And thank you for joining us for the internal operations standing committee meeting on today, Wednesday, September 17th.

Madam Clerk, please call the row.

Good morning.

Councilmember Letitia Johnson.

Present.

Councilmember Mary Waters.

Present.

Councilmember Angela Whitfield Callaway.

Member Callaway did indicate that she would be a little behind this morning, but she's on her way.

Madam Chair, we do have quorum.

Thank you.

Having a quorum present, we are now in session.

Good morning, Member Waters.

Is there a motion on the minutes?

Hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

We are going to move into general public comment.

If there is anyone joining us in person or virtually who'd like to make a public comment, please raise your hand.

Please raise your hand.

Public comment will be cut off at 1007.

My clock shows 1006.

So you have one minute to determine if you'd like to raise your hand to make a public comment.

And good morning, Ms.

Jackson.

How many hands do we currently have raised?

Morning, madam chair.

We currently have 10 hands raised for virtual public comment.

All right, let's give everyone two minutes, and I will let you all know again when 1007 hits, and public comment will be cut off.

Who's our first caller?

Our first caller is Mr.

Rue.

Mr.

Rue, you have two minutes for general public comment.

Well, Letitia Johnson.

The two minutes you give up for public comment is more than enough to articulate the state.

Emphatically state that you're a cheated in public official.

Now Angela Whitfield Callaway is cheated in.

Scott Benson, Then.

The rest of the Detroit City Council, right along with the school board.

That's the school board.

And also Board of Police Commissioners.

Detroit Board of Police Commissioners, BOPC, and the mayor.

And of course, some judges, all elected positions in the city of Detroit.

Have been um tainted with City of Detroit has been took over by absentee ballot fraud, committed by Detroit City Clerk and Chairperson of the Detroit Election Commission, along with the director of the Detroit Department of Elections.

Now your committee is internal operations.

You need to call Gina Avery Walker before your committee to explain all these fraudulent absentee ballots, Detroit voting trap houses, and what has been taking place in the city clerk's office in the Detroit Department of Elections that she knows of.

Put it on record.

Going all the way to the mat with this one, Letitia.

Too bad.

All right.

Thank you for saying my name correctly.

The next caller.

Next caller is iPhone.

iPhone, you have two minutes for general public comment.

First of all, I want to say thank you.

Um honorable uh councilmember Johnson and Chair for your information in regards to the neighborhood beautification grant.

We are working on that.

Um if you would like to donate to our uh association, you can do that by going to Zell and going to D as in boy, E as an at work, D.

No, let me start that over again.

D as in dog, E as an at word, D S M Boy, A, W E L, B S M Boy, E L at Gmail.com.

Again, that is D as in dog, E as an At word, D S M Boy, A, W E L, B as in Boy, E L at Gmail.com.

If you are a senior, 60 years of age or older, need assistance and services at your home, please go to the uh Franklin Wright Settlement Organization.

You can call them at 313, 579 1000, extension 301, go to 313 579 1000, extension 301.

They give extensive free services to help seniors.

They replace faucets, light bulbs, door locks.

They're gonna be trimming some branches for me.

They remove uh snow and ice, uh seasonal work.

They also re uh take care of your landscaping as far as leaves, they do carpet cleaning.

Uh they do all types of things.

They install scream doors, storm doors, weather.

It's a good program, it's free for seniors.

Please share this information.

Thank you, and God bless you all.

Thank you.

And before we proceed, I do just want to remind everyone that public comment is cut off.

And Madam Clerk, if you will note that Member Callaway has been with us since public comment started.

Circle note.

Thank you.

The next caller.

The next caller is not that, Karen.

Not that Karen, you have two minutes for general public comment.

Yes, hello.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Um, yeah.

Uh I'm a senior, but I'm unfortunately I don't qualify for any of these free programs.

That's why the um fast track that city council resolution and city council passed doesn't really help me.

But what would help me and um many other seniors are retired from the uh as Detroit city retirees is if we got made, uh we were restored and made whole.

Most of us don't qualify, you know, to get on these lists, to be on list forever and still not get help if they call you.

So we what we like is we like the clawbacks to stop.

We'd like to be restored whole.

We we would like for our pension and our health care benefits to be restored.

Well, just as anyone would rightfully expect when they fulfill their part of a bargain of a contract.

Uh homelessness is a huge issue.

And we need to figure out how to get these families off the street before the snow sets in, before the cold sets in, because winter is coming, winter is coming, winter is coming.

Uh 600 million dollars over taxation.

We're still waiting for that, just like we're still waiting.

It seems like the city pay plays a wait you out game with the majority of its issues, legal issues, and they seem the you know, people die off or whatever, and so they seem to get out of things situations just because the lawyers are crafty with waiting, not crafty with skill, but crafty with wait out.

Um limits, we should have term limits for all elected officials, not just uh for the governor, and not just for the president, even though president is trying to illegally extend his.

We need term limits, and we need you guys to rotate your committees, like the charter says, so you don't get dug in and get buddy buddy with a lot of the uh ill-to-do partners that you partner with to get city business done.

