I see the members of Creole in the back.

Y'all hiding.

Come on down.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

There we go.

Good afternoon.

And Director Mathis.

Welcome.

This is your first budget hearing.

Congratulations on your appointment.

Please take the time to introduce your team, though some of them we already know, know very well and appreciate.

Please introduce your team, and you can begin your budget present budget presentation when you're ready.

Good afternoon, everyone.

It's a privilege to be in front of this honorable body and President Tate for to present the FY27 budget for CRIO, the civil rights inclusion and opportunity department.

I am Jay Mathis, the director of CRIO, and this is Megan Maslamani, my deputy director of CREO.

So today I'll briefly walk through our department and the work of our nine divisions, all of which are centered on increasing access, accountability, inclusion, and opportunity for Detroit residents, businesses, and employees.

Just our brief mission statement.

Our work is grounded in a simple but important commitment to provide excellent service to all who live, work, play, and do business in the city of Detroit, while advocating for inclusion and increased opportunities that will result in a positive impact in our city.

That statement reflects how we approach this work every day through service, responsiveness, and a keen focus on making the city systems more accessible and equitable.

So within CREO, we have nine divisions.

And those divisions are the Civil Rights Department, Disability Affairs, Policy, Data, Cannabis, the Cannabis Office Incentives and Compliance, Detroit Business Opportunity Program, also known as DBOP, and Veterans Affairs.

I'll give you a brief summary of each division.

So first we have our civil rights division, which is led by Cynthia Samuel Baker.

And that division promotes equality, justice, by addressing discrimination in employment, American Disability Act, Housing, Education, and Puffes.

It also manages workplace violence, harassment complaints, provides training, and enforces city codes.

Its strategic focus includes enhancing staffing, improving complaint processes, strengthening case management, and supporting staff development, while ensuring civil rights resources are accessible and supportive, both for staff development and effective for both employees and the community.

Our FY27 goal for the Civil Rights Department is to focus on modernizing Chapter 23, which we are currently working with the Office of Law to do and amend Chapter 23 and to have a fully staffed division.

Our next department is the Detroit Business Opportunity Program, also known as DBOP, that is led by Cara Ivey.

And DBOP aims to empower local businesses by certifying them and enhancing access to city contracting opportunities, fostering an inclusive business environment.

Our outreach last year has engaged over 1,300 Detroit businesses and connects entrepreneurs with experts, city representatives, and resources.

Our FY27 goals prioritize and include launching the micro bidding with the Office of Contracting and Procurement that we're currently working on, creating a certification audit framework, and expanding the Detroit Startup Program.

Our next department is the Office of Disability Affairs and is led by Christopher Samp, which H which aims to empower the over 127,000 Detroit residents with disabilities through access, equity, and inclusion.

It also connects residents to city departments, promotes education on disability issues, and fosters collaboration between the disability community and city government.

In FY26, the office conducted over 110 engagements, and that reached over 7,000 people.

Our FY27 goals include expanding the interpreter services, also adding Braille for the visually impaired, expanding our public engagement, improving constituent services.

This includes procuring accessible outreach materials and work station in house and expanding services to include a mental health component.

Our next division is the Office of Veterans Affairs, which is led by Quasi Bet Sarai.

And that office is dedicated to supporting over the 22,000 veterans in Detroit, aligning with CREO's mission to address the needs of the underserved population.

The division connects veterans' health, disability, education, and housing benefits, including assistance for unhoused veterans.

It also promotes veteran achievements, collaborates with service organizations, and organized job fairs.

This year, the office aided 30 veterans with uh veterans with federal benefit claims and helped five secure employment while actively participating in local veteran service initiatives.

Next is the incentives and compliance division, which is led by Nikita Easley, which oversees the development projects related to the executive order 2024-2 and 2024-1, tax abatements, job commitments, the community benefit sorness agreements, ensuring commitments to the city and residents are met.

The team works with city agencies and partners to promote compliance and transparency.

Under that umbrella is also the construction outreach program, which is led by Renard Richman.

In that capacity, he works on workforce development and works with the Skilled Trace Employee Program, also known as STEP.

In FY26, that division conducted site visits, implemented compliance plans, and held community meetings.

Additionally, the division supports construction outreach, and last year they engaged over 1,200 students across 15 schools to introduce them to careers in construction and skills trades.

Next is the Office of Cannabis Affairs, which is led currently by Rodney Wilson, and it helps shape cannabis policy, regulations, and laws in a way that align with Detroit's vision for safe, healthy, family and business-friendly cannabis environments.

The office supports responsible participation in the industry while working to reduce barriers and improve processes for Detroiters.

The division works includes public education, collaboration with schools and the health department, support for licensees, navigating renewals, and approvals, and the advocacy and lancing on policies affecting cannabis businesses.

The office also is working to improve the licensee processes through through proposed software enhancements.

The impact of this work is tangible.

The Good Neighbor Plan has generated more than 300 jobs and has contributed more than 400,000 to local charities and helps support more than 43 equity licenses.

In FY27, we look forward to expanding this work and the opportunity to staff a project manager to oversee revenue sharing initiatives and to continue to build out technical assistance and support for our licensees.

Next department is our communications and engagement team led by Lisa Parham.

And that team is responsible for strategic communications, managing content, media, social media, and the office newsletters.

They promote awareness and engagement regarding the department's work and support community and partnership activities, including employee and resident events.

Housed within the Office of Communications is the language access program, also known as the LAP program.

That program, that division offers translation services, interpretation, and language support, ensuring clear access to and assistance in civil rights services with over 3,500 requested translations last year.

We are looking forward to our next big engagements, which is Mental Health Awareness Month, an event for Juneteenth.

Also, for LAP, we are looking forward to creating a unified, seamless request process, tracking system, and conducting citywide department trainings.

And last but certainly not least are our policy and data divisions.

Policy is led by Mandy Mitchell, and data is led by Asha Kristenen.

Our data and policy teams' functions enhance Creole's effectiveness and transparency and accountability.

The data team aims to improve access through public dashboards and tools for data-driven decision making.

The policy team focuses on modernizing policies to align with legal standards and best practices.

Together, they boost operational efficiency, aid leadership on policy issues, and promote process improvements.

In closing, CREO is a department who works, touches every residence, business, and employees and communities across Detroit in a very, very real way.

Whether we are protecting civil rights, expanding disability access, supporting veterans, strengthening communities and compliance, increasing economic opportunity, improving communities or modernizing policy and data systems.

Our shared goal is the same to ensure Detroiters have greater success, stronger protection, and more opportunity.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you as well.

We're going to start off with questions and starting off with Member Johnson, by Member McKenna.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, for looking to your left.

