Thank you, Madam Clerk.

And seeing no quorum, we will go into public comment.

Each member of the public will have two minutes for public comment.

We ask you to state your name for the record and proceed.

We have one individual joining us here in the committee of the whole for my understanding.

Okay.

We'll go directly to virtual public comment.

Good afternoon, Mr.

Payne.

How many callers do we have?

Good afternoon, Mr.

Chair.

We have 10 public commenters today.

Okay, we are getting ready to close public comment off.

Public comment going once.

Public comment going twice.

Public comment going three times.

Public comment is now closed.

And uh we'll go back to Mr.

Smith, who is here in public joining us here in the committee of the whole.

Sorry, you have two minutes for public comment.

I ask that you state your name for the record and then proceed.

Good afternoon.

My name is Jadante Smith.

Um I'm sorry I did not get a chance to read uh the agenda before I begin to make my comment.

Um I do see a couple line items in here about LPD and resolutions for not resolutions, but uh I'm sorry, for the status of different things LPD is addressing, but I want to address something that's maybe a little bit unrelated.

I want to address uh district three and specifically the I'm maybe off topic for this specific subcommittee, I understand that, but district three and the amount of fugitive dust that we have um around the Cronos Conquer facility.

I submitted a uh a very descriptive video to the fugitive dust email, and I got Chromos Conquer facility located 3405 Gaylord a ticket for this uh fugitive dust.

There was a man standing at a bus stop on Conit and uh McNichols, which is six mile, in the middle of a dust storm, and testified was sent a sentence sworn statement, got got the statement uh notarized, and the date of the the uh the the day of the court date for the the ticket, the ticket was dismissed due to a consent agreement, which I feel like the city is helping this this company who is somewhat grandfathered in and their property who is destroying the community through dust.

People are breathing in this fugitive dust.

People are having to live with this dust coating your homes, coating their vehicles, coating their lungs, and they breathe it in.

And I feel like uh council member Scott Benson has been of no help, he's been of no assistance.

I reached out to his office, he refuses to meet with his constituent who he calls his bosses.

He's personally attacked me.

He is sending his staff to businesses in the area to tell them not to work with me or the coalition, which is very, very uh disheartening.

That uh elected official that people put their public trust in to represent them is not fulfilling his duty as a public official and representing the best issues, the best interest of his his uh constituents.

Um that means he's not on this subcommittee, he's not a part of this.

I just want to make sure I got I got to be able to do that because I wasn't able to come to the committee of the whole yesterday.

I was on the call, I got to the call too late and I was not able to speak, but I wanted to say that about Scott Benson.

Meet with your constituents if you call him your bosses.

Okay, thank you very much, Mr.

Smith.

Okay, Mr.

Payne.

Back to you.

Uh 10 callers uh joining us virtually.

Who was our first caller?

Correction, Mr.

Chairs, eight callers.

Eight callers.

Okay, who's our first caller?

Our first caller is by the name of you matter.

You matter.

You have two minutes for public comment.

Please state your name for the record and proceed.

Miss Warwick, are you there?

You matter.

Two minutes for public comment.

Okay, call her going once.

Caller going twice.

Call her going three times.

Mr.

Payne, why don't we place them at the end of the queue?

Our next caller is Tyson Gersh.

Tyson Gersh, you have two minutes for public comment.

Please state your name for the record and proceed.

Uh Tyson Gersh, can you hear me?

Yes.

Great, thanks.

Um, I spoke at yesterday's formal session trying to get an explanation of how the Board of Zoning Appeals revenue tripled from 85,000 in fiscal year 23 to 238,000 in fiscal year 24, uh, in the absence of any new revenue programs and what appears to be an overall slight decrease in case load.

Um I have asked like uh chief financial officer, treasury, um contracting and procurement.

I filed a FOIA on it.

I cannot get an answer from anybody.

Um there's been two or like budget analyses that have occurred, one through LPD, which failed to notice this entirely.

They only asked the BZA to explain uh a 20% decrease in proposed revenue um going up to fiscal year 25.

But how does nobody notice an agency tripling the revenue?

Uh tripling the revenue while underspending their appropriated expenses by 162,000, uh under appropriated expense budget by 162,000, and um also in light of a proposed and adopted 110,000 for revenue.