Thanks.

Thank you.

The next caller.

The next caller is William M.

Davis.

William M.

Davis, you have two minutes for general public comment.

Good morning, young ladies.

Can I be heard?

Good morning, yes.

I'll call to start off by saying that I do agree with not that Karen, the city does and should be doing more to help city chart retirees.

I also would like to make a prediction that Mike Dugman is going to lose badly next year if he does not do something to help the city chart retirees.

Because he has done very little in his 12 years.

You know, in fact, during the course of his time in office, uh, a group of us put together a group that's gonna travel the state next year to make sure he's not he's not elected governor.

Uh during the time he's been in office, the city of Detroit has went from the 18th largest city to the 26th largest city.

You know, there's been property has never dropped below 30 percent.

You know, we already have a list of over 100 failures of Mike Duggan.

And we're gonna travel the state, myself and others, and we're gonna tell the everyone about his many, many failures.

You know, I'm surprised, and I would not be surprised after we tell everybody his many failures, if other legal action might be taken against them.

But you know, the city chart retirees, you know, we we we suffer, we suffered and we suffered, you know.

When he was running, he said he's gonna do more to help us.

That hasn't happened.

He said he's gonna do something about property.

That hasn't happened.

You know, he said he was gonna make sure the city trait grows.

Grow in the city's trait is not what's happening.

He goes from the 18th largest city to the 26th largest city, and I think there's a whole lot of corruption, a whole lot of questionable practices.

You know, the city excels and making rich people richer, but not retirees, not seniors, not middle class people.

They that they just sent all too many tax abatements and exemptions to the rich.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next caller.

The next caller is Miko A.

Williams.

Miko A.

Williams, you have two minutes for general public comment.

Yes, hello.

Can I be heard, please?

Yes.

Yes.

Um, I want to address comments from yesterday uh from a community official that was speaking very anti-Semitic comments in regards to legal immigrants.

No one is illegal on stolen land, okay.

They once deemed black people illegal and not even an entity.

So you may want to be careful with your comments, especially when you're representing a role to get homeowners uh they're just due back, which I don't understand what the uh what that group is even doing, and the housing activists of Detroit.

Um it's just terrible.

You know, Stephen Harwing comes up here and spews his mess.

He still doesn't understand that political violence.

I believe he will be a mass shooter, and he's gonna uh shoot all of us.

And I don't ever want that to happen, but you need to heed the signs, city council.

You need to heed the signs of people.

You I could say the same thing.

People can say the same thing about uh Motor City Rue and others making threatening comments in this body uh on this floor.

We we all have a right to public speech and free speech.

Truth telling is not hate speech.

We telling the truth.

Some of us here comes with facts, and it's ignored.

But when it gets too extreme, when it gets too chilling, and when it goes too far, that has to be stopped and dead.

You know, people can't just run up on you and characterly assassinate you every single chance uh they get and put you out there false of character.

That's uh unacceptable, and it should be unacceptable in any public body governing or otherwise.

We all should have civility towards one another.

Detroit is broken.

We are all broken, but the people across eight mile want to see us with corn and blankets.

Remember that.

Remember all those comments.

We were called monkeys and uh in a zoo for wanting to bail out.

We were called every horrible name by people across eight mile who still want to see us going in a white supremacist mayor who would love to cast us all away.

Thank you for taking my comments.

Thank you.

The next excuse me, the next caller.

The next caller is Cunningham.

Cunningham, you have two minutes for general public comment.

313, 444, 9114, 313, 444, 9114, 313, 444, 911.

That member was made.

You can remember it.

And on Facebook, not enemy.

Again, on Facebook, not enemy.

As I go around the city, uh, you know, people tell me about the bus service, how uh the wait times are increasing, and I'm giving out the bus tickets and the ice water around the city, and then in the winter times, the bus chickens, the hand warmers and the gloves.

And uh a lot of people come to me with their problems or issues.

Um, just yesterday, a gentleman uh come here in voices, and he's office meds, and so I pray, you know, I'm a center saved by grace for sure.

I'm very flawed, but I pray with him in the name of Jesus, and uh we call the police.

Um, so you can get some assistance and hospitalization.

Um medication is very important.

Uh and people that care, um, are neither around this city.

Uh so I just wanted to say that uh I hope that he's doing well.

Um but these are luster and these prayer, and I want y'all to show some love either through me, uh, help me maintain the vehicle, the outreach vehicle, our purchase bus tickets and things of that nature, or just do it on your own.

I may not be your cup of tea, but again, people need assistance, the buses are not on time, and everybody needs a little bit of love.

And I want to thank both of these or all of these council members for the assistance and more assistance is needed.

And thank you.

The next caller.

Next caller is Mr.

Ronald Foster.

Mr.

Ronald Foster, you have two minutes for general public comment.

Good morning, uh, through the chair.

Uh things um first thing I'll say I appreciate uh this body, although I continue to come down.

I will continue to come down because it has been proven that this voice can um bring about change with the right ears in place and people that are passionate about the city.

