. The debt millage is not a millage that is voted on by pack by residents. Well, in a sense, indirectly, they do when they vote to authorize a bond issuance. That also then authorizes the government to levy a debt mill a a debt millage, in the amount necessary to service that debt.

Subsequently, a city recalculates its debt service every year based on its tables, and you get you get debt service tables from your from your bond, trustees, and that helps you determine how much you need to levy each year. So after the initial vote of residents for a bond, the council each year adopts these tax levies, and we can change that rate. We don't have to go back to the public. So because we change that rate to match what's needed to pay the bills. So we have that ongoing authorization.

That millage cannot be used for police, fire, communications, human resources. That is a restricted millage that can only be utilized to service debt and only the amount of debt you have outstanding. So you can never levy more than you need or well, you could levy less than you need, but you'd be having a bad time. So, you know, that debt is that millage is highly restricted. It just it can't be used for operating purposes.

And so when we're talking about what millage we're changing, we're not changing the millage that folks just voted on. That's that's set. That's an operating millage. What we're changing is our debt millage, which is a different one. But the overall impact on residents is same same.

Well, and it creates a relatively net neutral situation because this reduction is nearly identical to exactly what would be what will appear to be the increase from Headley. So the the the news, really, the takeaway to residents is by taking this action, we have found a way to neutralize that year one impact of Headley.

Yep. Yep. Through the chair, just to confirm, this is the bond from the sewer bond from '15?

This was from '16. It was actually street and infrastructure. Yeah. So it was a series six 2016 bond.

Street bond.

Oh, that's right. That was 16 streets. Yeah. Because parks and rec parks improvement was part of that too. Yeah.

$22,000,000. Yeah.

Yeah. And and thank you, Colleen, for not bearing the lead. Yes. The the the super exciting part sorry. I get excited by the news.

You really dove into it there. I'm sorry. I I really

I just you know, it's You

said it was

a lot of months talking

about taxes with residents, and now we're talking about it again. I don't want, you know, that I'd be confused. But, yeah, the headline really is, like, this action essentially makes it as if the Headley vote has had a much smaller impact on residents, almost no impact. And that's I mean, I don't think we could have fulfilled our promise to minimize the burden on residents, much better than that.

I agree.

According to what, the documents that I'm reading, is that a three quarter potentially three quarter mill decrease?

Yes. Point seven five two eight.

Yep. Seven five two eight.

If there are no further questions, I do just wanna take a moment and thank director Whitfield. He, one, had to listen to both me and Donnie, like, diving into this issue all the. They He he he, he performed adverbally and and got correct information, really put in the time to to get this right.

Yeah. Yeah. I appreciate that.

Yes. Thank you, Phil. Thank you. Thank you.

So I move that we approve the revision to the FY twenty six tax levy request form l forty twenty nine as submitted by the city manager and finance director and to adopt the resolution to revise the FY twenty six tax levy as submitted by the finance director.

Support.

Oh, everyone wants to support that one.

Johnson? Yes. Rakulski? Yes. Kelly?

Yes.

Talia? Yes. June.

Yes. Alright. And then item,

this,

the fee schedule was pulled from the consent agenda and became item eight e on our regular agenda. So that is our last item for the evening. You pulled it, Councilman Rapalica, so let's talk about it.

Okay. So, there's a number of changes that have been made to the fee schedule, and some of them stuck out, glaring glaringly to me. And so I did, contact city manager, and, she then, directed a bunch of my questions to staff, which they answered over the last day or two. So I'm just gonna briefly go through some of the items that kind of caught my attention. And, the first one is on page, one.

Is that one or two?

Sorry.

Credit card fees?

Yeah. The credit card fees.

Yeah. Technically, page one.

Page one. Yes. So there's a significant increase, from 2% to 2.8%. And I just wanted to make sure that that was the actual fee that we are paying the credit card company and that we were not benefiting financially off of that. And and, Colleen, you confirmed me that that is our new rate, as well as the 2.95 rate, for, credit card transaction fees.