Good afternoon, CRO.

Thank you all so much for being here for the presentation.

Afternoon.

This is my first time going first, just so y'all know.

I think they say the same thing down here.

I do have a couple of questions for you.

I know you all were before the Planning and Economic Development Committee not long ago.

And we talked about the development projects, the larger development projects, and those that just given an update for those.

Can you all share what kind of enforcement goes into effect for development projects that are off track and who initiates that enforcement?

Okay, first I would like to thank you for that question.

And um through the chair, I first my apologies.

I forgot to introduce Aaron Reddick.

Erin Reddick is the office new executive strategist.

She's brilliant.

So she'll be working the um the slideshow today.

But um, that's a great question, Councilmember Johnson.

So through the chair, what we do is that CREO is primarily responsible for the monitoring and compliance of these projects.

Uh, when a project falls behind, what we'll do is mark them as off track and we give them a compliance plan.

Give them a certain amount of time to adhere to that compliance plan and become into compliance.

If they don't do that, there's an enforcement committee.

And on that enforcement committee is CRIO, the Office of Uh Law, so Corp Council, there's the NAC on that one, and then there's also uh LAS LAP, I'm sorry about that.

I'll I'll start if I'll clarify the last one.

But um, those are the parties that make up LPD.

I'm sorry, LPD is on there.

And what we do is that uh if we see it seems to be that they're not gonna become they're not gonna um come into compliance.

We'll talk with the enforcement committee and we'll decide if we're gonna bring it in front of council and if their license needs to be revoked or whatever penalty that uh council thinks is appropriate at that time.

Okay, so anyone on the enforcement committee can elevate um the fact that the project is off track or any facet of the project is off track.

Yes, so the NAC is initially the initial party, and then we um, since we're all part of part of that committee, then we all play a role after that.

Okay, I would love to maybe have a direct conversation with you about Stellantis FCA because one of the NAC members has indicated that some things are off-track.

Um, but the I think it's maybe a matter of interpretation of what was put into the community benefits agreement.

It was before my time, so I wasn't there and involved in the discussion.

So would love to just maybe have the two of you have a conversation or someone from your department have a conversation to get an understanding of what the NAC member believes has transpired so that we can get it clarified and put a check mark next to it.

Absolutely.

I welcome that discussion.

And just for clarification, from my records and my knowledge, there's only one project that is off track, and that's Herman Kiefer.

So I would love to talk to that member and yourself to um discuss their thoughts about that.

Thank you for that.

Um, my other question is in regards to the budget for the Office of Disability Affairs.

And I'm seeing that there is a four million dollar reduction to their budget.

Can you share the impact that that'll have on the department and if there is something specific that is being removed from the department?

So there's a 400,000 dollar removal.

What did I say?

That's what I meant.

400,000.

Yeah, 400,000.

And um what I would say is that you know we weren't uh part of I was not part of that discussion um when you know they decided to remove that amount.

Um I would be happy to have that conversation and follow up.

But what I will say is that I think um that we are planning to expand, and one of the things that Christopher Samp wanted to do when we discussed is expanding um and maybe having two in-house assign language interpreters.

Also, I would like to expand to cover more of mental wellness because as we all know, uh disabilities and cover under ADA is not exclusive to physical disabilities and includes um well visible and non-visible disabilities.

So I think that uh funding could be used for that as well as two in-house interpreters.

Um also to produce accessible outreach materials and including Braille, we would like to add Braille to those materials and workstations.

So when individuals come in from the public, we have the workstations in here that they can utilize and we can assist them in utilizing those workstations and technology as public accommodations.

And um currently and historically, ODA has uh operated as a resource to other departments and to the community, but we would like to operate as we would like to contribute more as well and take initiative more as well.

So we would like to start pilot programs in addition to being a resource to other departments.

So I do think that restoring that funding would be profitable in those areas.

All right, thank you so much for that.

And with that being said, Mr.

Chair, I'd like to move to add the Office of Disability Affairs budget to executive session.

Colleagues, there's a motion on the floor.

Any objections?

Seeing none, that action shall be taken.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you.

Member McCampbell.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, and good afternoon to you all, and I appreciate my colleague and uh fellow member of the disability task force for bringing that up and for that um motion.

I I had an additional question on um the ODA.

Is there kind are you all have you all been a part of conversation around development projects and such around the design or accessibility components of it?

And if so, has that led to some of those projects changing or the the plans for those changing?

Just trying to make sure, like the conversation beyond the ADA, but just making sure that is um uh accessible as much as possible.

Yes, so Director Samp has started communications with BC um to my knowledge, PED to my knowledge, OPD he's been he's you know reached out to those departments and forming relationships and had a couple meetings, HRD as well.

So we intend to expand upon that work that he's doing, but my understanding is he has had initial meetings with them and conversations on how we can contribute outside of just the ADA compliant part compliance.

Gotcha and okay, and when we have a conversation about the ODA further, I'll have more on that as I could so sure.

Um also as we talk about the uh Detroit Business Opportunity Program.

I know you had some um highlights there that you indicated on the um on the presentation, but just thinking about um have you how are you all tracking the business growth that comes from that program when it comes to uh uh increased revenue hiring or expansion?

Um and have we seen uh uh increase in activities around contracts and such to those businesses that are in that program?

So we are tracking them uh by we have a um a dashboard in office and we have a data team and policy team, and they do track those numbers.

But what I will say is that the increase that I I've seen is that in 2025, we have 116 startups uh applications we receive that uh 213 certified businesses.

We now have over 300 certified Detroit businesses in our vendor pool.

I will also say that 17 percent of the contracts awarded.

Um, our Detroit-based businesses, which is an increase from last year.

Uh additionally, six percent of those are minority owned, and we of course are working diligently to um increase that number.

Absolutely no.

Thank you for that work to increase that.

And those are um definitely glad to hear those numbers and seeing those increases in those areas.

Uh and I bring up that question because we're thinking about across the city, but especially in District 7 and the need to see more businesses and and I think um small businesses and entrepreneurs for sure.

So making sure that that support is there to for the our neighborhoods as well.

Um I know we also we always talk about the need for more grocery stores and um it's not while I know a lot of folks will include myself who want to see like all the and such, but also our smaller grocers that have that fresh food and such.

Um is probably entrepreneur out there that's that would love to have help from the city.

So thank you for that.

I'll have more questions because I know Creole, you all cover a lot and have a lot going on.

So I appreciate all the work, but I'll follow up with more questions and writer.

Thank you.

Thank you, thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you.

Member Waters.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

I um, you know, one of the frustrating things I find about the whole budget process is the fact that I mean I'm looking for results.

I need to see results on behalf of Detroiters.