Um, I'm very happy the last few years.

Uh, nearly everything that I've advocated for in this community have been heard.

Messages have been shared, and there have been results.

I continue to come down because we continue to have a lot more work to do.

Um, just on the line item of day 8.4.

You know, that's 250,000 and just one line item with police.

We can no longer just conceal what it is that we're paying out.

The public have a right to know.

And if we have to change bylaws within the unions or whatever else, the public have a right to know, and more importantly, it is uh has to be open for discovery.

Police can no longer get paid off settlements and everything, and it's not reflected within the judicial body when they are bringing on cases to where people discovery is vital, it is necessary, is the first point in bringing charges on anyone.

That means the sculptory and impeachable discovery, and this city has been failing to do those things, which brings a great disadvantage to impoverished communities that cannot afford lawyers that cannot afford other things, and so we have to do better and being more transparent and holding accountable.

As we look at Mr.

Trump and Miss Blondie, one of the things they're doing is having law enforcement come in with shirts on that do not identify who they are.

We have to be cautious about accountability within our communities on every level.

Thank you all for listening.

Thank you.

The next caller.

The next caller is owner Papa.

Caller, you have two minutes for general public comment.

Good morning, Carolyn Hughes, to the chairman, have you heard?

Yes.

Yes.

Thank you.

Um, this is at the internal operations committee.

This is the committee that's supposed to make sure that things are running in the different areas, departments effectively.

Um we've mentioned about the 8.4, the 250,000, but that's that's just a drop in the bucket.

My my question to this committee is why are we not calling the police here to ask why we have such an increase in the number of lawsuits uh perpetrated by the police, obviously.

And um why isn't the police union giving them their representation?

Why are we paying for legal representation for police officers and indemnification of police officers who have committed obviously atrocities sometimes or crimes against the actual citizens?

Ums um uh Winston brings up a great point.

We are a lawless city now.

The charter says the committees should be changed every two years, and that is to that is to keep corruption down.

Now, if you want to continue in the vein that you're continuing in, and and I see a contract on here with an amendment to change the contract, not just extend the time, but change the contract.

Um I'm not sure how things are working in this city, but internal operations is it's under your purview to make sure that things are functioning the way they should be functioning.

We have Mr.

Hornsby, who just arbitrarily, unilaterally, um, forgave the land bank millions of dollars um that he doesn't have a right to do, and you should probably have an investigation on why and how he was allowed to do that.

Um this city is has become a lawless city.

We need laws.

We have them use them.

Thank you.

And before we proceed, I'd like to call the 1025 interview to order and recess it to the call of the chair.

Ms.

Jackson, do we have any additional public commenters?

Madam Chair, there are three more hands raised.

Okay.

Who's our next caller?

Caller is caller ending in one two four.

Caller ending in one two four.

You have two minutes for general public comment.

Yes, good morning.

May I be heard?

Good morning, yes.

Thank you so much.

Um I just want to say how disturbing it was that I timely had my hand raised yesterday, but and I let Terrace Blossman know I was in timely, but I wasn't called on.

Um, but thank you to this committee for not doing that kind of thing.

Uh, regarding the person for the Brownfield CAC, will you please make sure to ask them what they will do to make sure that nearby impacted residents get notice of their meetings?

Because in the past, my experience was we didn't get notice, except one person got notice like five minutes before the meeting, and then people scrambled to get on there.

Uh number 8.2.

You're doing a right to counsel.

That's great.

But where was the right to counsel for the solar taking victims?

I mean, some of those attorneys you hired are really cruising for a bar complaint.

Like you can't not serve someone who's incarcerated and then take their property.

It's disgusting.

Also, um, will you please have the city clerk explain how it is that Melissa Love ended up on the voter rolls, but she's telling you repeatedly she did not vote.

Also, have the city clerk explain why is she not signing the record for BZA cases in third circuit if she's required to under uh court rules.

Also, since Ms.

Sheffield's office won't investigate the lies the law department told about me.

Will you please do it, member waters?

And they told lies about me and they told lies to me.

They said they were full.

I knew it wasn't true.

I had a friend call in, he got hired and worked the election.

And then last but not least, it's very uh I was in shock at Jamico in law school, but unfortunately, our law, our property law is based on the law of the conqueror.

Macintosh B.

Johnson, the case was who had good title, the guy who bought it, the person who bought it from like a European settler or the Native American, and the court said that the person who got it from the settler had good title because our law is based on law of the conqueror.

I was thank you.

The next caller.

Next caller is to hear it amed.

To hear Ahmed, you have two minutes for general public comment.

Thank you.

Good morning, uh City Council.

Uh, one program I want to highlight is, and I want to thank you, uh, member Callaway.

You've been so helpful to me.

I appreciate you.

Uh I was treated uh rawly and wrongly by Mary Sheffield um in terms of home repair, and I was treated uh horribly by Coleman Young and his mother, who uh his mother attacked me after Coleman Young told me to call.

