City of Ferndale - City Council Meeting 06-23-2025

Call this meeting to order at 07:00. 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.

Welcome, please.

Johnson? Here. Kelly? Here. Mikulski?

Here. Polica? Here. Leakes May? Here.

Approval of the agenda?

I move to accept the agenda as presented.

Report.

Walica? Yes. Kelly?

Yes.

Johnson? Yes. Mikulski?

Yes.

Leaksmae?

Yes. We have a couple of praise presentations tonight starting with the Ferndale Arts and Beautification June 2025 resident yard awards.

Hello, mayor, council people, and residents of Ferndale.

My

name is Suzanne Janek. I'm one of the co chairs of Ferndale Arts and Beautification Commission. We are very proud to present the June Awards this year for the beautification awards. We're gonna start out in the Northwest quadrant at 425 West Lewiston. This garden is built to share with the neighborhood incorporating public art as well as their own private space.

There's no grass, only carefully chosen plants to fill the yard with color and fragrance. But not forgetting the younger self in all of us, there's even a fairy village complete with matchbox cars. This is owned by Ed and Sarah Minas. Complete disclosure, Ed is one of the former chairs of the Ferndale Arts and Beautification Commission.

Ed, would

you like to come up and talk about your garden?

Thank you. Really appreciate it. Basically, we set out to have a pollinator garden and there's no joy that I've enjoyed as much as sitting out on the front porch and seeing monarchs and black swallow tails and all kinds of bees. I've got lots of bees. So it's really been fun, and thank you very much.

I really appreciate it. If

If everyone can stay and we'll get a picture afterwards. It's down here. Our next winner is in the Southwest, category. It's three ninety four Fielding. This corner house is a playground of plants and art, a shaded oasis that is a new experience at every turn.

Covering from edge to edge of the property, every inch is carefully tended and curated to spark your imagination. Is Mary with us tonight? Uh-huh. Welcome. Would you like to talk about your garden a little bit?

Sure. I don't like grass, so I got rid of it all. The backyard, the part you don't actually get to see when you're just going around the corner is all stones and a beautiful fountain. It's just very, very chill, and it's what I need. It is my home away from home, sitting in the backyard.

I just all stress of the world that happens just melts away. So that's what I was kinda doing for the yard in general. All my neighbors that walk by every day, they're always saying thank you, thank you, thank you. So it's kinda cute, kinda fun. Thank you kindly for recognizing my work.

Thank you for coming. We'll give you the award.

Our next winner is in the Southeast section, four forty three College. This yard is bursting with the promise of present and future, the lush texture of the immediate landscaping levels of color and texture as the present, and curbside we have the promise of the future, the new put new trees planted to fill out the canopy over Ferndale. Michael has been gardening since he was 12 years old working at a nursery. He moved from Ferndale he moved to Ferndale from Hamtramck where he has had established Hamtown Farms. He says he likes to plant with natives and not so native things and likes to mix it up.

Is Michael with us?

Like to talk about Sure.

Hi. Thanks. That was an honor. Obviously, we're in Wilson Park, a new development, so five years of, work going into this. Thanks, COVID.

And I love grass. It's okay to like grass. It's about balance, you know, you can balance it out, you know, and not everything has to be a native, you can actually plant what you enjoy as well but, you know, leave something for the pollinators, so that's been my goal and just for everybody, I did get rid of the bamboo, it's gone, alright? So lay off me in the forums, alright? It's gone.

Thank you so much.

Our last winner is in the Northeast winner. It is 3261 Inman. It's another house full of personality. The yard is also bereft of grass and replaced by lush plantings and thawed out hardscapes. The recent addition of the front porch adds a landing spot and extra living room for more color and activity for the neighborhood to enjoy.

She says it's a lot of work, but it's work she enjoys. Is Amelia here?

Pardon?

Thank you. It's very hard to do. I've been here twenty six years, so twenty six years in the making.

Right.

So we still have our nominations open for July and August. Our July awards are for the coneflower, which is the official perennial Ferndale. Nominations are due by July 15. Our August awards are again beautification awards, and the nominations are due by August 19. So thank you very much.

Thank you. Everyone can come up to take a photo.

Sure. Sure.

Just a minute.

Item four b, we have a resolution, honoring the service of fire captain John Schwall.

This is the mayor council site. I do have a copy of the resolution. So if it's okay, I would like to read it. So resolution honoring the retirement of fire captain John Schwall and recognizing his exemplary service to city of Ferndale. Whereas, captain John Schwall has faithfully served the Ferndale Fire Department and the residents of the City Of Ferndale with courage, integrity, and dedication for over twenty five years.

And whereas, captain Schwall began his career with the Ferndale Fire Department at 02/24/2000, rising through the ranks as a result of his exceptional leadership, professionalism, and an unwavering commitment to public safety. And whereas in 2021, John Schwall was promoted to the rank of captain and appointed as the department's EMS coordinator, where he was instrumental in enhancing the quality, efficiency, and preparedness of emergency medical services for the community served. And whereas captain Chwal demonstrated extraordinary dedication to the well-being of first responders as chair of the Oakway Mutual Aid peer support group established in 2019 that creates vital peer to peer mental health support resources and promoting mental health and resilience among firefighters throughout the region. And whereas throughout his distinguished career, captain Schwal has responded to countless emergencies as an active member of the Oakley hazardous materials team, mentor generations of firefighters and EMS personnel, and consistently demonstrate the highest standards of service, compassion, and professionalism. And whereas captain Schwal has earned the deep respect and admiration of his colleagues, city officials, and the community served for his tireless efforts, positive spirit, exemplary conduct both on and off duty.

And whereas upon his retirement, captain Schwal leaves behind a legacy of excellence and a lasting impact on the Ferndale Fire Department and the broader firefighting and EMS community. Now, therefore, as it be it resolved can I read that part? Is that okay? Okay. That the mayor and city council of the City Of Ferndale, on behalf of the entire community, do hereby extend their heartfelt gratitude and congratulations to captain John Schwall on the occasion of his retirement and wish him continued health, happiness, and fulfillment in all future endeavors.

Congratulations, captain. Alright. Alright.

One more.

Next up, we have police department award presentations.

Good evening, Fernell. Good evening, mayor, council members. Tonight, we're here to recognize some good police work that resulted for from an attempted murder at one of the establishments in our town. Before that, on behalf of police department, I'd like to congratulate captain Shaw Shawwal on his retirement. Good luck, buddy.

Thank you.