I need to see us help to make sure that Detroiters are in a position to create generational wealth.

I need to see more minority businesses participate uh in this process because when it's all said and done, it is about economics.

That's what it's all about.

And I've felt that way a very, very long time.

Even when I was in the Michigan House of Representatives, I understood that it's about economics.

And if you can never be in a my job as an elected official is to reach back and to uplift those that I represent.

Not to find a way to hold them down, but ways to lift them up.

I would imagine that part of the slight increase that you see with minority businesses could be as a result of our minority business task forces.

We we do uh we've done uh summits, minority business summits, and we do workshops where we teach people how to become vendors with the city of Detroit.

I tell people all the time if you have a product or service that you can offer, we want you to become a vendor with the city, especially residents who live here.

And so I I just I'm just asking that you all do a little bit more to help us in that area, please.

Um thank you so much for what you're doing with the veterans department.

I'm I'm pleased about that.

We started by yours truly.

Thank you.

Thank you.

If I say so myself.

All right, so let me just ask you a a couple of questions.

Well, you might have kind of answered some of it, you know, minority-owned businesses because you talked about what the six percent or something, what did you say?

Um through the chairs, 17% of contracts awarded are Detroit-based businesses, and six percent of those are minority-owned businesses.

Okay, all right.

You said six percent is right?

Yes, correct.

Okay, all right.

So that brings that total percent awarded to minority owned to six percent or just businesses itself.

I'm talking about awards now.

So six percent of the 17 are minority owned.

Okay, they're owned, but how how often do we uh award contracts to them?

Um, I would be I would like to look into that for you, and can I follow it with you in writing?

Okay, just to get those specifics.

All right.

So the 51% rule.

Let's talk about that for a minute.

How many Detroit residents are currently employed under the 51% rule across the city?

Funded projects and so forth.

So those numbers, uh Creole does not uh does not house those numbers to the chair, sorry.

They would be the office of procurement, but I would be happy to work with the office of procurement to secure those numbers for you.

You don't do anything with the 50% rule.

We uh make sure that it's in compliance, but no, uh outside of that, no.

We make sure they're compliant and we're monitoring it.

Okay, all right.

So tell me this.

What else can I do as a legislator as a public servant to ensure that we do more with our with our Detroit vendors?

I mean, what can what can we do?

We can we can do the summits, we can do the workshops.

What else can we do?

Because I need to increase those numbers.

I want to see us be able to help Detroiters a lot more.

What can we do?

How can we work together?

Through the chair, what I would like to do is uh myself and my DBOP team, I would like us to come actually to maybe one of your events, and we can kind of meet the uh your people in your in your district, your constituents.

Citywide, the whole D.

Okay.

Well, we would like to tour the whole D with you.

Okay.

And meet your constituents, and we do a lot of street reach team and we do a lot of um work in the communities as well and presentations.

And I would absolutely love the chance to partner with you and come out to your constituents and let them know whether it's a church, whether it's school or nonprofit organization, whether it's just one person on the show on the neighborhood street.

They bring the rest of the neighbors over.

I would absolutely love to do that.

All right, I'll take you up on it.

Absolutely.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

Proto.

Thank you.

Mr.

President.

Uh congratulations again on your position.

Good to see you, good to see all you here.

Uh, I just wanted to ask you really quickly about the Office of Cannabis Affairs.

I'm sure we're all familiar with the uh recent uh taxes that have been levied on them.

Uh, not only is it just the 20 over 20% tax, but then when you include all of it, it actually equals up to a 51% tax.

Um I just wanted to know has there been an analysis done of what the impact that's gonna have on the industry and what the impact that will have on our tax revenues and have you reached out at all to DPD to be able to figure out what that impact will be in terms of crime because a lot of people now are gonna go to the black market to be able to buy this product that they could buy legally.

Has that been done at all?

Uh thank you for that question, pro tempere uh young.

I would allow Megan Maslamani to address that.

Thank you with that pro-temperate on there.

I appreciate that.

Thank you.

Thank you through the chair.

Um, we're happy to answer any cannabis questions.

Uh I think it's really important that we make clear that you know we have been opposed to that tax.

Um, I was opposed while I was doing my legal work and my consulting and back in this position now.

Uh our department is doing everything that it can to support those lobbying against it and to support what comes next.

How do we help our licensees?

And that's why it's really important to for us to also hire that project manager to oversee revenue sharing.

We want to learn about what technical assistance, what programming, what do our current licensees need now to remain operational?

We don't want to see the people that we've put all of this effort into and all of this love into opening for the past how many years now closed because of this tax.

So I think an another aspect of that is crime.

And crime is not only probably touched with the marijuana and the cannabis businesses from the tax, but also, you know, as we all know, people on the black market, oversaturation of flour affecting our licensees.

We had a town hall about a week ago and spoke with them directly.

Uh, I think over 36 licensees appeared for that, and we spoke to them and heard about the problems that they're experiencing because of this.

So it's on our radar.

We are working through it, and we've been working with DPD.

They have been very active when we do hear of something happening.

We have been using the improved Detroit app, and that has been an excellent resource.

So I would encourage all of you who hear from your constituents that something illegal is going on with cannabis or at a cannabis facility, they're on it, they are responding very quickly, and that improved Detroit app helps because it can also be anonymous.

So I hope that answers your question.

No, no, no, it it did answer a lot of that, and I really appreciate that.

I just want to know did you have anything in terms of specific in terms of numbers in terms of what I know what I'm asking for, is it known yet?

Because it's just been implemented, it's something you have to be estimated or projected.

But do you have an actual idea of what that would be in terms of the number of businesses not being available or closing down because they just can't afford the cost anymore?

Yeah, through the chair, we totally understand those concerns, and this honorable body did approve a research study to be done by the University of Michigan and their doctors.

And although when it was first presented, it was to determine the effects of the tax, but now we can see the tax has been passed and it's included in the scope of work, and we will be figuring out and speaking directly to licensees and interviewing them about how it's actively affecting their businesses real time.

And that study will help us then take that information and determine what needs to happen next, what kind of programming, what do we need to do for these licensees to prevent any more harm?

Um whatever we can do in our power to do that while continuing to support their business operations and any needs they may have.

We have another town hall coming up in another week.

We'll be attending the Detroit Cannabis Industry Association meeting.

We're in the community and we're hearing real time the problems that they are experiencing, and it's very important to us.

Okay, excellent.

Thank you.

Then I also want to ask you uh finally, uh, what are you doing in terms of implementing artificial intelligence within the department?

I'll pass it to Director Mathis.

So through the chair, our current system um best operations compatible with co-pilot now.