And then he's the one that said uh uh the reason why I didn't help you get home repairs is what you say in uh a public comment.

Okay, so that's the kind of corruption we are talking about.

Prevention from uh people from getting help from the city council.

I pay taxes, I deserve the kind of help.

Mary Sheffield has put me on a list.

I've been on several different home repair lists, and thank you, Ms.

Hughes, for explaining why I never came up on any of those lists.

They stole our grants, our home repair grants.

Uh, I want to highlight my her.

Uh Michigan home repair, uh energy rebates program.

That's the Michigan Home Energy Rebate Program.

Get on there, you all you need home repair, they help with um electric electrical problems, reduce the energy use and enhance comfort and indoor and brother Miko.

You need to stop.

If somebody come in my home and take over my house, uh uh take my food, my energy, all my resources, and then demand and say that they have a right in my house.

Oh no.

Miko, you are confused in more ways than I would like to say right now, but you are confused in this matter.

No, illegal immigrants do not have a right to come here and steal our resources and push black people back.

Thank you.

The next caller.

The last caller is Galaxy X22 Ultra.

Galaxy S22 Ultra.

You have two minutes for general public comment.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Okay.

All right.

Uh, first of all, I'm um I'm praying for all y'all.

You know, I'm not gonna bash you, I'm gonna pray for you that you get stronger and uh and and wave where we need you at.

You know, it's no such as calling and bashing you, you know.

I'm saying we just pray for each other.

I I pray every morning at five o'clock in the morning.

I get up and pray.

You know, even for the good, the bad, and everyone.

One of the problems we have is uh people calling in after another person say something like that, Stephen yesterday, and bashing somebody for their comment.

You know, I hear a lot of comments on here that I don't like, but I'm not gonna go bash them.

That's their opinion, you know.

And I know y'all take in a whole lot from folks, you know.

We just gotta be strong.

You know, we gotta work together.

You know, I know people disagree, but we have to work together.

You guys in that seat, we have to work with you, and you have to work with us.

You know, I've been uh you know, I've been calling in about these fumes and about uh uh different uh problems we have on the east side, you know.

Uh we have to we have to work at it together.

So I'll just tell y'all, y'all gotta be strong, keep praying.

We go keep praying because we know Doug and then and then messed over us, took money from the retirees.

I don't know why they ain't gotta give the retirees back their money, but you can find money to give to billionaire, but you can't find money to set them whole again after they didn't sign the contract and went through it.

It's sad that we have to go through this, but I'm just telling y'all keep fighting, keep being keep uh be strong, and uh I'm gonna keep praying for y'all.

That's that's all I have to say.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Mr.

Holloway.

It was nice to end on a good note.

All right, that now concludes our general public comment, and we are now going to go back to the 1025 interview.

I'd like to call it back to order.

And the 1025 interview is for Kristen Lesson, I believe, uh, for the elected officials compensation commission.

If you will please join us at the table.

And once you get settled, if you wouldn't mind touching the base of the microphone, the light will turn green.

And this is a mayoral uh appointment.

Please introduce yourself for the record.

Good morning, everyone.

Uh, my name is Kristen Lessen.

Um, I'm an attorney for about 20 years.

I used to work in the law department.

Um, and I formerly served on the board of ethics, but my term expired this past summer.

All right, thank you for that.

Because when I saw your name, I said, wait, she's on the board of ethics, but did confirm that your term had expired.

Please share with the um general public information about who you are.

You indicated you're an attorney, you worked for the law department.

Um, tell us about who you are as an individual.

Uh well, as an individual, um, I live in Detroit.

Um, I've live, I bought a home in 2017.

Uh, lived downtown since 2015.

Um, I have a three-year-old son, and uh um what else?

Personal life.

I don't know much personal life outside of having the son, but um, I wanted to continue to serve the city because I really enjoyed being on the board of ethics, especially during a transition time.

Um, I served two terms, I served as many terms as you could, and um we were going through um finding a new executive director, so I was acting executive director for a while.

I just found it to be really rewarding, so hoping to continue to serve, and there was an opening on this board, so I'm here to um hopefully serve again.

All right, thank you.

Um I do have a question for you.

Do you or any immediate family members work for any position within the legislative, executive, or judicial branch of government?

No.

All right, okay, that is one um stipulation for individuals who serve on the elected officials compensation commission.

So wanted to clarify that.

Thank you.

Colleagues, any questions, comments?

Member Callaway.

Thank you.

Um, thank you, madam chair, and good morning, ma'am.

Um, you have my full support.

Um, I know the work that you've done on the board of ethics.

I've had personal experience with the Board of Ethics, and um you were um forthcoming, you were um very um proactive.

Um you were not biased, um, you were very neutral, and you listened to both sides, and um I remembered you, and I just um am excited about um you possibly serving in this capacity, and again, you have my full support because I know that you um are able to look at both sides of an issue or situation and come back with a very balanced um fair determination.

I know that to be true about you, and so again, um good morning, and thank you for your willingness to serve in another capacity.

And how long is that term for directors on the board of ethics?