I'll do the patrol officers first and then the investigators. So on Sunday, 04/13/2025, at 12:27 in the morning, A man was shot on the rear patio of the Orchid Theater. Shots were fired from a vehicle located in the South Woodard Alley. As members of the patrol division, officers Monteleone and Salakovich were on foot patrol conducting business checks when they heard the gunfire. Without hesitation, officers Monteleone and officer Salakovich advised dispatch and ran towards the gunfire.

Officer Tremblay and officer Link responded as backup. Officers Monteleone and Zalukevich located the victim just inside the rear entrance of the club. Officers Monteleone and Zalukevich and Trombley rendered emergency medical aid to the victim. As a unit, they worked as a team. Officer Link, Monteleone, Trombley, and Zelikowch secured the scene to preserve evidence, worked diligently to identify potential witnesses, and obtained statements.

The successful outcome of this investigation may have not have been possible without their contributions. Tonight, we have officer Montellone and officer Pramble, coming up guys, here to receive their awards. On behalf of the department and the chief, thank you for your good work.

Thank you all for this.

These type of incidents, there's two pronged approach. Right? There's the first responders and there's the investigators. Both are equally important. We have two investigators here tonight to to be recognized for their work in this case.

Lieutenant Coosdale, Sergeant Blanchard, this is the list of everybody that helped, detective Simpson, task force officer Ungerman, detective Pru, officer Roth, officer Frazier, officer Paul Skaumski contributed to the investigation in this unit. Lieutenant Kuusil directed and coordinated their efforts while the investigators interviewed witnesses, collected statements, as well as as well as physical and digital evidence. Lieutenant Cusail, detective Pru, officer Roth, officer Frazier, and officer Skonsky that sits at the FBI Oakland County gang and violent crime task force with the execution of search warrants and the arrest of the suspect. The successful outcome of this investigation may not have been possible without the contributions of these officers. Tonight, we'd like to recognize sergeant Blanchard and officer Roth for their work and their professional teamwork in this case.

Sergeant Blanchard, officer Roth.

Thank you.

Thanks again for the opportunity. You did a really good job.

Alright. We're now at the portion of the agenda where it's called audience. I ask that anyone who'd like to come to the podium to speak, you have three minutes to say, what you'd like to say, anything on or off the agenda, and I ask that you provide your name and your address, prior to doing so. We're opening it up at 07:16.

What time is oh, here.

Hello. My name is Chris Johnston.

I

have a business in Ferndale Woodward Avenue brewers and a loving touch. I've enjoyed helping organize DIY street fair and pig and whiskey year after year. After each event, we always get a lot of thanks and, you know, pass on the back and that makes it all worthwhile. We also get a letter from the city, which is an invoice that we pay to the city of Ferndale, billing us for all of the city costs that are designated to to our events. It's never sticker shock because at every special events meeting before the event, we get an estimate of what those costs will be.

For example and as do all the large events in Ferndale. Most of them. Ferndale Pride, their estimate was $19,000 covering things like barriers, fire, police, DPW, Cinco de Mayo. I'll talk about that one in a second. Funky Ferndale's $14,000.

DIY street fair, our estimated cost were $31,413, which as you know, that's a lot of money. There's There's one event that doesn't get an estimate or an invoice, and that's the Ferndale Dream Cruise, the Woodward Dream Cruise, I should say. In the spirit of transparency, I wish that all events in Ferndale were treated the same way. Whether that's charging or not charging, it's up to you. Tonight, you'll be asked to vote on a new event in Ferndale, Ferndale Market Days.

This is a new event that because it is being produced by the director of special events, does not have to follow the same rules that all the other events do. When you see the estimated cost, you won't see anything for police, fire, DPW. You won't see oh, there's a small charge for DPW. You won't see anything for the cost of barriers to keep cows cars from plowing into people when there's an event, which is obviously very important. And if you look at, the map, it's almost identical to the Cinco de Mayo map as far as layout goes and street closures and everything else.

And their estimated costs were $18,000 for all those things, whereas this one will be practically none. It's billed as a zero cost event, which is easy to do when you don't count those other costs in, and that's what, that's what you get. And I don't know if and that's a it's a I think thirty one days from now or less that this event is going to happen with a bunch of question marks to me about what it is, but I'm not running it, so I don't know. But maybe sometimes you get what you pay for and I'm not sure what what this event will be like. I love Ferndale.

I love putting on events. As I said to the producer of it, I hope it goes really well if it goes because I only wanna see good things for Ferndale and the people here. But as as I've said before, events in Ferndale are not treated the same way and we've been subject to lots of things that I believe aren't fair for a long time in lieu of other events, another event and this is one more that's also not being treated the way it should be. So I hope you consider those things when you talk about this tonight. Thank you.

Hello. My name is Julie Musick. I run the Ferndale Pride event, and our, business address is 300 East Niemile. I was pretty surprised to see a new event, being advertised after being told in a meeting earlier this year that we couldn't even advertise Ferndale Pride, and then, thankfully, council, argued against that. So we are advertising Ferndale Pride twenty twenty six.

Beyond that, I was kind of surprised to see that it is again shutting down a nine mile road, because Ferndale Pride had to put in real effort to get that. We had to prove ourselves as an event multiple times. We had to run out of space. We had to have police shut us down because we ran out of space because I knew we needed more space, but we couldn't get it because we had to prove ourselves. And it took at least 40 booths to be able to close down 9 Mile.

So I was pretty shocked to see an event that could fit in a parking lot, once again closing down one of the biggest roads in the state of Michigan, because it's just not the equitable thing that has happened to Ferndale pride. Chris said a lot of the things that have have been on my mind, but, it's just been really shocking to see a new event come up with no budget after feeling the stress of, well, if the millage doesn't pass, you might have to say goodbye to 2026 anyway. So, like, the whole season has been very stressful, then all of a sudden, oh, okay. A new event can just come up with without the same restrictions, the years of work, and then also a two day shutdown of a road. So I want you to consider that as you think about the event tonight.

Oh, the audience still open for anyone who would like to speak.

Good evening, madam mayor, members of the council, fellow, Ferndale residents. My name is Ken Warnock. I currently reside at 884 Sillman right here in Ferndale. I understand and you're all aware that the summertime is a very challenging time for businesses. I had been a business owner in the city of Ferndale, and it was nice to have events like the Ferndale pride celebration, the pig and whiskey event that we had, the dream cruise that brings people from outside the community into the community to potentially support our businesses.

And with the sudden, vacancy with the pig and whiskey not happening in July in the middle of the summer season, I think it was great that the events committee and the event director was able to very quickly put together a good plan to bring people into the city of Ferndale. Vendors from within the community and outside the community are gonna come together and hopefully we're gonna have a nice attendance for it. As you're all aware, other events, the jingle and mingle and other events, they start off small and they grow. And we, as somebody who lives here, it's nice to see those events happen. So I encourage you to support the resolution.