However, we are actively considering how AI can be used responsibly to strengthen apartments' work, particularly in areas such as communications, language access, reporting, compliance tracking, data organization, and internal processes improvement.

Our approach absolutely is to not use AI in the replace of human judgment.

Right.

But to identify where it can help staff work more efficiently and improve service delivery.

So you'd have human in the loop for that.

I mean, that's basically what they call to make sure that you're not using that to replace human judgment at all.

Or really to replace or replace people, period.

This is just the automate.

This is just a performance task, not to automate jobs.

Correct.

Yeah, that that was my intention.

So I you usually I go through the process of what it could do, but you kind of mentioned most of what I is I appreciate you for understanding the assignments.

That makes my job a little easier here.

But I just want to just uh a lot of a lot of folks don't.

But I just wanted to kind of give you a consolidated financial snapshot.

And I'll send you this information.

This is this is not a quiz, y'all.

I'm just saying it's just so you'd understand.

So the total initial cost be 2 million to five to $8 million.

Your annual operating costs be $1 million to 2.5 million.

Your annual savings would be $3 million to 10 million, and your annual economic earnings for residents and businesses would be 10 million to 50 million.

Your grant revenue potential will be 2 million to 8 million annually, and then your net return on investment, that's for three to five years, be a two to five year return, and your performance major approved will be 30 to 60 percent faster.

So I will send you the rest of this information soon, but thank you so much and I appreciate you.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

Yes, and uh thank you, uh Mr.

President.

I'm done.

Thank you.

Uh, I'm gonna just read a question I have right off of the list that we're gonna be sending you.

Um the fiscal year, fiscal uh year 27 budget reflects a roughly 35 to 40 percent reduction of professional and contractual spending.

How will the department ensure that it will continue to meet its obligations under the city's language access uh ordinance, especially in high demand settings like Detroit City Council, um our hearings and other public-facing um services?

Uh thank you for that question, uh, President Tate.

So the one thing that we are identified, uh we've been working very closely in the language access program and department is that we need to revise the current standard operating procedures and see what we need to spend funding for, where more spending needs to be allocated, what are some of the bottlenecks there that may be you know taking excessive funding that could be allocated somewhere else in that division or on the work that we're doing in that department.

Also, we want to create a unified seamless request process and tracking system.

Uh so far, we've added an email address for LAP request.

Uh, we've drafted a grievance form that would be posted on the website in about a week.

Uh, we have started our trainings, our all-citywide trainings and verification lab tools, make sure they're vis visible in each office, and we have trained two backup staff.

Uh so when our primary um coordinator is unavailable that they can stand in for her, and we also intend to ask for a one more staff position um for a coordinator.

We know we understand that we need one more position for that.

Uh so as we are, you know, my 70 days, 80 days in the office, I've observed, reviewed um the current policies and practices, working closely.

I've met with every single staff member in my office to see what some of the concerns are financially and regarding procurement uh in my procurement team.

We've met with them regularly.

Uh so I would continue to um identify the deficiencies in the bottlenecks and department and areas that need to be restructured because there are some areas that need to be restructured as well as um financially, um, and I would be happy to follow up with you with those areas.

Thank you.

And um we're hearing from departments how you know, even though our our budget is is not what it was in the past, we're we're hearing about more services that's being offered uh with with uh fewer dollars.

Are there any services that you all um provide that will be eliminated or reduced?

Uh so some of the services may be through the Office of Disabilities, and then I can send you um what those services may be.

But as it stands, I don't believe that there are any, and I can follow up with you with in writing.

I'll be happy to review our budget um one more time with the budget team, and I can follow up you within right in writing on that.

Okay, thank you.

And then last question I have uh for this this uh budget hearing is we know the the cannabis industry has matured, you know, uh at this point, and with the taxes that uh Pro Tim Young mentioned, it's gonna make it even more challenging for uh our businesses, especially legacy businesses uh to remain open.

Uh, how does CREO plan to sustain the uh cannabis TA, the technical assistance bless you and social equity programs if the licensing activity slows down?

And we know that's happening.

Yeah, through the chair, I totally understand your question, and that's a major concern of ours as well.

Um at this time, I I would prefer to answer in writing and have a moment to review what that would look like and how it would directly impact the homegrown Detroit in cannabis department.

But I can say it is on our radar.

It's a very real scary time right now for those cannabis owners.

And as we lobby against what happened, and the Michigan Cannabis Industry Association moves forward with their lawsuit.

We're hoping that once people see how it's affecting the businesses, how it's affecting those that we we wanted and put forth effort to champion Ford how it's negatively impacting them, that we might see some change.

Observe what's happening in the court, what's happening in Lansing, and what we can do here right now operationally for those licensees.

And that's what we're working on now, as we understand the bigger picture of what's coming.

And I I know that we will have more conversations and be meeting with your office about that and how we can be strategic in combating that.

But at the moment, right now, what we're focusing on is those needs to keep them afloat.

And the technical assistance and operational assistance with accounting with the proper, you know, learning about branding and marketing and how to stand out when you do have a situation where you know your funds are changing very rapidly due to a tax that you can't do anything about.

Yeah, also would like to see more advocacy from the department uh as it relates to helping to secure the locations.

I mean, we we know that you know folks will find ways through you know bulletproof anything, right?

But they're going through walls, they're going through the front um uh entryways.

Uh but there have been uh requests for ballarts and and other uh uh tactical tools.

So we'd like to hear from you all um what those recommendations would be because that's kind of how we look at you as the experts within the city of Detroit in that space, outside of you know those of us who've done our own homework on the on the side, but as a department as the city, you're the licensing space, uh you have the connectivity to the um uh the the owners of the businesses so to understand better what those needs are so that we can as a city either address any zoning issues or changes uh or potentially you know fill in the blank, you name it, but we want to hear more of that.

Um, not so much from us having our air to the ground.

We do that, but looking for uh your department to be a resource there so we can uh talk to various departments or again make some changes ourselves uh as it relates to you know uh areas like zoning.

Absolutely.

When we through the chair, when we did have the town hall a couple weeks ago, uh most of the licensees expressed expressed security concerns and requested that we put together a subcommittee to address those.

Um so we're working through that, learning about what security measures they've tried, what what's worked, what hasn't worked, and the amount of money that they're spending on security is crazy.

So for us to see them still not succeeding with that, it's definitely very important and something that will be focusing our funds, our revenue sharing funds, and moving forward, what that looks like.

So we did talk to them.

We know that that's number one.

Uh the two things that everyone expressed were the excise tax and the security.

So we are on it.

We know that we need dedicated personnel at the B seed level as well as um in other areas.

We talked about that, and we're moving forward on those things.