Because I know you would know quicker than me.

Um well, I fulfilled a term of someone that um Miss Alma Stalworth, who had left the board.

Um so I finished out her term, but there are two five-year terms.

So I served um the remaining three of hers, and then an additional five, uh, so seven years total.

Okay, and through the chair to yourself, how long is the term?

Because you would know this as well for the executive director of the board of ethics.

Oh, I don't believe she has a term.

She's just we just hire them.

Um, and that's why when we had the previous executive director, um, we actually let her go, and it was a long process to do that to make sure we did it correctly and had all the information.

So they're they're just they serve at the pleasure of the board.

So as long as they are, you know, at the pleasure of the board, they stay.

Through the chair to you, how long can they stay until they do something where they are no longer yeah, yes, I believe it's indefinite, you know, they can stay in the role as long as that needs to change.

Um, so we can talk, have those conversations later.

That absolutely needs to change.

Um, and I don't know what we can do, but that needs to change.

Um, and it should not be indefinitely that you're sitting there.

Um, and that's just my opinion.

So um I'll look into that in my second term starting in January of 2026.

Thank you so much, and you have my full support.

Thank you, madam chair.

I appreciate that.

Thank you.

Any additional questions, comments?

All right.

Thank you.

I appreciate that, Member Waters.

Seeing none, is there any additional information you'd like to leave with us for consideration for the elected officials compensation commission?

No, I'm just it's an honor to be considered, so thank you for having me today.

All right, thank you.

Thank you for your um support and assistance with the city of Detroit.

Colleagues.

Without objection, I'd like to combine line items five and eight point one.

Is there a motion?

There's a motion to send line items eight point eight point one and line item five to formal with a recommendation to approve.

We appreciate your service and your continued commitment to serve.

So thank you.

Thank you.

All right, have a great day.

That now closes out our 1025 interview.

I'd like to call to order our 1035 interview.

The 1035 interview is for Mr.

John Barth.

He is being considered for the Detroit Brownfield CAC.

Good morning.

Please touch the base of the microphone so that everyone can hear you.

I'm sorry, can you hear me now?

Yes.

Uh good morning, Councilmembers Johnson Waters and Whitfield Callaway.

I appreciate your invitation to speak with you this morning.

Thank you so much for joining us in person.

If you would please tell us about yourself, share with us who you are, your background, and how it may lend itself to the Detroit Brownfield CAC.

Absolutely.

Uh my name is John Barth.

Uh, I received my master's of urban planning degree at the University of Michigan in 2011, and ever since then I have been a resident and worker in the city of Detroit.

My specialty is in community and economic development work, where I have been fortunate enough to touch each and every city council district in Detroit in a variety of ways with a variety of different organizations.

Um my work has primarily been with nonprofit CDCs and other organizations of that nature, um, where I have really been able to specialize in both community outreach and engagement as well as um data analysis, often going deep into the weeds in a lot of um tax-related issues.

And I am also a co-founder and partner of Built by Many, which is a consulting cooperative that works citywide with a variety of organizations on community and economic development type work.

Awesome, thank you.

So you indicated that you've done work throughout the city.

Have you had have you worked on a project that's gone before the Brownfield development authority?

I have not had the pleasure yet, no.

Okay.

All right, just curious.

Yeah, I'm sorry.

Um member Waters, any questions, comments, concerns.

No, I took a look at this very extensive resume as well.

A lot of good stuff here.

All right.

And now this is the final interview for the Detroit Brownfield CAC.

Um we have I believe three others, in addition to the two individuals who currently serve on the CAC.

Is there anything else you'd like to share with us as we close out the interview?

Sure.

Uh, you know, I'm a tireless community advocate.

Um, as I said, I am a very involved resident in my own community.

I've been a resident of Corktown for about 13 years now.

Um, and I think through my work I've always been a tireless advocate for community.

I I understand the transformational nature of these brownfield redevelopment projects.

I also understand how tax increment financing works, and I understand that sometimes you have to balance these things because, on the one hand, brown fields are a significant blight and harm to the communities that they are in, but also 30 years is a very long time, and so it requires a careful balancing of all the different factors and an in-depth understanding of how tax assessments work to understand whether some of these projects are worthy of moving forward or not.

And I think that through my work, both engaging deeply with community as well as getting deep into the weeds of how these projects work financially, you know, would allow me to provide some very helpful perspective on you know uh possible projects that are coming before the the CAC and the Brownfield Development Authority in general.

Thank you for that.

I do have a quick question for you.

Um so, in the work that you've done on development throughout the city, can you talk about your level of community engagement within any of those projects?

Yeah, uh I think that the best way to describe it is um I have been able to engage with both residents and businesses.

I have done you know major canvassing projects where I've speaking where I've spoken with every single business and property owner along West Verner and Springwells as long as well as along the um West McNichols six mile corridor, and in doing so, I've been able to really dig deep with these individuals who have you know really in-depth lived experience in these communities and really understand what is going on on a level that others may not.

