Understood.

Hey y'all.

Just got a budget hearing.

Ready?

Dr.

Shaver, where did everybody go?

Mr.

Washington, where's your crew at?

Okay, well their time for being in the hall was last week.

And you'd be in the committee all today at the table.

We can go with that one because we need to get going.

Thank you.

All right, come on down.

And good afternoon.

We're now moving into our budget hearing for I'm not sure if we have the PowerPoint locked and loading yet, but the budget hearing for the human homeless and family services department.

Those who participating, please introduce yourself for the record, uh, and you may proceed.

Uh David Bowser, Mayor's Office Chief of Staff.

Okay, with me.

Luke Schaefer, Chief Executive of Health, Human Services, and Poverty Solutions.

Thank you.

Good day.

Donnie Johnson, uh, Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Budget Director.

Okay.

Uh Julie Schneider, Director of the Housing and Revitalization Department.

Okay.

Okay.

So through the chair, today's presentation uh is about the newly proposed human homeless and family services department.

Um this is an extremely exciting development uh from the administration.

Um this is not a recent sort of concept.

This is something that has been in the works uh for quite some time now, and the mayor is um has thrown support and sort of a structure behind uh a vision that has been much needed um in the city for a bit of context.

There was a human services department in the city of Detroit uh at the conclusion of the bankruptcy or throughout the bankruptcy, it was dissolved.

It was also the community action agency uh designated by the state to receive community um service block grant dollars, CSBG, that old entity used to provide furnaces, roofing, just different sort of programs for residents.

Um after the bankruptcy, the community action agency went to Wayne Metro, that designation did, and at that time uh it was sort of seeing that there became uh a gulf between residents and resources.

Um the city of Detroit has a pretty robust network of resources for residents, but a lot of times there's a gulf that is comprised of many different issues.

Transportation, internet access, um, just general awareness of resources.

One of the things that this new department is tasked with doing is bridging that gap between people and resources.

Um we know that every household has multiple different resource needs.

We want to create a one-stop shop to make sure that residents are connected to both internal and external entities, as well as to start to create policies to address the needs that families have proactively and not reactively.

This is not just sort of a standalone entity that you come to for help is also an entity that's going to shape policy to make sure that we are addressing some of the major needs of Detroit households.

And so just as an intro, um, this department, the services provided by it, and the policies are designed uh to meet Detroiters where they are.

Um equity is a huge sort of quality and uh and a guiding point that the mayor has established to where every Detroit resident may need a different level of assistance, and we should be especially cognizant of that.

Um we are looking to create barrier reduction programs, barrier reduction collaborations and policies, and we're looking to reduce or eliminate the factors that lead to poor outcomes for Detroit's most vulnerable residents.

And so typically the budget presentations do sort of um uh review of what happened in the previous fiscal year.

Uh the unique thing about this proposed department is that the uh the entities, the programs that are uh proposed to live under this new umbrella, they lived in several different umbrellas this past fiscal year.

So we want to kind of go through those different umbrellas, sort of make the point that we are making sure that we are centralizing resources now under one umbrella, and then refining those resources to make sure they're deployed directly to residents in a way that reduces um uh the barriers that that residents have been expressing for a very long time now.

And so you wanted to make sure that everyone understood that there are three different sort of departments um uh programming that is going to be consolidated through this one new entity.

The housing revitalization department is probably undergoing the most dramatic shift uh of the sort of consolidation.

Uh home repair, neighborhood opportunity fund, Detroit Housing Services and the Housing Resource Helpline and Homelessness Solutions uh would be condensed from HRD into this new umbrella.

From the Detroit Health Department, the Detroit ID and sister friends would be reduced, uh condensed into this department, and the Office of Immigrant Affairs and Economic Inclusion will live uh directly uh beside or or under this umbrella that Luke Schaefer uh Dr.

Luke will be overseeing.

And so these are some of the functions that the implementation of HHFS will sort of consolidate and make more available to residents.

So what I would like to do is go through sort of a fiscal year 25-26 review of what these capacities have been able to um achieve before we move into what will happen uh what is proposed to happen in fiscal year 27 to broaden access to improve programs and to create some very concrete strategies uh to lead change in the city of Detroit through this new entity.

So handing it off to uh Director Schneider.

Good afternoon.

Um to this honorable body.

So uh I'll be going through some of the performance measurements from the the current fiscal year.

Um before I begin with that, I did want to just take a moment to acknowledge the work of the staff, particularly in the home repair neighborhood services, as well as the Detroit Housing Services and Homeless Solutions umbrella of work for all of that they've accomplished and their dedication in the last year.

So in home repair, we have nearly completed or we expect to nearly complete nearly 1,500 homes uh within this fiscal year.

So that's through a broad range of programs from grant programs such as senior emergency repairs, lead hazard reduction work, um, where we've received several grants from the federal government, competitive grants both in uh 24 and 25.

Um wrapping up the current version of the the zero percent just home repair program and launched uh the new critical home repair program, which replaced the senior emergency program.

Um that work is is ongoing.

We completed the the first round of full applications, and um things are are moving quite quite quickly, especially with the the pilot program that we launched late last year.

Uh for new Detroit, we're expecting to complete 360 repairs to homes this this fiscal year.

The accessibility program that's funded through the American Rescue Plan Act is uh we expect to reach 132.

Uh Stellantis, which is run through the bridging neighborhoods uh program, completing 90 and 500 homes uh have repairs made to their lateral main lateral water lines to improve uh and reduce the likelihood of of flooding uh for them in pre in future years.

Next slide, please.

The neighborhood and community development group worked to implement a couple of programs that have really far-reaching impact throughout the city of Detroit.