So thank you for bringing it to our attention.

All right, thank you so much.

And we go now to uh member Santiago Romero.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Through you, good afternoon, good to see you all.

Uh, and yes, congratulations.

Looking forward to this new team.

Thank you.

And uh, you have a lot to do, a lot of responsibility, like many of us.

And grateful for the question um that our president asked around language access.

Uh, glad to hear that you've got a plan in motion.

Um, but looking at your budget last year, we did put in 200,000 for additional staff.

I just want to confirm whether or not that is being used for additional staff, uh, because I want to make sure that you have the help you need.

You mentioned you're looking to hire somebody new.

Uh, do you have the funding to hire that other additional person?

Uh through the chair, we could use additional funding.

We are now currently looking to hire intake specialists, but if we can hire a third person for the LAP um division, that would be more than helpful.

Okay, that's what I figured.

Happy to make that motion to get you guys more resources to help with this program.

Um, it's really needed, and I and I think we can do it right.

Um, so happy to add more money to help you with that.

Thank you.

Um to that end, the 200,000, I believe, is being used instead to hire additional civil rights investigators, correct?

Is this correct?

I want to look into that and follow up with you because I don't want to miss state anything, but I'll look up and look into that and follow up with you.

Through the chair.

Okay, if you wouldn't mind, um, because it looks like maybe that's what the funding was used to do instead, which is okay, because we also need civil rights investigators, um, and really want to confirm what their role will be if you are hiring more.

Um, I know that our office is working with you on updating our human rights ordinance.

Uh, so we need to make sure that we have the staffing we need to address those issues.

Um, but if you wouldn't mind, um we can confirm offline the the the new hires if they have been hired, but if you wouldn't mind sharing with us in the public what your civil rights investigators do.

So our civil rights investigators, the first stop is that they um we have an intake specialist, so they intake the complaint, whether it's uh EEOC, whether it's from an employee, whether it's you know, DDoW, wherever the complaints come from, there's different mechanisms that they can receive them.

And the civil rights investigators, what they do is they decide if uh CREO has the jurisdiction to investigate this case, and upon that, they'll reach out to the complainant and they'll um interview them, the court they're interviewing and determine have all of their facts, have all of their evidence, whether that's pictures, uh something in writing, and then they also will uh interview the other side um that the claimant is accusing of misconduct, we'll interview both of them, and then they'll sit and make sure that they it is under the um ordinance that they're complying with, and we make a decision that if we're gonna move forward with this case, uh and if we do move forward with it, what the penalties should be, if there should be any penalties, um, and we make a recommendation to the uh the party that is the offender if we find that there's an offender.

If not, you know, we do notify them that there's not a claim, the case there, and we will close the case out.

Okay, thank you.

Um, and we are looking to through the chair, we are looking to repeal and replace uh just to really codify your process to make it clear so that folks are able to come forward um if they have a complaint.

Um, so we will ask a question, send them over to you because I I want to make sure that as we revamp the human rights ordinance that you have what you need, um, but that we're also not um uh taking the resources that we have away from the language access program and staffing to address that that need as well.

Um so Mr.

President, I would like to add to the executive session uh 200,000 once again for the language access program.

Calax there's a motion on the floor.

Any objections?

Discussion with discussion, pro tem y'all.

The language access program.

Does this include us being able to have actual people that will um provide this service at city council when we're actually because that's been an issue for me is we've had this problem where people don't speak the language, and then we look to see if there's someone there, and then and and they've been sometimes we've actually had members here do that, which you know I'm not trying to this is put them on the spot, but I thought it's incredibly offensive, you know what I'm saying, and completely out of line.

So does that include people actually being here providing this service?

Through the chair to protest, yes.

So CREO, yes, CRIO does support with that.

Thank you.

Um, and and yes, this is really to make sure that the coordinator, it's not their responsibility to do that translation, to make sure that they have foot people here.

And I'm happy to hear that we're looking to do ESL in person or to have staff.

Yeah, um, it would be great to have our own translators.

We have local talents that is that's trained very well to do this work.

Um, so to your points, pro tem um and to our director stamp, maybe bringing people in house and having our own people doing this work is where we should be going next.

Um, but we need the help to help create those programs and those systems, so this additional money will help us do that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, colleagues.

Again, there's a motion on the floor.

Any objections?

Say none, that action shall be taken.

Thank you.

Thank you, Member Miller.

Thank you.

Uh Mr.

President.

Thank you for joining us today.

I have some questions.

Can you tell me it's majority of the things on the the on the Detroit Business Opportunity Program?

Are those new through the chair?

I noticed there was a cohort uh I'm sorry.

Cohort two.

Does that mean that there was a pilot prior to it, or was there a cohort one?

So through the chair, um, I am relatively new to the office still, and I'm still learning.

But what I would love to do is uh consult with Kara Ivey um within our office that is over the DBOP program, and I can follow up with you in writing.

I just don't want to misspeak or miss.

I understand because this packet right here gives this idea that this program is thriving, that we have a court one, then we have the cohort two, which is that 11 outreach programs and engage 1,300 Detroit businesses.

But what caught my eye the most was that they're connecting the people that join the because could you have the startup champs and they're gonna move over to the startup stars, and I'm like, okay, it sounds like they really got something going here, but when you said we're gonna connect, get them certified, and then facilitate access to the city procurement.

I was like, oh my goodness.

So while we battle every day about procurement, how do you foresee you're gonna get them there and get them through the program?

And every day we're tied down to a number, which is the lowest bid.

Not necessarily if they're uh diversity of by diversity or even residents.

So is your department guaranteeing that these Detroit business since because otherwise I'm gonna ask for matrix outcomes?

That's why I asked, was it new?

Because it sounds like some of the other programs, like the cannabis program, it was far-fetched and it was out of the water, and it really did not do what it said it was gonna do.

Actually, left a lot of people in debt and suing.

Well, we can perpetrate and act like what it's gonna be.

Let's just keep it real and say what it's not gonna be and what it's gonna do.

So then we go over to the startup stars, which increase participation in businesses to the DI.

So we know with small businesses, everybody needs technical support and they need money.

We can give them all the certification we want.

You still gotta buy that building.

You still gotta buy that product.

You still gotta get insurance, and you still have to have a matrix system to count to do all of your accounting.

And most times people get a thousand dollars, five thousand dollars, and believe it or not, that money is is exhausted within probably 30 to 45 days.

So are we selling dreams or are we actually really helping businesses uh fill our corridors with uh diversity and with uh residents that really want to do business in City Detroit?

I'm looking for programs that really are effective, that's gonna bring put money on the table and feed families, and people can have an actual legacy growing their businesses.

I often think about Creskies.