So they like more than doubled what the mayor's office proposed and what city council authorized.

Um where did all of that money come from?

There should be an explanation.

Um maybe it's an obvious one, but why can't anybody give it to me?

I I don't understand.

Also, props to the health department for uh submitting a like legitimate fee schedule that shows the before and the after and explains it.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is iPhone guest.

iPhone guests.

You have two minutes of public comment.

Please state your name for the record and proceed.

Uh good afternoon to all within the sound of my voice.

I'm Betty A.

Barner, president of Minnesota Els World Black Association.

I'm here advocating for my neighborhood and community.

If you would like to donate to our missions and goals, please go to Zale and put it in D S N dog, E D S M boy, A, W E B S M Boy, E L at Gmail.com.

Again, that is DBA W E B S and Boy E A at Gmail.com.

We uh are extending our park.

We have purchased additional land that needs to be cleaned up.

We have some weeds that have grew up to look like trees.

We need to have those removed.

We also would like to have playscape equipment on this new uh land for our children in the area, and so we have to have a land use hearing.

And my understanding is that can cost anywhere from $50 to $2,000.

So these are the things that we are working on to improve our neighborhood.

So to find it in your heart to want to uh help us uh achieve our goals, please go to Zale.

Also, if you are a senior in your home and you need help, you want to be able to stay in your home and not end up in a nursing home, please contact DAA at 313 446 444 again 313 446 444.

Ask for the application or speak to someone for the my choice waiver program.

It's MIChoice waiver program, federal uh government program, assist you in your home to be to not be in a nursing home.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is Owner Papa.

Owner Papa, you have two minutes for public comment.

Please state your name for the record and proceed.

Carolyn Hughes into the chairman Abby Heard.

You may, ma'am.

Thank you.

Um I'm not sure if it's an official meeting if we don't have uh the proper um people who are there.

It's kind of a shame that we can't get a two-person uh quorum.

Um the the PLA in the budget that was submitted.

Use the funds from the residents utility user tax.

Am I correct in that?

And uh is the public lighting department only have uh two two two members, uh two people.

That's what was shown at at the hearing that there are two people in the public lighting uh department.

Uh on the budget for 2025.

I noticed that there is uh an entry omitted for the state revenue sharing, and I wanted to know why.

Um you you have uh something called COVID response.

Um, and I'm under the impression from the federal government that they have officially said that that pandemic is is over, and then it draws me to 6.3.

I know the word says that uh he peaks the basis of men to do this type of bidding, but to continue to steal the property tax general fund monies from the people in the city of Detroit, their surplus for um this last endeavor is for um hiding the income tax revenue that is uh missing for all of this boom economy that you all profess to have created, but now you want to use not 14 million but 42 million dollars of our hard-earned money that we create for the general fund.

You want to give it to some reserve fund for uh income tax.

If it were boom, you wouldn't need this, and you all need to be investigated.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is Cindy Dara.

Cindy Dara, you have two minutes for public comment.

Please state your name for the record and proceed.

Ms.

Dara, are you there?

Yeah, uh, I want you all to write Carolyn Hughes in for mayor.

Uh or and also for governor next year.

Uh oops.

Yes, hello.

We hear my two, yeah.

Can I get my two minutes?

Because I just pushed the unmute, but anyway, write Caroline Hughes in for mayor or for anything, any office that you don't like, who's there, put her name there.

She belongs up there, making helping us get better government.

Uh I uh made a mistake yesterday when I said that you only have to file if you want to be a writing candidate uh by the Friday before the election.

It's actually two weeks, the second Friday before the election, you have to have that paper filed by that time in order to declare that you're an official write-in candidate, so they'll count the votes.

And it's only one week if you want to run for precinct delegate, so it'd be the Friday before for the precinct delegate.

I'm running as a writing candidate for Detroit City Clerk, and I tried to get on the ballot, but I didn't sign some paper they never gave me to sign, and that was why they said they didn't consider my petitions and signatures.

But I am for approval voting tonight at six o'clock at the main library.

The people that keep trying to promote rank choice voting are gonna be presenting.

I'm gonna go there and argue for approval voting.

And if you will go to electionscience.org, this would improve our voting so that we get more of what people really want instead of splitting the vote uh with plurality voting that we have now.

We had nine people run for uh mayor.