The 2.8 is for tax payment credit card fees. I'm assuming we use two different companies by the different rates. How come one's less than the other? Can't we get the, the other one to 2.8?

And actually, I've actually am suing conversations with payments. But the 2%, that was strictly for tax payments in the 2.8. Actually, I'm not sure about that 2%.

Well, that's what it was. It was two, and now it's 2.8. And the other one is 2.5. That's now 2.95.

For the taxes in, I'm not sure why they separate because we have, tax payments that that set at one rate and then utilities and everything else, water, everything else is at a a different rate at 2.95. I could take that question back to BS and A payments as far as why there is a difference. But even we had the same pricing difference when we went with when we were with Point and Pay. It was one set price for tax, and it was a separate price for utilities, water permits, and what everything else.

In my experience, it typically has to do with the size of the payment. So because tax payments tend

to be larger,

you get a slightly better rate.

For the chair, that seems odd to me because last year, we saved 56,000, in annual savings due to swapping from First Data to Passport for the credit card processing fees for parking. And those are 80 big payments. Right?

It's a different volume, though. So that's Yeah. What that's based on.

Okay.

So it seems these rates are a little bit crazy

Yeah.

And it might make sense for us to try to renegotiate them.

Yeah. If we're able I I just think that increase is just so high, but I also know that everybody's doing it now. I mean, people are paying you know, they're adding, 3% if you use a charge card now. And

And and we are looking to have go back to no fee associated with ACH payments. This would just be specific to credit cards.

So we're still having, we're still having basically, we're still having conversations with BSNA payments because, again, like, for example, our e checks, previously, there was no charge. And under BSNA payments, there's a $3 charge, which we've already confirmed that that charge will be going away. And so when I do go back to them, because I am meeting with them again this week, I can discuss some of the other things that you guys are raising here.

Okay. Okay. The, the next item I had was on page three regarding the increase in chicken coop permits. Did you wanna take this one? Tell us, mayor Pro Tem.

Sure. Yeah. I mean, the the answer here of two inspections doesn't jive with the reality of people who have chicken coops. So I'm a I'm a little bit confused as to what has happened.

So I talked with, one of the inspectors that handles it today. So generally, for any permit, there is a $50 administrative fee that covers Kathy's time, IT, the building, all those things, and then there's a fee for the building permit. So rental inspection, for example, is $200. It's not broken out, but 50 essentially goes for Kathy's time

Mhmm.

In the

building, $1.50 for the inspection. A building permit is 50 plus whatever fee it would be. Electrical is 50 plus whatever fee it would be. So most of our standard fees, offense permit is $50 plus. This I think was 35.

So just to be consistent with everything else, I proposed to move it $2.50. I had a conversation today with one of the inspectors about what is actually involved. I was a little surprised to hear. Generally, the two inspections are for a new chicken coop where people maybe aren't experienced, need to do a first inspection and then a follow-up. He has stated that chicken people, obviously care about their chickens, and so most of them, on the annual inspection if they were already established are not a lot of work that they usually, he finds they actually improve their conditions from one year to the next.

They made their coop, more safety proof. They added more of a rat wall. They, contained the feed even more. So, his take was on future inspections of someone who's already got the chicken coop permit. It's been relatively, easy.

But $35 when you add in, a half an hour inspection, vehicle, city IT, Cathy calling the people, setting it up. I mean, there is some work there, but it's at the pleasure of the

council.

Yeah. I

Well, my my suggestion in talking to to Roger earlier today was, why does it have to be done every year? Why can't it be done every two years? That's what we do rental rental homes. Why do why are chicken coops more important to to, you know, review every year as opposed to a rental home?

It ends up feeling rather punitive. We've already signed up to to have an annual inspection of $35 per year, which is when it originally was proposed is similar ish to, like, dog licensing, right, rather than a a traditional building inspection. But nobody's we're not licensing the chickens in the the technical way. They're not getting a tag. They're not wearing a collar.