Uh similarly, I have done extensive efforts going door-to-door leading canvassing drives in different communities, admittedly not around development projects, but around other community organizing type projects simply to gain information and insights from residents to then pass on to those in leadership positions who can then act upon that information.

All right.

So, Madam Chair.

Thank you for that.

Member of Waters?

Thank you.

Um I see that you um do some grant writing as well.

Tell us a little bit about that.

Yeah, I I've done some grant writing.

I think that my real specialty is in program evaluation as it pertains to grant writing.

I'm very deep into the data, so I've been part of a number of teams that have applied for um hundreds of thousands of dollars in successful grants.

I think where my strength really lies is in the data.

It's in understanding not just numerical data, though I'm very comfortable with that and digging into numbers, but then also coupling that with people's lived experiences.

I'm a big believer in the fact that the most compelling cases are made when you're able to combine people's lived experiences with data to really illustrate the point that you're trying to make.

And so uh in general, I would say that you know, I'm very familiar with the entire grant-making process.

Okay, but you know, what I am really uh an expert in is kind of demonstrating the impacts.

Okay, and that's really good as as well.

I see that you have both blue and green.

Oh, yes.

Yeah.

Go blue, go green.

Yeah.

Thank you, madam chair.

Thank you.

Any additional questions?

All right, seeing none.

You gave us final thoughts already.

Any additional final thoughts?

Oh my.

I think I'll just one last time kind of underscore that.

I can see the revent real value of these Brownfield redevelopments.

You know, I like I said, I'm a very active person, especially in Southwest Detroit, seeing the transformation of the area around the Michigan uh welcome center and Mexican town Mercado, and also seeing you know Ducharme Place on the east side and a lot of other projects, big and small, and the impact that they've made.

Um, I really see the ways in which this can significantly benefit community.

And then similarly, I've seen other projects that have kind of stalled out and understand that perhaps if more questions have been asked early on, then you know, maybe we wouldn't have gone down that road, and maybe the city wouldn't have dedicated resources to you know administering and and processing these things in the first place.

Thank you for that.

Development is very challenging in this city.

Uh, for certain.

Uh all right, colleagues.

Is there so this is the final uh nominee that we have for the Detroit Brownfield CAC?

Uh with that being said, without objection, I'd like to combine line item six as well as line item seven through seven seven point one through seven point four, which are the resolutions for the prior interviews.

Um is there a motion to send line item six as well as line items 7.1 through 7.4 to formal with a request to LPD to draft a ballot motion.

The motion has been made.

Hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

All right, Mr.

Mr.

Barth, thank you so much for uh joining us here in person.

We appreciate your uh consideration and your interest.

Thank you all.

I appreciate it.

Sure.

You've got that now closes out our 1035 interview.

Member Callaway.

Quick question for you, madam chair.

How many vacancies are on the Brownfield CAC?

Because I see four candidates here, but how many?

Well, actually, five for how many um openings or vacancies?

Mr.

King.

No.

Good morning, Edward King LPD.

Uh, through the chair, there are five candidates for four positions.

Okay.

Okay.

Any additional questions?

But yeah, I'm trying to clarify something here.

So aren't they?

I I thought the recommendations were made from each district or something like that.

Mr.

King.

District and at large.

Yeah.

Uh I'm not I'm not aware of that.

So, Member Waters, I wonder if you are thinking of a different board or commission.

This one, there are only four positions on the board.

Okay.

Uh well, yeah, maybe I am.

I it's only one brownfield CAC, right?

There's only one Brownfield CAC, but there is also a Brownfield board.

Yeah, I yeah, I'm familiar with the board.

Okay, okay.

Um so if I had a vacancy from the person that I so for example, uh I guess you can say two years ago, I guess it was maybe a year ago, I'm not really sure what it what it is now.

I recommended a person I believe for this Brownfield CAC.

And I don't know if if their term has expired, if in fact they're planning to still serve.

So how does that work?

Do you just go in and take the vacancies and send in names?

Is that is that what you do?

Uh through the chair.

The um all council members are or any member of the public is welcome to present a name to fill any of these four seats.

And this is uh appointment of the city council as a whole.

Yeah, okay.

All right.

I I don't know what I'm thinking about then, but okay, thank you.

Madam Chair.

Oh, thank you.

Member Callaway.

Um, I see that we have a formal resignation from Ponce D.

Clay, my Moorehouse brother, and a district two resident.

And I just want to publicly congratulate him on being appointed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer to serve as a judge of the 36th District Court of Detroit, and want to thank him for his service on the Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority Community Advisory Committee.

So if you're listening, Mr.

Clay, my Moorehouse brother, congratulations on your appointment.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you.

Yes.

Congratulations are in order.

For sure.

Yes.

Um all right, colleagues.

We are going to move into new business.

Beginning with line item.

We've already addressed line item 8.1.

Line item 8.2 is contract number 6006065-83, 100% ARPA funding.

Amendment number three to provide an extension of time and to amend contract terms for the right to counsel information and portal.

Contractor Lakeshore Legal Aid, contract period through June 30th, 2026.