Everybody went to SS Crickets, it was one on Seven Mile and Grass, or it might have been a Woolworths, but then we went downtown and had Creskies, and we had the submarine sounders in the basement, and we went here, but then they turn to be to be a multi-million dollar philanthropic company.

That's everyone's dreams.

But in our city, most times, once they have the dream, they don't have the accounting skills, let alone people join these programs looking for dollars, and they're really not there.

So what do they do?

Collapse.

They start but they close immediately.

They're really there's no longevity for a lot.

Now, there are some a few people that have some skin in the game, which means they have their own money, but majority of the time they do not, and then they're left struggling using their whole entire life savings or their 401k or their generational money from their family trying to stay afloat.

I know why, because I have family members who've done this before, and I can tell you that a lot of this stuff just does not work.

So I look forward to sitting down with you, and maybe we can you can answer my questions one-on-one, because you are new, and um, I just don't wish to talk to anyone else because I don't want to hear the same old same.

I want to hear the real poor pure undulterated truth about if we're really gonna help residents, are we really gonna have them join these programs?

And are we really gonna have some outcomes that is monumental that we can celebrate for our residents in Detroit as we fulfill our corridors with our residents?

I'm about Detroit first, residents first, and that's just um why I asked the questions and you know, about because could you actually read it and when you read it, it's like okay, she's reading it, and I just wanted to see exactly what it consists of.

Thank you very much.

The chair, thank you as well.

Colleagues, any uh final motions that we want to add.

Um member Waters?

Okay, thank you.

Um first of all, let me just say, you know, that six percent numbers really low.

You're talking about a majority black city, that number's too low.

So um, in case you were wondering how the equalization points got into our city charter, I did that when I was on the child revision committee commission.

The reason I did it, because even way back then, I recognize that people in this city, businesses here in this city, needed a leg up, needed something that will help them secure contracts, and we still don't have uh enough of that happening.

So one of the things that that I want to ask you to do is a study that will identify all the minority businesses here uh in this city that could potentially do business with the city if you could do that.

If you could do that, and so I suppose I will um request um there's a motion, Mr.

President.

I will put maybe uh a hundred thousand dollars motion to put a hundred thousand dollars um in executive session for a study to identify minority businesses that could potentially become vendors with the city that will be based on the service of the product that they offer.

All right, colleagues.

There's a motion on the floor.

Any objections with discussion, Member Miller.

Can I join you on that?

Yes, thank you very much.

See no objections, that action shall be taken.

Thank you.

My pleasure.

All right, uh, member Santiago Romero.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Um, would like to also move to um executive session just to keep the conversation alive to address the concern that was shared with us.

I just remembered regarding um the company that we use for translation services.

Uh we can look at this together, but I just want to share with it that this was shared with us, and we should talk about it.

Um that's for executive session, Mr.

Presidents.

Um the language access uh contractor that we use to see if we can um this goes in line with bringing things in house, bringing them more locally.

Um, but if we can move that to executive session to bring bring that contractor or that service that the contract does in house.

All right, for clarity.

Uh colleagues, there's a motion on the floor.

Any objections?

Seeing none, that action shall be taken.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Member Johnson.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um, your predecessor and I had conversations about the minority business certification fee that the city charges.

Um, I had asked a number of times how much money uh the city was actually receiving from those certifications.

I never received a response.

Um, but I would like for you all to evaluate that again.

My understanding is that the city of Detroit is one, the only city that charges a fee for that.

I think that is one of the challenges and one of the reasons that we don't have as many minority-owned businesses that are certified with CRO.

Um, and so I was asking to understand how much we take in and to also point out and recognize that it may be a reason that we don't have more minority-owned businesses that receive contracts, um, because it reduces the likelihood of them receiving equalization credits to be able to receive contracts from the city.

So would just like to ask for you all to review that and then I'll make a determination on how we want to add it into executive session or the closing resolution uh to be able to move forward.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you.

Uh Pro Tim Young.

Uh member Johnson, you said the only one that charges fee is that in the state or in the nation.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Director Mathis, and in closing uh statements.

I do want to close and say that um, as you all are aware that I am I'm very new here, but um I do understand and I acknowledge and I take very serious the role and the critical role that the nine divisions of CREO play um and how they serve and advocate for human rights of all employees and all city residents, and the majority of my work and my background has been in advocating for human rights.

So I intend to continue doing that work here and particularly advocating for areas and individuals who are historically marginalized, who are historically underrepresented, and who are historically underserved.

And I take that work personal, Creole takes that work personal, and I guarantee you that you will see a difference in the work that we're doing and a difference in the offices that we the office that we inherited in the direction we would move forward in, and we're standing in front of you in FY27.

CREO will be a whole new office before FY27.

But I I assure you of that, and we would do that is not optional, it's gonna be a requirement in CREO that we do things in compliance and ethical with transparency and accountability, and that we're looking through a social justice lens and a social equity lens.

So I thank you all for allowing us to come in front of you today before you today, and for your patience and grace and understanding that we have both been here for a short amount of time, but that is not an excuse.

We will use the time to the best of our ability, and we will turn Creole around.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Congratulations on your first budget here.

Thank you.

We shall now open up for public comment.

If there's anyone from the public in the committee of the whole who would like to speak, please raise your hand.

I see a one.

I see you two.

If you're at home, please raise your hand now.

Going once, going twice.

I see three hands.

Going three times.

Come on, y'all.

Collections.

All right, thank you.

The collection of public comments have now concluded.

Uh as I've mentioned, uh, for the duration of our budget hearings, we have abbreviated public comments.

Uming that there will be a public hearing that will take place on March 30th at 5 p.m.

for all those who would like to provide comments to this body about the full budget.

But if we can have our three speakers, please come to the I don't think we need to get their names just now.

No, right up the dean is accustomed to being at this table.

Um, and let's get that clock up, team.

Yep.

Take one of those chairs.

Brother Jones, see you there, too.

And uh you may proceed.

Yes, ma'am.

Good morning.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Hit that mic in front of you to the red turns.

Spend a minute, y'all.

Yes, sir.

Good afternoon, honorable body.

I am Charity Dean.

I am the president and CEO of the Michigan Black Business Alliance, and I am happy uh to be here today to really just express my support.

Um, one for just the the amount of times that I continue to hear small business.

It seems like there's a new day in Detroit, and I'm really excited about it.

But I also want to just especially talk about Creole.

Um, I've spent time with Director Mathis um already, and I'm really excited.

So, all of the questions that I heard about minority businesses, black owned businesses getting access to contracts.

We at the Michigan Black Business Alliance are excited to work with Director Mathis to work with her on these initiatives.