Thank you for your time.

That being said, I'm closing call to audience at 07:23, and I'll be moving on to the consent agenda. Item seven a, approval of the 06/09/2025 meeting minutes. Seven b, adoption of ordinance one two nine six to extend keeping chicken the keeping of chickens permit to two years. Seven c, adoption of ordinance one two nine seven to extend sunset provision for the Citizens Police Advisory Review Board. Seven d, approval of tentative tentative agreements for firefighters.

Seven e, approval of tentative agreements for police officers, detectives, and dispatch.

Seven f, approval of tentative agreement for police officers, detectives, and dispatch. Seven f, approval of tentative agreement for police

officers, detectives, and dispatch. Seven sergeants. Seven g, approval of tentative agreement for clerical and technical employees. Seven h, approval of tentative agreement for Department of Public Works employees, seven I, approval of nonunion salary structure and updated compensation policy, seven j, approval to backfill accountant position, seven k, approval to backfill one police officer position, seven l, approval of the 2025 Ferndale Dream Cruise Street and parking lot closure schedule, Seven m, renewal of service contract for Civic Plus, a FOIA workflow platform in the amount of $9,710.16. Seven n, approval to extend the current landscaping and maintenance services agreement with Ferndale's Downtown Development Authority.

Seven o, approval of phase one environmental site assessment from ASTI Environmental in the amount of $4,000. Seven p, approval to purchase Blitz Fire master stream nozzle in the amount of $5,450. Seven q, approval of the renewal for c click fix by Civic Plus at an annual cost of $29,818.63. Seven r, approval of the Ferndale fiscal year ending twenty five fourth quarter budget amendment. Seven s, approval of bills and payrolls as submitted by the finance director and subject to review by the council finance committee.

Madam mayor, I move we approve the consent agenda as presented.

Support. Johnson? Yes. Kelly?

Yes.

Mikulski?

Yes.

Polica? Yes. Leaksmae?

Yes. And now we're moving on to the regular agenda. Item eight a, adoption of revisions to chapter 24, zoning code code ordinance. K?

Thank you, mayor. Probably a little surprised to see me, pin shading tonight for Roger who is at home, not feeling well, but he is watching. So Okay. He's planning to send me any kind of notes he can, during the thing. So, back in 2022, city council approved plan Ferndale, the city's master land use plan.

The next step for the the land use plan was then to update the zoning code. It had been a long time since we had done that. We had very archaic zoning dating back to the sixties. In December then, this last December, city council approved the updated zoning code. During the time, staff did mention that as it was being implemented, there would be need to do some revisions based on grammatical updates and other things that they see, while trying to up implement it.

On 05/14/2025, the planning commission held a public hearing, to hear the recommendations of, staff to make some changes to the to the zoning code. Planning commission tabled a couple of the amendments at the time, but unanimously approved the recommended changes that were in the packet tonight. The bulk of these changes, were pretty pretty mundane, making sure that we're using consistent terms instead of using one u going to one unit, two unit, three unit instead of single family, single unit, duplex, triplex. You'll see through the red line version that that is pretty much on every page, that that was changed. There were also some changes that were done to make sure that the use chart, and the definitions matched because there were some some items in the use chart that didn't have an actual definition.

So this will make it easier for implementation later on. They made a quick clarification to the vacant and abandoned, businesses, some quick clarifications and accessory structures and allowable projections clarified and simplified in various sections. The clear vision area was another area that was clarified to exempt buildings that were in the area and require the potential installation of a convex traffic mirror to help with the clear vision area. Then there was some language related to the maintenance of parking lots that was included, and a large portion of the lighting section was removed because it was duplicate, and it was part of article six environmental. Some titles related to the form based code were updated just like we're talking about with the the one unit, two unit versus single and duplex.

The outdoor dining section was removed because that is typically handled through administrative approval or site plan approval. And then one of the big things, was the zoning districts. Most of them have a setback of 15 feet, on the front setback. There is an allowance to use the average setback of the of the surrounding properties on either side for consistency of look. So if if that minimum setback of the existing buildings, let's say, 10 feet, this would bump the minimum setback down to 10 feet instead of 15 just for to maintain consistency of the neighborhood.

So this the big one here is in the MXD one, that it had been set at 15 feet. And you'll notice in your packet, and this is something that Roger and I noticed as we were preparing today, this will need to be changed, kind of on the floor because there was a typo that that note is actually missing. So if you're looking at the red line version, it is on page 19 of that document, page 11 of the actual zoning code, but MXD one where it says multiple units slash commercial, has shows the minimum setback as 15, but that should be consistent with the others that say 15 superscript d. And, also, the MXD two, the two to four units, that maximum setback should still be 20. It's like it looks like that d got misplaced and put on that 20.

So that change would need to be made as that was what was recommended by the planning commission. Also, previous code required a greater setback if the adjacent property to a if if the property was adjacent to a residentially zoned, property, the new code requires a greater setback if it's adjacent to either residential zone or a residential use property. So thinking, for example, in the downtown, if there was a Second Floor, apartment, that would be a residential use, and it would require, a greater setback for the adjacent property. PC is recommending for the previous version, where it was only a residentially zoned property. This should this is going to mostly affect any areas where it's it's mixed use, and mixed use near residential or downtown commercial business district where you've got potential for upstairs use of residential, but it might not be zone strictly residential.

So those were the changes. I'm happy to try and answer any questions, and I'll turn it back over to you.

And can you scroll back to the summary of the I'll just scroll back.

Tell me when.

Leave it go go go forward once. Right there. Okay. Well, I will say that I, did watch the planning commission meeting when this when these changes were brought forward. And, and I will just state it to you, council member Pawlick.

It appeared at that time that the commissioners were really questioning these changes because, it seemed like it was moving kind of fast, and it seems like they felt like they didn't have too much time to to understand what was going on.

Yes, mayor. So there was a long and lengthy conversation about a lot of changes that were being proposed at the meeting. Not all the changes that were discussed at the meeting are part of this request for approval. There's a number of things that we wanted to have further investigation, and I apologize off the top of my head. I can't think of anything specific.

But there were some that we really needed to have more information, and so those items we tabled, until a future meeting. But these are the changes that we were, very much in favor of, and we approved, unanimously that these were the changes we felt were, the simplest and easiest change. So, they do not impact, the code as a whole, they they should have no impact on any type of development. It's it's really all cleanup of language, you know, making sure that there's not duplication. And when there's a term used, it's it's repeatedly used the same manner throughout the document.

But we will see more changes down the line that will probably have more significant impact, and those were the ones that we held off on bringing, to the table this time.