Contract increase amount zero dollars.

Total contract amount 252,060.

Colleagues, is there a motion to discuss very briefly?

All right, discussion.

Through the chair Graham Anderson Law Department, I'm joined by Attorney Diamond Conley here to speak on the matter as well of the amended contract terms.

Good morning.

Good morning, honorable council members.

Diamond Conley, Executive Director of the Right to Council.

Good morning, Attorney Conley.

If you can just share what the amended contract terms are for this contract.

Yes.

So you may have heard me talk about the intake and verification system in a prior meeting.

As the executive director of Right to Council, I'm always trying to think about how to make this program more efficient.

And one of the ways to do that is to try to have tenants reach our attorneys a lot earlier.

And so that is what this intake and in uh income verification system would do.

Um the goal is to when tenants get their documents, they upload those documents into the intake system.

Um they give us a little insight into what's going on with their case, but then they also may need to provide some personal uh information so we can make sure that they're eligible.

So that may be their name, in some cases social security number, date of birth, benefits information, all of this information that really should be attorney client privileged um information.

And so my initial thought was that the city of Detroit should own this system, but after talking with the attorneys, there was some concern that if I had access to all of this information, if my office had access, if the city of Detroit, that would break attorney client privilege in some places in some spaces in a lot of spaces, right?

If we have all of that, um and we have thousands of tenants who are going to be accessing this system.

I'm a three-person office.

We have way more attorneys who can handle that backlog.

And so the amendment at this point is that the Lakeshore Legal Aid and our attorneys will own and operate this data system and protect the tenants and their information as much as possible.

What they will do is continue to take direction from the city of Detroit.

And so if we roll out this intake system and there are concerns about how it's operating, they will take direction from us to repair that.

Um I need data, you know, at least some amount of data to answer questions that you all have for me and to complete an ordinance report um every year.

And so it they will continue to provide me with what I need, but the amendment at this point says just that they will continue to take direction from us, but they are uh best equipped to own and operate this system.

All right, thank you.

Colleagues, any additional questions?

Is there a motion on line item 8.2?

There's a motion to send line item 8.2 to formal with a recommendation to approve.

Hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Line item 8.3.

Line item 8.3 is the monthly report of contracts that were approved administratively for the months of July and August.

These are contracts between 25 and 50,000 dollars.

Colleagues, I do have uh questions about one or two of the contracts that were administratively approved and actually reached out to the law department to get some insight on how council can actually um work with the contract that there are questions relative to and how we might be able to address it with the administration.

Um I was not able to get an answer.

Um with that, I think they need to do some research.

Um with that, is there a motion to bring line item 8.3 back in two weeks to allow them to do the research?

Um, and we will submit a memo asking for how council can address these contracts that are approved administratively.

Motion there is a motion to bring line item 8.3 back in two weeks, and a memo will be sent.

Hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

Line item 8.4 is a settlement request in lawsuit of Philip Leonard versus City of Detroit Police Department file number 1507 in the amount of 250,000 dollars.

Colleagues just want to share that this is a workers' comp claim just for the general public.

Uh is there a motion on line item 8.4.

There's a motion to send line item 8.4 to formal with a recommendation to approve.

Hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

Line item 8.5 is a settlement request in lawsuit of all ways on time transportation versus city of Detroit.

Case number 25-144 216-GC.

This is for the Department of Transportation in the amount of $4,000.

Is there a motion?

Motion.

There's a motion to send line item 8.5 to formal with a recommendation to approve.

Hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

Line item 8.6 is a settlement request in lawsuit of Atia Hunt versus City of Detroit.

Case number 24-01035-NI.

This is for the fire department in the amount of $14,500.

Is there a motion to approve?

There's a motion to send line item 8.6 to formal with a recommendation to approve.

Hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

And line item 8.7 is a settlement request in lawsuit of Cornell Jackson versus City of Detroit and Darrell Russell.

Case number 24-000 256-in I.

This is for the Department of Transportation in the amount of $310,000.

Is there a motion?

Motion to approve.

Hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

Line item 8.8 is a settlement request in lawsuit of Jill Babcock, Marguerite Maddox, and Ashley Jacobson versus State of Michigan, County of Wayne, City of Detroit, and Detroit Wayne Joint Building Authority.

Case number 22-12951 in the amount of $75,000.

Is there a motion to approve?

Motion.

There's a motion to send line item 8.8 to formal with a recommendation to approve.

Hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

Line item 8.9.

Submitting report relative to City of Detroit, Office of Inspector General debarment report for Lucas Enterprises.

Colleagues, is there a motion to receive and file or discuss?

Motion to receive and file.

There's a motion to receive and file line item 8.9.

Hearing no objections.

That action shall be taken.

Line item 8.10.

Councilmember Angela Whitfield Callaway submitting memorandum relative to request for a report and a resolution establishing a domestic violence task force.

Colleagues, is there a motion to discuss?

Motion to discuss, madam chair.

Discuss um LPD.

Madam Chair, can we have one week on this item, please?