We've already got things planned, um, and we're gonna be doing some great work this year.

So I just came to express my support um with all of the things that I'm seeing for a small business.

I'll be around for some of the budget hearings.

Uh, but specifically, Director Mathis is doing a fan fantastic job, as you know.

I sat in that role, and I'm really excited uh to work with her.

It is gonna be a movie.

I'm excited.

Thanks.

And glad you both are working together already and having those conversations.

All right, next speaker, Mr.

Maurice Weeks, followed by Lauren Glover.

Uh thank you, Mr.

President.

Um just commenting again on the on the decrease in Crio's budget.

Uh it was nice to hear the the presentation.

Um, but of the 435,000 dollar decrease, 400,000 if that is in the Office of Disability Affairs.

It sounds like that was moved to executive session.

I would just really encourage that money to be restored.

That department is absolutely critical to uh the uh equality of uh that we have in the city, and um it is really well used uh as you can see here basically every single day here in KMAC and and otherwise.

Um I would also encourage an even greater investment in the uh language access office, but once again, this is a really diverse city.

There are a lot of ways that people want to communicate, um, and we want to encourage that as much as possible.

Uh so um having as many staff as as can be allocated to both ODA and language access, um, as well as giving them the money to actually operate efficiently uh would be great.

Thank you.

Our final speaker in the committee of the whole, Lauren Glover.

Good.

Good afternoon, Arnold.

I'm Lauren Glover, exactly executive director of Arc Detroit.

Our Detroit is an exact group for people in the intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Thank you for having me.

I'm glad that I see all of you are familiar with Arc Detroit because all of you have been there before.

I like the um give a shout out to Office of Disability Affairs.

What they do is they provide access for people with disabilities.

Give example.

Most of our people use paratransit.

So if you look at the parties we have at the Arc and compare to what number do we have like four years ago to number we have now, because people develop new that they have access and got the applications prepare transit.

That got them out in the community.

Another thing that they do is recreation.

Our special limits team practice at Hillman on the East Side.

And what gives us the advantage because we have a place to practice.

Thank you, Mr.

We have a place to practice.

Yes, sir.

So that's why we try to make sure that's on camera for you.

Well, thank you.

You can submit your your your comments to the clerk's office.

They will be placed on the public record.

You can always email it to us as well.

Thank you again.

Thank you for the work you do as well.

All right.

So we'll now go to our online commenters.

How many callers do we have?

And who do we have first?

Good afternoon, Council President.

There are 14 callers online.

Our first caller is Christine Save.

All right.

Christine Suave.

The floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Good afternoon, Council members.

Can you hear me?

Yes, ma'am.

Great.

Thank you.

I'm Christine Soviet.

I serve as a co-chair for the Detroit Immigration Task Force.

Members of the task force have long advocated for language services and helped establish the city's language access program in 2016.

These services are critical to ensure that residents with limited English proficiency have meaningful access to essential city services, including health emergencies, and public safety.

Unfortunately, we still hear from staff and departments who are unaware of these resources.

So we are very much looking forward to the council ensuring that there are sufficient uh resources to make sure that all city staff have the appropriate training and education so that all Detroiters can equitably access uh city services, uh including interpretation and translation.

Uh thank you so much.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is Detroit Disability Power.

All right, caller, the floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Good afternoon.

This is Casey Pellet, our resident in District 4 and policy manager at Detroit Disability Power.

Here to urge you all to protect the Office of Disability Affairs funding at its current total of 1.4 million.

Excited to hear about the attention on mental health disabilities as someone with several myself.

And I thank Director Mathis for that attention and thank council members Johnson and McCampbell for moving this to executive session and encouraging deeper conversation around universal design incorporation into any city development.

Um the the proposed cut of this uh around 400,000, which is nearly a third of the ODA's budget, is coming at a time when disabled people are already under attack.

The city's own uh 2025 uh housing accessibility report found that accessible housing is critically scarce in the city, especially affordable accessible housing, and the ODA strategic plan has an initiative to address that, but they need to be fully funded in order to um complete it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is to Hira Ahmed.

All right, caller, the floor is yours.

We have one minute general public comment.

Ms.

Ahmed, are you there?

All right, let's put her at the end of the queue and go to the Well, I'm I'm here.

I'm here that on mute popped up the last minute.

Okay, so I want to know uh okay.

This is a uh 80% black uh city.

Who's the minority we're talking about?

Because that sounds like a majority.

I think we need to revisit those terminologies because it has a psychological effect, um, as well as a business effect.

Okay, and these businesses that are in in our city who have who comes to a city and don't know how to speak the language and open up a business.

Who doesn't?

How does that happen?

We like some of these businesses.

The uh most of the businesses uh in Detroit are uh Arab-owned, and um we have had these Arab-owned business members have um uh murdered black people and have disrespected us.

So I want to see the civil rights uh do something about that, uh uh study or something, so that we can uh deal with that.

We're not against thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is caller ending in number one three nine.

Caller ending one three nine.

The floor is yours.

Yeah, one minute general public comment.

Caller, are you there?

All right, we'll put that caller at the end of the queue and go to the next, please.

Our next caller is Cassiana Gibson.

All right, caller, the floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Caller, are you there?

Thank you, honorable council members.

May I be heard?

Yes.

Thank you.

My name is Cassiana Gibson, and I work for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center.

Merck serves residents across the city of Detroit.

I am speaking today about the city's language access program under CREO.

Last year, the city council passed the language access ordinance.

Yeah, we continue to hear that city departments are unfamiliar with the program or how to request a translation.

I urge you to allocate sufficient funding in this budget to ensure the language access program has appropriate resources to provide regular education and training for city departments and to reconvene the Creole Ambassadors Group that helps city staff troubleshoot issues and learn from their peers.

We appreciate your support in ensuring that CRO has sufficient staff and resources to continue providing much needed translation and interpretation for all Detroiters.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is Margaret Maddox and Scarlett.

Marguerite Madddox.

So glad to hear you.

Thank you for being here.

Been waiting for you.

Yes.

Thank you.

I am the language.

Um we all have you think the being code.

We need to figure out a rate.

Um that was left from the last administration.

We need to figure out the way to nice show the end was the A should be.

So please.

Please have met it.

You may not each, but we should try to get a no.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Manot.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is Miko A.

Williams.

Miko Williams, the floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Yes, hello.

Thank you for taking my comment.

My name is Damico Williams.

I am a disability advocate.

Um, I also work with the Art Detroit, and I'm very excited for the disability uh task force to get started soon.

Uh please keep the money and funding within the disability office.

We need this money uh so that we could continue to uh provide for Detroiters that are disabled and that need our support and services.