These changes are are pretty straightforward, but I would recommend in the future that when there are changes to such a huge document that counsel has the chance to have a, perhaps, a meeting before the meeting to get clarity and be and be informed of the changes instead of this is pretty simple, but I anticipate, as council member Pawlakka said, that more changes are coming. And I would like to have some sort of a session to be able to talk through it instead of getting it at a council meeting just in the future.

Oh, that's good feedback.

Does council have any more any questions regarding the proposed changes?

Make a motion to approve the zoning ordinance amendments as presented by the community by James as recommended by the planning commission. Support.

Sorry

to interrupt the vote. Do we need if I may, do we need to have an amendment to the motion to talk about can you forward to

the participant with the questions with the proposed edits at James' suggestion?

Yes, I think it's on the the next that one. The front setbacks, for MXD one, is a fixed. But that was that was thick that was corrected in the red line.

Unfortunately, it it was dropped off on the red line accidentally. It was corrected. The planning commission recommended that. So I think if you and I could be completely wrong and out of place, but I think if you adopt the planning commission's recommendation, it would supersede the typo from what you see. Right?

Because the planning commission is recommending adopting that change to no longer fixed, but that asterisk is Variable. Yeah. So if you adopt the planning commission recommendation

We would just consider this type of Scrivener's error?

Yeah. You know how to do that?

Adopted as recommended by the Planning Commission.

Okay.

Already been done. So do do you want me to say it again?

As yeah.

I believe that was part and recommended by the Planning Commission.

I think

that's the problem.

Oh, yes. Okay.

Okay. I'm sorry about that.

Do you support it? Did anybody second? Oh, you already did? Okay.

I'll triple support it.

Kelly? Yes. Mikulski? Yes. Johnson?

Yes.

Polica? Yes. Leaksmae?

Yes. Alright. Thank you. Thank you. Item eight b, approval of the 2025 Ferndale Dream Cruise sponsorship agreement with Campbell Marketing and Communications as agent for Ford Motor Company.

Good evening, mayor and council. Pleased to announce that, Ford Motor Company is returning. Once again, they've been our presenting sponsor of the Ferndale Dream Cruise for the last since 02/2013. And, the contract that you have presented is for twenty twenty twenty twenty five, which happens to be the thirtieth year of the Woodward Dream Cruise.

Through the, through the chair. So yeah. So, typically, this would be put on the, consent agenda. However, I'm an employee of Ford Motor Company. And even though this is an agreement to the agent of Ford Motor Company, Ford Motor Company will have a financial benefit from the approval of this agreement.

So, I will, abstain from voting on this, this item.

And, if I might, I I just wanna note that the city will be receiving $50,000

Correct.

Under this agreement. It's not kind of clear from the just the write up in the agenda, but just for the public's benefit, the benefit to us, the city, is that we receive $50,000 of the sponsorship fee.

Does council have any questions regarding

Through the chair, I I do. Okay. We heard earlier from the audience that the Dream Cruise doesn't get invoiced. I was curious about that. I'm I understand that the agreement that's in front of us is with Ford Motor Company and the city of Ferndale.

Correct? So is this an official Dream Cruise event? What's the I guess I just don't understand the mechanism of the relationship here.

With the overall Dream Cruise or the

Yeah. So there's there's an overarching organization

Mhmm.

That is in charge of the Dream Cruise. Correct?

They oversee yeah. It's basically, the nine participating communities that meet on a monthly basis to discuss the plans for the upcoming event. Yeah.

Do any other cities have any agreements with the Dream Cruise? Like, do we do we know if other cities are contracting with the Dream Cruise or if the Dream Cruise is paying for services with other cities? Each community

is does their own events. Like, that's why we call ours Ferndale Dream Cruise because everything that we do in Ferndale is what we benefit from. The organization does not benefit from us. And the other way around, the Woodward Dream Cruise Inc, for example, pays for all portable toilets for the entire 16 mile radius. So we we don't pay we don't get billed for that.

They pay for that. If the event after it's over at the end of the year, if it's if it, has made a profit quote unquote, it's a nonprofit five zero one c three organization, the each community will benefit from getting a quote unquote rebate check from the organization. Like, for example, we've had as small as $5,000 but we've had as much as like up to $12,000 depending on how they generate revenues for sponsorships for the overall Dream Cruise when they promote it as a nine participating community. But what we do with, what we generate from Ford Motor Company or any other sponsors that are specifically in Ferndale, that stays in Ferndale.

Interesting. Does the Dream Cruise pay for any sort of police presence along Woodward?

No. Not any not in the communities. We don't reimburse that. The bottom line for that, and this has been a discussion that happens every period periodically, that even if Ferndale, for example, decided not to do any events, police presence would still have to be there because of all the traffic that takes place on Woodward.

Mhmm.

And and for Ferndale, for example, we have our finest that, are there, both the police and fire departments, but we also have, private security that helps assist the police department that we contract in in, Ford Motor Company on outside of their $50,000 helps pay for that. And they also pay outside of that $50,000 a contribution to Ferncare that helps manage the parking structure of the Credit Union one for their their volunteers and VIP, attendees.

Yeah. What do you do

you have a total number that they contribute to, in terms of, you know, they're contributing to fern fern care, they're contributing to parking over there? Do we know what that total net is?

I'd say 10,000 Okay. Roughly, because and and then beyond that, during the Mustang Alley, for example, they sell official Mustang Alley t shirts where we sell the official Woodbird Dream Cruise shirt in our own official capacity, but we get a special rate, wholesale rate to sell it at retail so we we benefit from that as well. But, Ford Motor Company and Mustang Alley on a separate item, They sell t shirts also and that benefits, select nonprofit organizations that help benefit kids like the juvenile diabetes foundation, but that's all settled between Ford and Mustang Alley. We don't we don't get involved in that at all. Great.

Okay. Thank you.

Mhmm. I make a motion to approve the 2025 Ferndale Dream Cruise sponsorship agreement between the City of Ferndale and Campbell Marketing and Communications as agent for the Ford Motor Company and authorize the Director of Special Events to sign the agreement as submitted by the Director of Special Events.

Support. Kelly? Yes. Johnson?

Yes.

Mikulski?

Yes.

Leaksmae?

Yes. Alright. Item eight c, approval of a special event permit for the Ferndale Market Days, July 2025.

Aye.

If I can, I'll start with, just a few quick comments on this. One, following receipt of comments from counsel, I did advise special event director Leary to review some alternative layout options for the event. Due to the timing of approvals for the agenda packet, this comparison was not available for the public facing document, but it did identify a feasible alternative for locating the event in the library parking lot. That would be subject to council consideration, and, obviously, that would also come with increased revenue loss from parking fees not being collected that date, but would reduce the overall cost associated with barricading, DPW time, and any potential public safety needs associated with the event. I did also just wanna thank director O'Leary for his effort on this.