We're really we're really just looking at their home and making sure that it's not a rat haven and that it's secure and the the animals are protected. I I personally think that a jump is a little bit much. It it could make sense in the future to look back at this and see about potentially, you know, doing a two year inspection. But a lot can change in two years. Raccoons can happen.

Raccoons are chicken's worst enemy, and they are lovely animals, but they could rip through some chicken wire and get into a coop. So there was a little bit of logic there in the the annual inspection.

So would the consensus be to keep the fee at $35, or would council want to consider a two year in the future?

I understand the, you know, the cost. You know? If if but I also don't know. Are we doing, you know, a hundred of them a year, or

are we doing a dozen? You said 45 or so.

It's it's an incredibly small number.

Yeah.

If we go with an increased cost, so I would I would ask if we can do a two year inspection because I think that's much more equitable.

I would say from a staff, thing related to that, freeing up 45 inspections a year that we can focus on the vacant structure, program would be beneficial to us.

There we go. There we go.

So let's not do them all

in one year. Why don't you do, like, 25 in one year?

Well, it's whenever they sign up and then it would be good to have you. So and we do them during a certain part of the year. We only do them in

Yeah. January to March or something. We actually shifted. Yep. It used to be in the winter, and you couldn't see the ground, which is pretty important when you're looking at a chicken coop.

So now it's in warmer weather. I can't remember exactly when.

Yeah. March I think March is the deadline that we try to get them done by.

Let me make sure I understand. So we're talking about moving the feet of 50, but using, but utilizing a two year inspection time frame. Is that what a is that what

That's the conversation we're having.

Alright. Alright.

We want to do. Well, I still have more questions.

Okay. Well,

good. Alright.

So I'm I'm marking this one down. Alright.

And I I will say these these rates are effective July 1. So if we need to make amendments and bring this back, hopefully, we can reach consensus tonight so it can go on a consent agenda for the next meeting. But

Oh, I was gonna make the

motion with the changes.

Oh, okay. So I actually be, like, doing this right now? No.

I was gonna take it

out. I

was taking it out.

Okay. You'll send me the notes.

Well, I'm assuming he's gonna take it down when do I make the motion.

I also have a video.

You're gonna make the motion with every single amendment in it. Yes. Alright. Well, I would wanna see this then.

Well, how many how

many amendments do you think I'm gonna make?

We're we're

at, like, two already.

No. We're not. We only have one. Alright. It's the only change.

Alright. I'll get your next question. Alright. Council member Polica, what's next?

Okay. So the next question that I had was, the sign permit, on page three, which went up 50%. And that is because it went from, there was a combination. One was temporary, one was permanent, and you you had, like, two inspections, and now you've just combined it all into one for one low cost.

Yeah. We had a temporary sign permit and then a permanent I'm sorry, a temporary sign, yeah, permit and then a permanent one. Under the new code, temporary signages don't get permits, unless it's in the table that I'm not referencing. But there's a section eight, eight point o five or something that says temporary permits. They're good for thirty days.

They talk about banners. They talk about, grand opening permits. Those don't require a permit. So I actually don't even think we have a a temporary permit. In terms of a permanent sign, you might have up to three inspections.

It would be the planner reviewing the calculation. It would be the building permit for the building portion of it, and it might even be an electrical permit for the electrical portion. So at $250 for the sign permit and then a hundred to a hundred and 20 5 for the building permit and then another hundred to a hundred and 25 for the electrical permit, it becomes a $500 sign, which we don't think is appropriate. So that's one we're actually recommending go down. The staff time it takes to review a sign permit and sign off, the the actual planning portion of it, you know, is a conversation in twenty minutes.

So seventy five dollars is a more reasonable cost for a sign. There still would be the building permit fee if there's a building permit, an electrical permit fee if there's that. But I think $2.50 is is too much for our review.