That's too many to really find out what people want.

So look at that website, electionscience.org or Google approval voting.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Brother Cunningham, you have two minutes for public comment.

Please state your name for the record and proceed.

Are you there?

313 444914, 3134, 9114.

313, vote, vote, vote.

911 vote.

That number was made so you can remember it.

Brother Cunningham.

On Facebook, not enemy.

Two words on Facebook, not in me.

Click people, and you should see me, my mom and nurse home, and uh um the family behind.

Um I want to thank you, Mr.

Chair, for always responding to my text messages and receiving my calls.

You guys are always in my prayers.

Just wanted to let you know that you and your your lovely wife and family uh you guys have uh assisted me.

Um and etc.

So I do appreciate that.

Can you hear me?

I can, sir.

Thank you.

Okay.

Oh, and so lastly, I'm just gonna pray myself out.

Um I just want to pray myself out.

So my mom, you know.

Thank you, Brother Cunningham.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is William M.

Davis.

Mr.

William M.

Davis, you have two minutes for public comment.

Please state your name for the record and proceed.

Uh, good afternoon, young man.

Can I be heard?

You may, sir.

Okay, I like to say that uh of course the city chart retirees need some assistance, need some help.

And perhaps when they send out this letter about what we may have to pay back potentially as the new decline, it should only be for like the interest should be just a flat 2.25, whatever the the original amount they say we owe.

That way we make it more affordable for most city church retirees, especially in so much that we retroactively took a 2.25% interest.

You know, they took from a 2.25% on our cost of living retroactively to back to 2013, and it was 2014.

You know, so I think it wouldn't be hard, and it you know, it might just cost the city a couple million dollars to just retroactively take it back to 2.25 flat interest on the original amount for those that's still paying as of January 1st of 2026, because we we suffer, we continue to suffer.

You know, we're not millionaires like some people are, you know, like the mayor, you know.

So we need help.

The mayor has not done anything substantial to help city chart retirees.

So I predict come next year.

If there's no help for the city to retiree, that our city chart retirees, their families and their friends and the former co-workers probably probably all will vote against whatever Doug and runs for.

Have a good day.

You too, sir.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Mr.

Chair, our next caller coming back to you matter.

You matter, you have two minutes for public comment.

Please state your name for the record and proceed.

Ms.

Warwick, are you there?

Good afternoon, maybe heard.

You may, ma'am.

Okay, thank you for coming back to me.

Uh, I second the emotions of Cindy Dara.

I would nominate Carolyn Hughes, vote for her for mayor, a district five resident, Mary Sheffield's chief of staff doesn't even have the courage to speak with me.

So um, member Durha, why don't you budget some money for some first amendment and fourteenth amendment training for people at City Hall so they know what First Amendment retaliation is, like in her staff is so bad.

Some of them that I said, hey, I've got a bunch of blade tickets.

I was never noticed for, and she her staff says, Oh, you gotta update the address on your deed, and finally, like, let me help you here.

And they send her the code section, it says it sent it to the last known address.

So if I can get a bill collector to send to the right address, why weren't the blight tickets?

And then she sent there, and then she was supposed to get proof that I was actually served because uh it also says they're supposed to leave a notice on the site, and they didn't do that, and they didn't mail it to me.

And so they shouldn't be sending me these bogus blight notices, and also Mary Sheffield told people in my neighborhood that I lie about things.

What do I lie about, Mary Sheffield?

I've asked you for receipts, a retraction, or a meeting to clarify any misunderstandings we may have.

So if she doesn't have the female cojones to do that, she absolutely should not be mayor.

It's now pretty clear she's an out of the closet Duganite and that the powers that be that want her, they won't investigate the lies the law department excuse me, election department told about me and to me, and she's on the election commission, and I'm a D5 president.

So really Carolyn Hughes would be way way way better as mayor.

And uh don't fall for the ranked choice voting.

I think it'll be a way to cheat Dugging in as governor.

And people don't think the solar taking stuff is cool, and you shouldn't do that.

Thank you.

Does that conclude our public commenters for today, Mr.

Payne?

Mr.

Chair, that concludes our public commenters for today.

Okay, seeing that concludes our public commenters today, and that we are still anticipating a quorum, budget finance and audit standing committee will stand at uh at a short recess.