It was obviously not the plan heading into the special event season to create a whole new community event on short notice. I believe he was very responsive to the news of losing a previously celebrated event, that weekend and sought to do what he thought was in the best interest in the community and and, frankly, what is in his job description to do. The short time frame obviously does create an issue itself in adhering to the city's recommended timelines for our special event guidelines. But we had a very thoughtful conversation when we discussed those guidelines. And, if I recall correctly, this council was very amenable to the fact that there would be instances where we had to face exceptions to those policies.

Certainly, I've I've witnessed counsel being amenable, to other special events requesting permissions and special considerations as no two events are perfectly alike. So I just hope that as we consider these options, we exhibit that same reasonable approach to determining what makes sense to do for that weekend.

Okay. Alright. Well, I'm opening up to counsel regarding the special event permit for Ferndale Market Days. We've heard a lot of conversation regarding this, so good to hear what we think about it.

Well, eyes on me. So, yeah, I was I'm probably the person that, that has had the, most conversations regarding this. I thought I was prepared to to start. Yeah. If I could.

I don't know if anybody else wants to to make a comment.

Well, through the chair, I I guess I would ask our city manager to walk us through a little bit of what you sent to us. Sure. I know I personally did not have time to to read this before the meeting, and I'm just skimming it. And there are great questions in there and great answers. I just think that they need to be part of the public record.

No problem. So we did receive some questions from council members regarding this particular item. I'll just kinda summarize the questions and their responses. The first is in relation to special event guidelines indicating that, events are discouraged from advanced promotion. In this, the guidelines really the the term discourage is purposeful.

It's used to help applicants understand that there's risk of pre promoting the event that is largely being tied to if the event were to be denied, they may not be able to uncover, recover any incurred costs or would have to cancel with event participants. On this particular case, there was some marketing that went out early on to determine whether there was interest, from vendors, which we have found out is quite high. There's no actual collateral cost to the city, so the risk is mitigated in that regard. And, obviously, as I referenced earlier, it's a unusual situation given the timeline from when we became aware of a vacancy that weekend and, what needed to occur before we could actually bring this event in front of council. Next, we were asked how much had it been expended to date and how much income has been received.

There is no cost incurred to date. There have been tentative reservations put on some equipment associated with the event, but no funds have been spent. The action today would allocate a budget associated with that, but also the corresponding and offsetting revenue. As of today, we've generated $2,500 in sponsorships and 5,000, dollars in vendor fees. The goal was to recruit about 30 vendors and two food service providers, and we have 26 vendors and two food service providers.

Again, if we move the event to the library lot, the cost for DPW staff is dramatically reduced, and police have indicated no need for scheduling no more than two officers or auxiliary at the event. The next question was regarding the timeline for approval, again, which I referenced in my earlier comments, but this is very much driven by the timeline associated with when the vacancy and the special event calendar came to be. The, cancellation was announced at the April 28 meeting, so less than sixty days from now. And, pretty quickly thereafter, the special event director, indicated to me a desire to try and find an alternative. Originally, there was an outside event organizer who was interested, but the timeline for them to do a large scale event wasn't feasible.

So there's another pivot internally to try and do something a bit more low key, family friendly to still be a draw for that weekend to downtown Ferndale. I will note that this was presented at the June meeting of the Ferndale DDA, and the, DDA board was very strongly in support, which council member Kelly could speak to. Regarding the next question, how this event is classified, whether as a moderate hazard class two or a severe hazard class four. This event would be classified as a moderate moderate hazard two, if we had an outside event or presenting it, and that's consistent with our past practice. The example we referenced is any new events' audience size is generally based on an estimate.

So the event isn't really calculated in terms of attendance until after its second year. It's not known, what the attendance footprint for this would be. However, it's, largely geared towards being a vendor based event similar to how a flea market would be focused on the vendors. Food service is not primary. Music is not primary.

Live music is not being played. The DJ isn't intended to draw a crowd. It's intended as ambient background music to support the general sales that are occurring on that day. For this reason, it's classified as a class two. Certainly, however, if we were to do the event in the future and anything was different about that or attendance was particularly higher, that would need to be reevaluated.

The example that we had given in the response was the green car show, very similar to what's, proposed here. The event had no history. It did it had multiple food vendors and no live music. It was really just focused on, being a car show. So that's that's the standard that we're we're applying to determine.

And then also worth noting is there is discretion, from emergency personnel to determine what is needed for an event of this nature. That's what gets discussed at the special event committee level. And in doing so, there was no determination that on-site medical tent or additional fire staffing was necessary. Regarding whether the event will be compliant with all rules and requirements that are subject to other non city events, absolutely, to the extent that is classified as a class two event. It will likely go beyond that standard in terms of being set up for sustainability trash recycling and food waste bins.

There's, again, only two service providers, food service providers planned because the intent is not to have people eating on-site and to not have a large quantity of waste, but instead encourage people to go out to local restaurants. Notably, the the reason the city's existing guidelines are structured the way they are is because the sustainability initiatives are geared specifically to cover the larger events that are greater, waste generators. And, frankly, smaller events would become entirely cost prohibitive in the city if we try to apply those same rules at a micro scale simply because the the sustainability programming associated with them hasn't really figured out how to scale itself down, to to be more cost affordable. That is that's the extent of the questions I'd received in advance, but certainly happy to talk about anything else.

I think I think I'll only add one one small thing, which is, you know, it it did feel a little sudden. So I don't I don't log in to social media anymore, which has been fabulous for my mental health, but it also means that I miss things. So an event, an an item for the this event on Facebook I missed, and I know that was a few weeks ago. But, you know, I only just kind of learned about this event very recently, and it just felt like this event was created. And, again, no shade to the event.

It sounds like it's gonna be a really cool event. I will be there. But it felt like it came up very quickly and there was no real discussion with the council about a whole new city sponsored and run event, up until it was time to take action. If we knew we were gonna do an event, even though it was rushed and timeline was short, it would have been really ideal if, I mean, you've got our numbers. You all know how to find us.

You know, just pick up the phone and say, hey. I'm looking at putting together something. What do you think about this? Because you really need our buy in. You need us to be bought in on this, and you need us to help work to get the community excited about it.