So yeah. So I don't

have any issue with that one. Under board of appeals, same page, the charge is $2.50 for one unit residential and then a thousand for two unit plus, or commercial or industrial. My concern so originally, I proposed one thing, but after talking with Roger, my concern is that we're now identifying ADUs as a second unit. So if someone wants to put a a ADU on their property and they need to appeal it for, you know, maybe they wanna get three feet, but the the code says five feet, you know, from the the fence line, they're paying a thousand dollars. So my suggestion was to say that it's $2.50 for one unit, and $2.50 for an ADU.

So you wanna add clarifying language that an ADU is considered a single family dwelling.

For this appeal process.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And within the zone, we call it a second unit.

Sure. No. It makes sense then to specify within the fee schedule that it was be considered a single unit.

Yeah. So if it's just the ADU, it's it's considered a single unit as two fifty.

To get perspective on appeals, I think I presented last month. We did one last year for a commercial building. The year before, we did do two on single family homes. They were specific to what somebody wanted. We don't do a lot.

So, if that clarifies it, that's completely fine.

Alright. Just taking my notes. So then the next section that I had, there was some confusion on page five, but I worked that out with Roger. Okay. Then I had questions on page eight about the parking citations.

And one of the things that I've heard a lot about from people were getting charged for back in parking. And what I didn't notice was there was a fee, there was a calling out back back in parking. And my understanding is correct me if I'm wrong, Colleen. It is under the general Prohibited parking. Prohibited parking.

Yeah.

Yeah. And prohibited parking is really just any type of parking in the lots that is not expressly allowed. K. So it's the back end parking, whatever. Parking and not a spot, things like that.

Yeah. In a loading zone, I'm assuming. Yeah.

There's some clarity.

And then the last thing that I had was, in the special events guide, that was presented a few meetings ago, director of special events, suggested that there be a fee for parking spaces and lots used during events. And I know that I probably summarized that not accurately, but I think you know what I'm talking about. But I didn't see anything called out here, and I believe it's not even in here. That item is not here. Therefore, there is no fee.

Correct. We didn't feel that there was consensus from council to move forward with that fee. It was recommended in the special event guidelines. It also didn't make sense to make the fee change mid special event season. So either this is a topic we can discuss now or we can visit at the end of the special event season whether council wants to move forward with, the recommended fee.

But, certainly, that's completely discretionary to you all.

Would it make sense to add that line item with just a zero cost so that

we know that we have to come back to it.

Look at it annually. Yeah. I'm not opposed to that. You're the one who's gonna make the amended motion. So

I

just need to know what we would call that field.

Special event lot use fee?

Parking fee? Special event parking?

Well, because we already have special event parking fees for private events and business events, so I don't know if that would be confusing. Do we do we call it anything in the guide?

What you're referring to is a meter parking space reservation.

Okay.

So it's separate from

So So So

it would be So

we call it a special event.

Parking parking lot use fee.

And it would be specific to the lots, not spaces.

Correct.

K. So special event parking lot Mhmm. Use fee.

And part part of the motivation to this is is trying to encourage the the most events to to utilize the streets rather than utilize a lot for their event. But there wouldn't be a fee to utilize the street, it would only be the fee would be based on the lot because we of some of the lost revenue from metered parking space fees.

K. So through the chair, Greg, before you make your adjustment. Mhmm. So are we we're talking about adding a, like, a placeholder line within the the fee schedule for this?

And holding it zero. Yeah.

Yeah. Under special events, we would just create the line and it'd be zero for this year. And at any future point, council can decide to add the fee. I just wanna make sure that no one down the line confuses some other fee to say, oh, this is what we need to charge for the special event lot fee because that's what it says in this other section about parking.

We're establishing a fee and setting the rate at zero. Yes.

And then we can come back in December or what have you to figure out if we wanna charge $25 or $50 or whatever that fee is.

I mean, through the chair. And I don't wanna derail this. Doesn't that send a little bit of a signal? And it's I don't know that it's a signal that we want to send right now. That there's intention that we are looking to charge a fee.