The city of Detroit is supposed to provide this um ADA with the public health and safety as well as keeping with the Americans with Disabilities Act and making sure that our residents uh citizens matter, all of our citizens and residents matter.

Um, I am urging you to keep the 4,000 and or restore it and increase it.

We need this office to be uh prominent and we need it to perform uh for all of us.

Thank you for taking my comment.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is Mr.

Foster.

Mr.

Foster, the floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Oh, good afternoon.

Just very briefly, um, or change perspective.

BC'd have a badge, which means they are a form of law enforcement, whether we like it or not.

A form of law enforcement that don't have a chief or any civilian oversight.

I recommend that the guys have a commission over BC, the civil commission or some form of authority over BC.

Secondly, I like what I was hearing with Creole.

I think they're going in a good direction.

Um for a contrast from Mr.

Xander there.

Um much more prettier, too.

I will say that.

But um, I think that integrity is necessary.

Um, like what I'm hearing at that direction.

You guys gave a lot of FTEs for CRO to support their corporate endeavors.

I think this year you should equally consider giving some FTs to support their human endeavors.

Humanity, civil rights issue.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is owner Papa.

Caller, the floor is yours.

You have one minute, general public comment.

Good afternoon, and may I be heard through the chair?

Yes.

Thank you, Carolyn Hughes.

Uh, I agree with Ms.

Ahmad.

Um, it's kind of a shame that we live in a city that's majority black and we still use a minority office.

Um Dr.

Dr.

Young said, you know, there are a certain group of people who, you know, you don't need to show them the back door.

They'll take it anyway.

Um please don't reduce the funding for ADA.

Um, we need more funding because you know the data behind uh the disability and the people in the city of Detroit, who are the majority, have disabilities.

And so our funding should go toward on the majority, and we should be focusing on the majority issues.

And no one asks be said about Munos, including you, Miss Romero or Romez.

I need to know what happened with the case.

Where's the blight money?

And where are we in this with BC?

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is Samsung.

Samsung, the floor is yours.

You have one minute.

General public comment.

Good evening.

Can I be heard?

Yes, ma'am.

I've been on live for a long time listening to you.

I went to sleep and everything, and I haven't wake up.

But um, anyway, I'm thinking about, you know, when we go into these stores and they're not African American or English speaking people, they're speaking their language, and then we leave.

Well, they'll call us work speaking the English to themselves, but then they be speaking to in their language sometimes.

So maybe we should learn some of their language also, and they should learn English.

That's what I think is a good idea so we can know what's being said.

Because sometimes people be talking about you, and you don't know what they're saying.

So maybe it would be good for some of us to learn other languages, Bangladesh, Arabic.

Um, and you know, whether language we have here.

I can speak a little Spanish because I took it in school.

But uh I think that'd be a good idea, also.

So thanks for taking.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is William M.

Davis.

Mr.

William M.

Davis.

The floor is yours.

You have one minute.

General public comment.

Uh, good afternoon.

Can I be heard?

Yes, sir.

Okay, I think it should be a greater effort across all departments to make sure more of our Detroit dollars are staying in Detroit, and that more of our Detroit dollars are promoting and expanding Detroiters in business and facilitating them being in business and not having to jump through so many hoops to do business in the city of Detroit.

Also, I find it fascinating.

When I started working for the city in 1978, I know that's before some of y'all was just being born or what have you.

Um, but you know, the city had a whole lot more employees, but we actually had less less uh upper management.

We actually had less people, you know.

It seems like now the city is like top heavy, and we need more workers and less bosses.

So I think we need to equalize that a little bit better, and hopefully y'all have a good day.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is Betty A.

Varner.

Miss Betty A.

Verner, the floor is yours.

You have two minutes.

You have one minute, general public comment.

Hey, I'll take the two.

Uh good afternoon.

This is Betty A.

Varn, the president of the Soda Elsewhere Black Association.

Uh, here again, just asking the council to consider allocating money to uh help black clubs, 501c3s, uh, with that land use hearing fee when they need to go and find the BC to for projects that they want to do to improve that their neighborhood.

Also, please allocate monies for corridors.

We have uh corridors that has not received any attention in the city of Detroit.

There's great work being done on the corridors who have received the uh redevalment, revalidation and all of that, but some of the corridors have not.

And so I'm asking that monies be allocated for the corridors, and I'm focusing on the Finko corridor.

So thank you for this time.

God bless you all.

Thank you, Ms.

Ferner.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is Maha Mammo from Freedom House.

All right, caller.

The floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Caller, are you there?

Hello?

Yes, good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Thank you, honorable council members.

My name is Maha Mamu.

I work for Freedom House Detroit.

We are an organization that has been around for 40 years that has been providing shelter and wraparound services for people seeking humanitarian protection.

I'm speaking today about the city's language access program, one of the functions of CREEO.

Council passed the community outreach ordinance that requires notification to residents of important community meetings.

Yet this notices are not translated and interpretation is usually not provided at the public meetings that are advertised where community input is being sold.

We are leaving many of our immigrant community members out of this important process for community engagement and participation.

I urge you to allocate appropriate funding in this budget to ensure the language access program.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is Vilma S Camellia Duran.

All right, caller, the floor is yours.

We have one minute.

General public comment.

Hi.

Can I be heard?

Yes.

Yes.

Hi, everyone.

Um, thank you for allowing us to um have a public comment.

Um, I know I've met with several of you regarding language access.

Um, I'm part of the Southwest uh state of Southwest Detroit coalition.

Um so just again reminding folks to really look at that contract with language line and I think considering uh um allocating a lot more money when it comes to in-person.

I know AI is popular having um folks do it digitally, but nothing will compare to having a person live in front of you being able to translate um a lot of the services.

Um I can see why it's hard for folks to want to even use it when I've walked into various city buildings.

There's just a flyer that's like tucked away at the end of like the entrance.

Um, so not really sure how we thought that that was gonna be.

Um thank you so much.

Next caller, please.

So, President, we are now going back to caller 169, and this is our last caller.

All right, caller ending in 169.

The floor is yours.

One minute general public comment.

Caller, are you there going?

Hello, can you guys hear me?

Yes, sir.

Okay, great.

I just want to say six z dot, fix z dot, six z dot, fix z dot, fix z dot.

Thank you for my time.

All right, we appreciate you, sir.

Thank you so much.

Uh, and that takes us to the end of our public comments.

I want to remind everyone that we will be right back at it tomorrow at uh 10 a.m.

for our next budget hearing.

Uh Mr.

Corley, Mr.

Whitaker, anything you want to add before we close out?

All right, colleagues, any objections is there a motion to adjourn?

No, see no objections, that action shall be taken.