And so if we're kinda caught a little flat footed, it makes it harder for us to cheerlead, and get people excited about these events. And so sounds like an amazing event. You put you've done a ton of work in a very short period of time as you are always able to do, Michael, and we appreciate it. It just it felt a little sudden that suddenly there was a new event created. But again, it sounds like a great event, and I certainly will do everything in my capacity as a council member to cheerlead it and get people excited and and, you know, gin up that support and get people, you know, interested in something new, and sort

of family focused. To council member, Polakus Polakus, Johnson's point, I just thought that since we've had, I think, more often than not, people coming to council in regard to special events, I think that it would be ideal, and I think I brought this up before, but to have a council member part of the events committee. Whoever that would be, I think it's something to consider. Maybe it would diffuse situation before it gets to council because I feel like you've come to council way too often, regarding this. So that's something for council to think about, and don't look at me like that, like another command.

I'm just saying I think that it might be of benefit to have a council liaison, maybe someone who could kind of report back.

Yeah. I'm gonna echo and support the mayor on that. We've discussed it casually, and I think I think we're moving toward this is gonna be a council mandate. It's not a discussion point anymore. I think the council will have a representative on the special.

Through the chair. So, council councilman, Johnson, I I agree with a lot of the things that you've said. I do feel like this event was created in a vacuum. Only a few people were aware of this, up until maybe two weeks ago, even though a lot of the conversations started in May. And and I apologize that, this person may be very upset with me, but I have to I have to raise it.

And and I reached out to this individual. That person did not reach out to me, regarding all of this. But I was extremely disappointed to find out that all of this was being developed for a downtown event, and the DDA director was not involved in any of the conversations and didn't find out about it until there was advertising. And then people were contacting her, asking about the event, and she could not provide anything. I think that is inexcusable.

In regards to, the event itself, so I I've heard a couple of things. I've heard this is a first time event. I've heard this is a one time only event because there could be something larger coming down next year. I all I know is in the past, any new event that didn't identify as having a huge footprint could not close down 9 Mile. It impacts people who ride the bus for work, who travel on the bus for work, who work on 9 Mile.

It's it's not fair to disrupt people's lives, for an event that may only draw a couple 100 people, in the average hour. So you may have a couple thousand people throughout the day. Don't know. Or it could be 5,000 people, you know, all day long. Don't know.

But I I I'm just not comfortable closing down the street for, an event that is unknown. I know that there was talk about, in regards to the sustainability, there was, there's only two, vendors. One of which I believe one of the vendors is actually the restaurant that's kitty corner, so they're gonna get double, double hit. They're gonna have a food truck in the parking lot or in the street as well as get a lot of business from from their their, their restaurant itself. But this is supposed to be promoting the patio zone.

So you're gonna have a lot of waste because people are gonna be drinking throughout the event. So why it isn't gonna be a a sustainably run event, I don't know. Again, I just think that this was completely rushed through. Ultimately, counsel is responsible for the budget. If things are expensed and we can't afford to pay for it, if or or the event can't afford to pay for it, then it falls on counsel to have to make sure that the general fund bills are paid.

We just ask people to pass a millage to support the gap in in the, in the general fund. And it wasn't to support the special events run by the city. It was support the the the downfall the the the, the loss of revenue that we're we're gonna see in the future. So I just have a really hard time supporting this event because of how it's just been rushed through. It it it comes across to me as I'm gonna do it, and I'm gonna ask for forgiveness because I don't know if I would get permission if I asked before starting it.

And so I I'm I'm a no vote for tonight for tonight. I I I can't support it.

So I have a question for the city manager. Regarding the proposal to move this to the parking lot

Mhmm.

What impact would that have at that point on all of nine mile?

Very minimal impact on nine mile itself, because there would be no closures to 9 Mile. I would just expect an increase in pedestrian crossings related to attending the event.

And with that being said, even though it's it's been rushed and that it can probably possibly bring businesses to the nine mile area, council member Pawlakko, you're still in opposition to support it even though it's no impact to Niemal at this point and, it's limited could be limited to the parking lot?

Yeah. I'm I don't think that this has been fully thought through. I don't think that and and, again, I feel like the city and I've said this before in other conversations. The city runs our events differently than what we expect other people to operate. We have different expectations for outside events than we place on ourselves, and I don't think it's fair.

I have a question, madam mayor, if I might, to the city manager as well. So, we're talking about moving it into the library parking lot, and that's one part of the solution. But if if part of this event, the focus is to focus on our downtown businesses and whatnot, wouldn't it make more sense for this to be on the West Side Of Of Woodward where our actual business core is, where the businesses that people would frequent as coming to downtown to be part of this event, they would also be adjacent to and next to those other businesses so they can come and see the tents and the vendors at that thing, and then they're wandering nine mile and they're hitting the different shops or, you know, whatever. You know, here they're gonna have an event here and there's gonna be Woodward. And and Woodward is a we all know.

It's a natural barrier dividing the city. And so a lot of people might go, it's this is fun. I'm not gonna bother walking all the way over there. Like, is was there any consideration given to the plan of on lot? Or

Yes. I really don't you know? Yes. There was consideration given to Plan of Enlot and, Troy Street. The Plan of Enlot is considerably smaller than the library parking lot, so we'd have to reduce the footprint of total vendors, which wouldn't generate the revenue sufficient to make it a cost neutral event.

My understanding is past events or activities that have tried to occur on Troy Street create an issue with accessing the dot, because there's not a sufficient flow of traffic to loop that, those vehicles coming in and out.

Through the chair, I just wanna say I appreciate you, you know, working hard to bring this event to life. I would agree that, you know, I'd like to see a little larger of a timeline and more organization, but I appreciate you doing, you know, what you did in a short time trying to activate our downtown. And, I can't speak on what council member Pawlika said about our DDA director, but I can say that our, DDA was communicated with, and he came to our board meeting. And the entire board was in support of this event and appreciated of you, activating our downtown. So I appreciate that.

Thank you.

Air, may I speak? I just wanna say that I've I've been working for the city for twenty twenty years and this has never happened before. I've this has never happened where an event as major as the one that was canceled, canceled. And I sincerely did not feel that it was right to just leave July vacant. And my focus was trying to see what we could do to at least bring business to one of the slowest months of the year.

That was my whole sense here doing it, there was no other reason why I focused on this. No matter what anybody else says, I know where my heart is when it comes to the city and my job. I don't play favorites with anybody. We I am not the only person that represents this community when it comes to special events. We have a committee from the fire, the police, from the parking, from sustainability, from the DDA that speak.

Each one gets a chance to speak during that committee meeting and we discuss these things. So please, I want everybody to understand this is not about Michael Larry. This is about a committee that represents a city who all care about making sure that we're doing our best. And that's the reason why this focus of Ferndale Market was created because there was a void, a void that we should make sure we try to replace to support our local businesses that are being neglected sometimes and there is how they feel and I don't want that to be felt. I want them to see that we do care and we're being proactive in trying to do something good.

