The Detroit City Council convened on January 5, 2026, to address public concerns regarding municipal services and retirees, followed by the election of presiding officers for the upcoming term. The meeting experienced initial technical difficulties involving Zoom connectivity and sign language interpretation, leading to a brief recess. Following the resolution of technical issues, the Council proceeded to elect James Tate as City Council President and Coleman Young as President Pro Tempore through a secret ballot process.
Oh I think my uh interpretation is going public councilman Gabriel Santiago Romero present conceivable Gabriela Santiago Romero Councilmember James Tate Consehal James Tate here Mary Walter present Mary Waters Councilman Angela Willfield Colloway Conseil Angela Witfield Callaway Councilman McColeman A Young the Second Here Consehal you have a core member thank you it appears that we have some technical difficulties going off but it's the name hopefully that'll be technically because there being a poor present the council should be in session there being no reconsiderations or unfinished business will all now for public comment no but the consideration is negotiating this person will be given two minutes to speak that some cards do we have any cards for public comments no one for public comment and present okay we'll move to public comment via Zoom Andre will be in charge deputy clerk first person we have is first person we have is William M Davis uh good morning can I be heard buenos dias me escuchan see um uh I'm calling again saying that the fact that the this whole massive recovery has been on the backs of city Detroit retirees perhaps this year with a new mayor to perhaps care a little bit more than the last one we could get city council to agree with the fact that the city deterrent retirees need to have this call back discontinued they need to be re you know you know need to be restored we need money the average city church retire only gets 20 000 a year which is like one fifth of the the salary the city council get and like say you know one tenth let you know less than you know less than one tenth of what the mayor gets so we need to make sure that more is done to help city detroit retirees more is done to help the average uh poor person in the city of Detroit we have a lot of unhoused people we have a lot of problems that the city needs to be looking at and also we have a fact that you know millionaires and billionaires they do projects in the state of Detroit and then most of the time they don't live up to their promises but they do the city do not claw back anything from them no compliment the city needs to do more to help the people a little help us may look in the city is this is madam clerk yeah hi madam clerk would it be possible to take a reset to figure out the technical issues we've been trying really hard to make sure we have language access we have to make sure it's working um so if we take the time to figure that out then we can continue to make sure that it's all working well yes so the issue is um we've asked her to un to mute herself and she has but then she unmute so we'll work with it okay thank you get my time back i'm sorry am i gonna get my time back i'll stop later you can continue he's uh we stopped it well i was being interrupted that the that's powerful the course with the city of detroit um more needs to be resident okay we're gonna call retail at this time i'm sorry we're gonna allow you to have your uh public comment over again but we got to stop this um this interference with the uh interpreter so give us a uh recess call to the chair please thank you one minute gives me also this is the sign language interpreter the other interpreter has not been allowed into the meeting either so if someone could allow the other interpreter sign language interpreter into the zoom meeting that would help thank you and son mcampbell here council letitia johnson present The other interpreter has not been allowed into the meeting either. So if someone could allow the other interpreter, sign language interpreter into the zoom meeting, that would help. Thank you. Here council Letitia Johnson present councilmanada Miller present councilman can be a little sense of miro. Present councilmember James State. Councilmember Mary Walters, present councilman Anslaw Willfield Colloway, Councilman Colbin Young the second. Here we call him present manager. Thank you. We will proceed with public comment via Zoom, Mr. Gilbert. Can I be heard? Yes, we can hear you. Okay. As I was saying, that more needs to be done to help the people to live in the city of Detroit. I think a good start would be if most of the appointees lived in the city of Detroit. I think a good start would be if we did more, you know. I was an elected police commissioner four years ago, but even since this time, you know, we still have a lot of police lawsuits. You know, we're still demifying and representing people to do wrong to violate city rules and policies. We need to be doing more to cut down costs and improve the life of the people to live in the city of Detroit. Because the city has not done a great job. You know, most of that could put on the previous mayor, but now it's a new it's a new sheet, a new day, a new administration. So hopefully we can get some improvements to help more of the people that live here because more people need help. You know, everybody's not rich and well to do. Thank you. Thank you. Next, Andrew. Next, we have Ruby Riley. Ruby, can you hear us? Hear me. Yes. Okay. Good morning. Happy New Year's to everybody. Hoping and praying that this be a better year for the residents of the city of Detroit. I also agree with everything that Bill Davis said. Uh back last year, when we would actually a couple years ago, we were approved for some work to be done on our it was uh I had the original paper with me. I showed the councilman at large, uh, but I have the real paper, and they said they ran out of money. Well, I would like I and I'm sure everybody else that apply for that. For that help, we should be able to get it. I've been going to the laundry mat every week or every two weeks or whatever to wash my clothes due to the fact that the water department, Gary Brown. I went, I was going to all the meetings, and that was never well. The conversation that they offer me, that was I'm not a crackhead and I don't do drugs, and I'm gonna say that forever. So I would like my wash and my dryer. I would like to get the same uh conversation that Southwest Detroit got, and then like I say, with the part that they uh sign us up for. I have that original paper. I need that. Uh I suppose got a washer, dryer, stove, other items for the house, car insurance, and all that. So all of us to sign up for that. I would like to see us to get that because it was approved, and then they said they ran out of money.