Colleagues, there's a request for a one-week bring back.

Motion to bring this back in one week, madam chair.

There's a motion to bring line item 8.10 back in two weeks, actually.

Uh this committee has been canceled for next week.

There's a motion to bring line item 8.10 back in two weeks.

Hearing no objections, that action shall be taken.

And that now brings us to member reports.

Member Vice Chair Waters.

Oh, thank you.

Um Madam Chair.

Just a reminder today is a skilled trade task force meeting, which is from 4 to 6 p.m.

at the Cockpiters and Miller Rights Training Center, located at 11687 American Street.

That's today from 4 to 6 p.m.

Copper to Mirror Rights Training Center.

11687 American Street.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Member Callaway.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Just left the some unions.

IBEW, the sheet metal workers, transportation, electrical, Persian High School.

We were out there protesting the project going on on that campus over there on Ryan Road.

They're using using non-union workers.

And so I joined those union workers this morning to protest that effort.

And that development is going on right now with non-union workers.

And we I personally support union workers, come from a union family, and also was a member of two unions during during my career.

So I absolutely support unions being on these projects in the city of Detroit.

And that's not happening at Persian High School on Ryan Road.

This Saturday, we will be at the Northwest Activity Center, the Detroit Women's Commission from 10 a.m.

to 1 p.m.

They are hosting their first resource fair and networking event for women in business.

So if you are a woman in business or wanting to go into business, this is your opportunity to get resources and network.

So please come out, Northwest Activity Center from 10 a.m.

to 1 p.m., which is on Myers at Curtis, September the 20th.

It is a free um resource fair and networking event.

Also, from at the same time, 10 a.m.

until this is an outdoor event at the Judge Greg Mathis Community Center at 1930 Greenfield Road with Jake Mathis, attorney, and some other speakers and myself.

We will be there at the expungement clinic at that community center.

You hopefully you can have the opportunity to pre-register.

You can call my office at 224535, and we can give you some instructions on how to pre-register.

But even if you don't pre-register, we still want you to come out if you know that you need assistance with expunging your record.

All right, that is again September 20 from 10 a.m.

to 2 p.m.

And that is at the night um 1930 Greenfield Road, the Judge Mathis Community Center in District 2.

Then also on September the 17th, there will be a business financial management luncheon and learn at 7525 West McNichols at the first merchants bank.

And then we want to also invite you to people for Palmer Park is hosting their annual harvest fest at Palmer Park on Saturday, and that will be from 1 to 4 p.m.

There'll be hay rides, pony rides, petting zoo, donuts, cider arts and crafts, etc.

That's open to everyone in the city of Detroit.

We want you to come out and enjoy all the festivities at Palmer Park this Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m.

Then we will be having our um evening meeting on September the 23rd at Fellowship Chapel on West Outer Drive, and that will be at 7 p.m.

September the 23rd, Tuesday.

So we have a lot of things going on in District 2, and then also we want to thank GSD and Director Crystal Perkins for all of your hard work in getting the banners on the historic Avenue of Fashion installed yesterday.

It was a wonderful, wonderful celebration on the Avenue of Fashion, Donuts, Coffee, Music, and our business owners and property owners came out to celebrate the installation of the long-awaited banners on all the light poles on the Avenue of Fashion, and it is absolutely beautiful.

It's just amazing to my colleagues what banners can do to a corridor.

It just unified it, it is vibrant, and we're really excited.

I want to personally thank two of you and my other colleagues for making it happen and supporting that effort.

It's a long time coming for those business owners over there.

Some of them have been over there.

So thank you all so much.

That completes my members' report.

Thank you.

And that's that's awesome.

Glad to hear the banners made such a difference, but that's just a in addition to all of the amazing businesses that are there that have been there for so long.

That's that's phenomenal within itself, and we need to have them working with our uh Motive City Match uh businesses to help them understand how they've been able to stay uh open and be successful in the city for so long.

So kudos to you all.

And I just want to remind everyone that the neighborhood beautification grant uh is open and available.

It closes October 24th, 2025.

That is for neighborhood associations, block clubs, community organizations throughout the entire city of Detroit.

There is a special um allotment of funding that came from the FCA community benefits agreement that is for District 4 and any block club, neighborhood association, community organization within the FCA fiat Chrysler, Stellantis, whatever we call them within their footprint.

If you are in their footprint, there is a special allotment of funding that is being provided five between five and up to 10,000 for those organizations to do neighborhood beautification work.

So want to encourage everyone to apply for those resources.

The Wayne Metro is facilitating the program, so just want to encourage everyone to seek that information out.

Feel free to reach out to us if you do not have the information.

Our office number 313-224-484-1.

Um I will just say that I've seen some amazing work being done throughout the city of Detroit with the neighborhood beautification grant program.

And I know it was an initiative of Council President.

So thank you so much for fighting for our neighborhoods and working with our neighborhood associations to help improve our communities.

It looks like my colleagues are ready to go.

So if there's nothing further to come for us, we shall stand adjourned.

I'm just listening to you.