No other reason for it to happen. There are mistakes that were made. Absolutely. But as I said, in twenty years, this is the first time this has ever happened and the focus was all about how can we make a difference. And I hope that y'all can all feel that coming from my voice and understand that this was coming from the heart.

I did not do this for any other reason but because I love this community and I wanna show that we support our local businesses,

that's it.

I think we understand that Michael and I think you know, I think, you know, we wanna we wanna support you in supporting the community. We do wanna do that. Next time just involve us, include us, pick up the phone, talk to us. I get it. It's unprecedented and that's difficult.

It's challenging, and it can get you really off your your normal thought processes, and you're just suddenly scrambling for a solution. But we're also here to help. You know, the council is also here to to be a source of assistance and help in doing things. I get we're not full time and we're not here with you every day, but, like, we are genuinely here because we also love the community and we also wanna do good things for the community. And so, you know, when you include us early on in these conversations, it's not because we wanna add a bureaucratic level of tedium into your or the committee lives or or to Colleen's life.

That's that's not the point. The point is we wanna know about these things so that we can offer our sincere and honest feedback and that we can know what then is expected of us and how we can support and what we can do to help. And so we know that you are passionate and you love this community and you love downtown. We do too. We obviously love our community enough that we put ourselves through what it takes to get on the council.

And so, you know, it's just a matter of communication, and I think this has been a wake up call for for you and for Colleen and I think for this council knowing that we are looking for a greater level of engagement on the sort of special events process and discussions about how that is administered. But I wanna be very clear at least, and I can speak for myself. I cannot speak for my colleagues on this body, but I can say that I I would never question your motivations. I certainly don't question your motivations and why you do what you do. Of course, it comes from a good place, but it's not always about why you did it, it's how you did it.

And that's sometimes where the where the missteps can happen, but that's okay. They weren't coming from a place of malice, and we know that. And we're gonna work with you, and we're gonna make this event great. So

yeah. Any other comments regarding the special permit?

Through the chair. Michael, we've known each other for a long, long time. I know you have a love and a passion, please. Pardon? Don't bring up any age.

You know that, I know that, you know, you have a a love and a passion for this city, and and you love your job. I know that. I know that you're not doing anything, and this event wasn't trying to create be created because of anything nefarious. Much like, council member Johnson, I I just it was all of the series of events that either things happened or didn't happen. And again, I feel like so much happened in a vacuum that I feel again, my my my feeling comes from I being asked to forgive you instead of giving you permission if you had asked us if we would support it two months ago or eight weeks ago.

And I again, I go back to I feel like we treat our special events differently than we expect other people to operate special events in the city. Moving forward, I would really request that, we have a budget for city run events that we should include the same costs, expected costs that we would expect any organization to have to pay. You know, Jingle Mingle is a very low, you know, cost event, but there's costs. And I think that the community should know that, you know, we raised $10,000, but we spent 9,000, you know, or vice versa. We raised 9 and we spent 10.

I think the community needs to know that, other than just one big special events, budget line that says, you know, income, expense, staff, you know, final

line.

I I still, you know, I I still will vote no, but I understand the interest in people wanting to support it. I really do hope that it's a great event. I'm never one to shy away from saying that, you know, if I'm wrong, I admit I'm wrong. Maybe I'll be wrong.

Alright. Well, madam mayor, I'm going to move that we approve a special event permit for Ferndale Market Days, July 2025 as submitted by the director of special events and with the amended location, as part of the understanding of our approval of this.

Support.

Johnson? Yes. Kelly? Yes. Mikulski?

Yes. Polakup? No. Leaksmaier? Yes.

Thank you. Okay. Let's see how this goes.

Alright.

We are now at the call to council where I know that we have maybe some department head updates, so I'll defer it to the city manager.

Yes. So, obviously, director Crusoe is not here, so I'll give a quick update on his behalf. We are waiting to get back bids on the grant. If you recall, we were compiling like projects. We should have those backed by next Wednesday and can select contractors from there, and then evaluating second round applications, July 10.

Okay. Dave, would you like to give a clerk's department update?

Yeah. Not too much from us. Just, the reminder that, nominating petitions for running for mayor or council are due July 22 at 4PM, and we recommend people, turn them in, three weeks two to three weeks prior just in case there's errors that can be fixed or signatures that weren't there.

Bruce?

Good evening, mayor, council members. Bruce Campbell, Park Ferndale. I just wanted to give an update on, our transition to pay by zone from, pay by space. We went live on Saturday, the twenty first. We, are still making some adjustments to signage.

There are some tweaks we're making or some corrections that we're making with a few of the rates. But, all in all, we're in alignment with, where we should be now. This should have happened, the week of the ninth through the thirteenth, and it didn't due to some technical issues with our service provider. I am, working through the cost of that as we, go through the coming weeks, and, I'll provide that information to Colleen and James. And if if you all like, I can come back and talk about it, but we are on track now.

So, that's my update. Any questions?

I do have a question. Mhmm. The so the communications, I know that there have been a lot of questions regarding this transition on social media. So, Riley, is it you answering those questions? Okay.

That was just more drink. Thank you for doing that. Thank you very much for the

transition. To DDA

as well. They've been helping as well. We've been. We're a team. So

Alright. Thank you. Deal.

Thanks. Fire?

Again, everybody. So just a reminder with, you know, this great weather we're having, the heat wave, and we don't always get these extreme heats in Michigan. I know over the weekend, starting in Sunday, there was a, eightfold increase of heat related emergencies that went into ERs across the state. And I think it just I wanna remind everybody, elevated temperatures, make sure you're hydrating, not just water, but make sure you're replenishing your glucose and your electrolytes and all those things also, especially if you have to be out in the heat. Be leery of, like, with children, even our pets.

Our older population can dehydrate much quicker, especially with our little ones, our little ones. So make sure we're staying ahead of it, drinking a lot more fluids, paying attention to how long we're out in the heat. It can't catch up on you, and by the time you start feeling symptoms, sometimes it's you're pretty advanced and you end up having to call us, which we don't mind, but we wanna keep everybody safe on the front end. So just everybody stay safe, stay hydrated, stay cool. We don't activate a technical cooling center here in Ferndale, but go visit the library.

We have an amazing library. You know, come visit our businesses in Ferndale. Go walk around the mall. There's a lot of options you can if you maybe not everybody has central air in their home. So if you need a break from it, you know, go places and you can walk them all for free or different things, get a break from the heat.