Well, we passed a we passed a guideline that says it's we're gonna we can charge a fee.

Yeah. But we didn't have consensus on that that portion as Michael so clearly pointed out. It

was just a guideline, not a right.

Okay. We don't have to have it. I was

Yeah. It's it's just making me a little bit squeamish. Yeah.

Hey. Unless I have to add to the agenda to the, motion.

Wasn't the decision back then to come back and discuss this at a later date without just discuss wasn't that on isn't that what we decided to discuss this at a later date regarding the I think we did.

After the season.

After the season. Yeah.

I think we decided to discuss it further. I just don't want it to be presupposed that we're going to make the move to charge a fee before we've decided to charge a fee even if the fee is zero.

So no documentation. We're gonna come back to discuss it. Okay. I'm okay with that.

Yeah. We can make a note to have a discussion on this in December of this year.

Anything else?

Okay. That's it. Unless anybody else has anything. Okay. So then I make a motion to approve the fiscal year ending '26 City of Ferndale fee schedule as submitted by the city manager with the following edits.

Chicken coop fee remains $50 for a two year inspection, adding ADUs as a $250 fee under the board of appeals section.

Go ahead.

I was just gonna

say through the chair, the the chicken permits in the ordinance is currently on an annual basis. Should this motion pass, I'll bring back a proposed,

as of the ordinance

which would modify that ordinance provision.

Okay. Great.

At a later council meeting, obviously.

If you do it before July 1, it all lines up nicely. Not now on the fly, dude?

Exactly. Oh, support.

Malika? K. Yes. Johnson? Yes.

Kelly? Yes. Mikulski?

Yes. Leaksmae?

Yes.

Alright.

I felt like overall, we had a an agenda a regular agenda that saving taxpayers' money. I love it. Yeah. We're saving money all around. That was great.

So now we're at the call to council where I will defer to the city management for department head updates. Fire.

Alright. Good evening, mayor and council. Just a friendly reminder to the community because the weather is nice and anybody who has, fire pits in their backyard or any of those things, if you're gonna burn wood in it, you have to get an open burn permit. $25, you could apply directly through the online website. We make it easy, but you have to have it, if you don't if you have a gas fireplace, you don't need it.

But if you're burning wood, you have to have the permit.

Clerks? Just a reminder that

if folks are interested in running for mayor or city council, the deadline to turn your petitions in, is Tuesday, July 22 at 04:00PM. And then, obviously, that's for the November. You'll need to collect a hundred or a 50 signatures from, Ferndale voters, be at least 25 years of age or older, a citizen in The United States, and living in Ferndale, as of two years prior to that election date. If you have any questions, feel free to give me a call directly at (248) 336-4366, or you could email us at clerk@Ferndalemi.gov. That's it.

And then DDA, did you wanna provide any updates?

Good evening. I think the biggest announcement is that Ferndale Pride will be here this weekend, but I suspect that some others will have more detailed, comments on that. But it is just, I think, a really special thing that Pride Festival happens in Ferndale the way that it does. So we as the DDA are always excited about that. We will be suspending the patios on, this Saturday, so there will not be patio beverages available, but they are on Friday and Sunday and all other days of the week, and, please enjoy them.

Also wanted to thank commissioner Cavill and also, Ferndale Police for their ongoing support with a few, public safety concerns, especially related to mental health crises. So we do hear feedback from community members. We do take that seriously, and we value that, there is safe space for people in Downtown Ferndale. It is something we are continuing to work on through the DDA. So if there are additional comments or persons who want to be involved in that, Ferndale is an incredibly special place.

And, as commissioner Cavill said, we're hoping that we can set the, you know, kind of set the standard for other communities and how we deal with difficult problems. And we are, always open to any other community input from our neighboring communities or anyone who wants to be involved to please let us know. Thank you for that.

That is all. Yeah. Alright.

Alright. What am I right? Okay. Mayor Pro Temakulski.