So just take advantage of those after the Oakland County also does have a list if you go to their website of all cooling centers that do exist. So if you do want one, even maybe in one of our neighboring communities, you can't find that list there. So just everybody stay safe. Look out for your neighbors. Take care of each other.

Again, don't forget our pets because our fur babies matter too. So make sure they got plenty of water, especially if they're outside. Another thing coming up with the holiday, I know we just had Juneteenth, which allows some people to set off fireworks. I know Detroit has their fireworks tonight, and Royal Oak Township will have their actual firework display this Saturday. But for anybody in Ferndale that wants to set off fireworks, I highly encourage you go to our website, understand when you can set them off as far as personal fireworks, and also what type can be set off.

So it's in moving target, there's always parameters based on the initial holiday, what day of the week it falls on, the times you're allowed to set them off till, the days of the week. So just the best thing to do, if I run it off tonight, everybody will forget because it'll be a lot of stuff. So just go to the website, look it up, and just know that every community is not the same as far as what they allow also. So not every community allows ones that leave the ground. You know?

We don't see those here in Ferndale because we don't really support those here. So just know what you could do so every and remember safety. I know it seems fun and safe to let kids light up fireworks. Please don't. It's not a good idea.

And make sure any fireworks that are being set up, the ones that are allowed are done by an adult under adult supervision. And even like the sparklers, those get extremely hot, so they're not for very young children. There's a lot of amazing alternatives for young children now. If you do have older kids doing the sparklers, have a bucket of water out there so they could drop the metal, stick in there because those are really hot. And what we see sometimes, those get dropped on the ground.

A lot of kids are walking around barefoot, and they'll get burns and stuff. So we wanna, again, keep everybody safe, so just have that stuff there. Make sure you have a hose nearby if you are setting off different fireworks.

Eddy.

I'm gonna partner along with the fire department and chief Robinson. Just a quick reminder, the dates are June 29 through July 4 for fireworks, 11AM to 11:45PM, people can only use consumer grade. Of course, I'm not really sure the difference between commercial and consumer, but it's probably common sense for the most part. Can't use them on public property,

which

includes streets, sidewalks, parks, or schools, or churches without permission. And if people have concerns, please call the fire the police department, regular business line (248) 541-3650. We'll always send an officer out. Thank you.

EDA?

Good evening. Yes. Mayor and council, first, I'd like to start off with a thanks to Michael Wherry as a special events director and our special events organizers because we really have an incredible asset here in Ferndale and the collaborative work of so many people who wanna keep us on the map. So our special events are very, very prominent in Ferndale, and they do bring a ton of attention to our beloved businesses. So we appreciate anyone who brings that to Ferndale.

Speaking of special events, we will have the return of nine on nine coming up in mid July. So going ahead and letting folks to know to please mark their calendars every Sunday beginning, July 13. We will have live music, from four to 5PM at Shifford Park at the corner of Planavon and 9 Mile Road. We just this past weekend, for summer solstice, had a fantastic event with, parks and recreation with karaoke. So if you're enjoying these events, being engaged with Downtown Ferndale, please come out and join us.

We got a lot of positive feedback from karaoke, so that may be something we bring back in the very near future. And, yeah, please continue to enjoy Downtown Ferndale as it gets hot outside. But, yeah, take some shade in the evening, especially have a little walk and, come visit us.

Thank you very much. Jenny, before you leave, why do I remember and I I don't know if you know this because I don't see perks here, but, isn't there a movie or something coming up this Thursday?

Yes. I will look to my fine colleague in communications for that day. Alright.

Okay. At Martin Road Park.

You go right ahead.

Alright. Yes. They do. So, they have a movie in the park. It's for Park at Night, which is on Thursday, July 17 at Harding Park at 6PM.

They're gonna show Moana two. So it's a free outdoor concert, activities, sponsors, etcetera. And while we're talking about movies, they also have the movie on the hill on Thursday, August 14 at Martin Road Park at 8PM, and they're gonna show Jurassic World part one.

So

Did you say July 14?

July 17. Thursday, July 17.

So nothing's this Thursday?

No. Not not this upcoming Thursday. Yeah. Just a couple Thursdays. Okay.

Is that it, city manager?

That's correct. Okay.

Okay. Alright. Then I will call call to council. Council member Pollock.

Nothing this evening.

Council member Johnson?

Nothing from me.

Mayor Pro Temakulski? Just wanted

to thank the Ferndale Arts and Beautification Commission for an awesome pollinator parade. I remember when it was dreamt up. I'm so excited that it finally happened, and it was a delight. So great job.

And council member Kelly.

Yeah. I wanna echo those sentiments and thank Summer,

who

is our new staff liaison, and she's doing a fabulous job. And our chairs, Suzanne and Lynn, It was so great. It was so well put together. Y'all did a fabulous job. Also, I wanna thank our sustainability commission for coming, Bernell Garden, all the different vendors that were there.

It was just really oh, and Annie for, bagpiping us around town when it was a 100 degrees. Yeah. And the library for hosting. It was a really great event. And then, also wanna go to the karaoke.

That was so fun. Oh, I had so much fun. And, again, that was summer and the DDA team and, Parks and Recs, it was fabulous with a sponsorship from Ferndale Elks. So thank you to the Ferndale Elks for sponsoring. We'd like to find some more sponsors because we wanna keep it going.

It was so much fun. We wanna try to do it once a month on a Friday night and keep it ongoing. It's a really great turnout.

So, yeah,

thank you. Thank you for activating our downtown.

I want to speaking of events, I want to thank so I just, you know, I I think that this needs this is warranted. I wanna thank Michael Larry for always being available to put together those special events that we have, in the community, particularly this last one, Juneteenth. That was, you know, Michael handled all that. And, it was a great event. It was well attended, and I just want to know that your your ability to handle these events is never questioned.

I just want you to know that how much you are appreciated. And we're about to have another event, and we're going to see how it goes. I'm going to be there supporting local businesses like I am for most of the events that I can get out to, But, I just want you to know that you appreciated it. It might have seemed kinda hard tonight, but your your intention is not flushed. I want to, just thank the organizers that organized the No Kings.

My goodness. It was 5,000 people downtown, maybe six. It was amazing. It it just brought back such it just brought such energy, that, that sometimes I think we need. And I think it's a reminder for us to to get out there and support, initiatives in any way that we can in any way that we can.

No amount is too big. No amount is too small. Do what you can. And I just want everyone in the community and everyone listening to just realize that it's it's important to just just be kind and do the right thing and and treat people with respect. People are so concerned about what's happening these days, and and I just think that let's keep doing what we do, welcoming people in this community and treating people with respect and kindness.

So with that being said, I close this. This meeting is adjourned at 08:28, and I wish you all a good evening.