Just one item tonight. I'm a little bit late to the game. The state of Michigan adopted a, resolution that was an oak wilt awareness month resolution, and I was pretty excited to see that. May is Oak Wilt Awareness Month, and there are a couple important things to note about that. Michigan's home to nearly 500,000,000 oak trees.

We have a ton of them in Ferndale. They are all near the end of their life, but they're important trees. They're a species that supports a lot of native wildlife. Red oak is a hugely valuable tree within the state of Michigan, and oak wilt has been confirmed in multiple counties across state, posing a significant threat in both forested and urban areas. Without proper management, it can spread rapidly.

It can kill red oaks in an infected area. White oaks a little bit less, impacted by the the disease. So things that people need to know in order to help, don't prune oaks during the high risk period. It's basically April 15 through July 15. Seal any accidental wounds on oak trees immediately with latex based paint.

Avoid transporting firewood, especially important right now when people are camping and traveling, and then report suspected oak wilt oak wilt cases to local forestry officials and MDNR. And I know we just had a bunch of trees get trimmed in Ferndale, and I hate it, but I know it's necessary. I don't know how many of those may have been oaks. I do absolutely hope that the arborists that were involved are mindful of species. Thank you.

Have you seen them? They're just

I know.

That's all they care about.

Council member Kelly.

Yeah. I would just like to invite everyone to our pride flag raising ceremony on Friday at 6PM, and I hope to see everyone at pride on Saturday. Looking forward to it.

Council member Polica.

Again, the flag raising, in front of City Hall here on Friday at 06:00. There is another flag raising ceremony in front of the Elks at 07:00 on Friday. There's also one at the Hero's Garden, but I don't know when they do that. I have to ask Gordon. And, yeah, Pride Festival kicks off at noon on Saturday, with a bunch of political speakers and lots of thank yous and

oh, twelve. Thirty.

Oh, you're right. It is 12:30. Yeah. Thank you. Not twelve.

Well, still get there at twelve. Speech kicks off at 12:30. And then the whole festival kicks off really at 01:00, and there's just a lot of great entertainment, a lot of nonprofit organizations that are sharing information about themselves. Thank you to all of our sponsors. We can't do it without you.

It costs a lot of money to put on a festival. And, that's it. Weather looks great. Looking forward to it.

Remember?

Well, on the theme of pride, at pride day, the Ferndale Accessibility and Inclusion advisory commission will be having its sensory tent, as it has the last few years at pride. We're looking for a few more volunteers to help cover some volunteer hours just manning the tent and making sure it's a nice, safe, quieter spot for residents who and attendees who need a little space to kind of step back and decompress from crowds. Pride can get very busy and very noisy, and, a lot of folks with sensory issues, kind of need that space throughout the day. So we maintain that tent. I'll be there a little bit of time.

I'll be moving around quite a lot, but you'll see me there if you're looking for me. So if you're you're interested in helping out or you just wanna stop by and say hi, hang out for half an hour and help me on the tent with me, I'd love it.

Okay. And I just want to thank everyone for a great Memorial Day parade. I I thought it was really well attended. I thought there were more people out there than I've seen in a long time. So thank you to the city.

Thank you to the dignitaries present. Thank you to the Memorial Association and to the schools because I thought it was a really nice event. And, someone who had complained about the Memorial Day Parade, for many years actually gave it a good review this year. So I I thought, like, I'm like, this is great. We finally made it.

So this is good. So I was really happy about that. I would also just like to take a moment to just kind of, just, you know, just to my council members just as a express how much I appreciate them. Also, I just want us to always be mindful that when someone is speaking, just to allow that person to continue their thought. I know sometimes we get excited about what we have to say, but I notice it every now and again that people get cut off.

So just let the person who's speaking finish their thought, and let's move on. Because I think, we're a great group, and I'd like to keep it that way and respect everyone's ability to say what they have to say without having to come back to it. Other than that, I this meeting is adjourned at, what, 08:53. Thank you, and have a great evening.