The neighborhood beautification grants.

Next slide, please.

Key component to the work that we'll be talking about today is Detroit Housing Services and Homelessness Solutions.

Since the beginning of the helpline, the helpline has helped to connect 80,500 collars to over 30 resources, improving how and delivering housing stability services through through CAM, Detroit at Work, the Detroit Tax Release Fund, and Detroit Down and Down Payment Assistance also connecting with the Detroit Housing Network.

A key a key aspect when we're talking about helping people become homeowners or making improvements in their own home as well.

They also connected over 2,000 residents, nearly 2200 residents to permanent housing during the their work through Detroit Housing Services.

Next slide.

Homelessness solutions, we we know is a major priority of this administration.

We want to make sure continue to make sure that we're we're making improvements so that people's experience with homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurring.

In this fiscal year, we're expecting to serve about 3,400 residents in emergency shelter, providing rapid rehousing resources where we it's a program that actually helps to end people's homelessness.

And you see that our drop-in center is is extremely well and highly utilized.

Next slide, please.

I know Chief of Staff Bowser has talked about making a continuum between homelessness in homeownership, and so it's incredibly important that we continue to provide the important resource of down payment assistance.

You see there a map of where we're provide where people are utilizing the down payment assistance resource.

And what it one of the things it's really helping to do is provide affordable housing options or housing affordability, kind of in the um where we see a lot of affordable housing is kind of in the inverse of that.

This map, we see that housing affordability in many of our neighborhoods is really being enabled through the this important resource in the down payment assistance program.

Phase three just launched.

We have two million dollars in C D BG and two million dollars in C D BGDR funds in this current round, expecting to serve a little over uh between four and five hundred residents.

Uh we already have about 39 applications that are currently in the submission in the submittal process and review process.

That program launched on March 11th, and those those households that have already submitted, that means they have an offer accepted on a house, and so we're working to help them uh close that close on their home and become homeowners.

Um next slide, please.

So this next slide gives you a sense of just what the the proposed budget in these in the housing stability services area will be through a variety of of funding sources that I know we'll go through in greater detail throughout this presentation.

And then you see additional resources available through one-time grant resources and those remaining balances.

Um ARP, which is uh uh funding source that was also made available through the American Rescue Plan.

But it was a different very specific funding source, it was not the state and local rec rescue funding, it was a um uh uh funding source that came through HUD as well as you see remaining balances that we're working through on down payment assistance.

I'll turn it back over to David.

Working uh through the chair, working through the uh remainder of the current state slides, I want to make sure that uh Dr.

Schaefer has time to speak on the programs that are migrating from the health department uh and propose to come to the HHFS uh department.

Uh just briefly, the Detroit ID program will migrate from uh the health department over to uh HHFS.

Uh there are three staff members uh through since its relaunch in 2024, uh we've delivered 6,000 uh three uh hundred cards.

Uh it's possible to get the cards at two locations at MAC Avenue and the Patent Recreation Center.

Uh in the future, uh in the future state, we're gonna be looking to expand uh pop-up ability to uh uh receive cards uh across the city, and also looking to increase the benefits of of card holding to a broader range of Detroiters, uh including through uh discounts at various businesses when presenting uh uh Detroit ID.

Uh moving on to the next slide.

Uh one other program that will be moving over is Sister Friends Detroit.

Uh this uh serves uh over 400 participants who are enrolled, uh uh 110 mentors uh with mentoring matches between um ums and mentors, uh 259 of them has delivered uh close to 600 depression screenings, uh 2,000 referrals to basic needs and supportive services, uh, and has a strong track record of success in uh promoting uh the healthy delivery of babies uh and breastfeeding initiation.

Uh this program is gonna migrate over to HHFS, but in the design of this new vertical, we'll say um very integrated with other infant and maternal health programs uh residing at the health department, as well as uh making as many linkages as possible to uh our ex kids.

Um returning it to Chief Bowser.

The chair through the Office of uh Immigrant Affairs and Economic Inclusion is included in the slide because uh it is, I believe, included in the budget, but it is going to again live as a separate entity outside of HHFS.

What they've uh been able to do thus far, and this will be sort of reframed under the new director and uh in collaboration with stakeholders and partners, but thus far career placement has been an objective credential recognition, interdepartmental emergency response, and national policy exchange have been sort of accomplishments of the Office of Immigrant Affairs and Economic Inclusion as currently constructed.

What we're looking to do is again re sort of realize what OIA could be, uh how it could expand uh to address not only sort of emergency issues, but quality of life issues on an everyday basis and inclusion in terms of our HR practices, our policies, our procedures throughout the city, our recruitment strategies to make sure that we have a workforce that represents the individuals that we're serving, many different ways and areas to plug in OIA in the future, and looking forward to uh making sure that that happens with the new director and with collaboration uh with our stakeholders.

Uh next slide, moving into fiscal year 27.

And so this look forward uh is really where we would like to sort of lay out what um HHFS could uh look like and is planned to sort of launch into.

Um the department itself is plan to have uh four major sort of divisions, one being housing stability, two being family services, three being a home repair neighborhood services division, four being home ownership attendant services.

What we're looking to do is create very clear areas so that residents know exactly what resources live where.

There will be a robust uh or we're planning to have a robust sort of marketing campaign so that residents understand exactly what HHFS does and how it connects to both local and external resources.

Um again, also mentioning the restructure of OIA moving forward into the future.

Next slide.

Uh HHFS is looking to bring together human services, household barrier reduction, home ownership, and homelessness response functions.

It'll contain programming that spans everywhere from homelessness all the way to home ownership and everywhere in between, which is what residents have really been asking for for some years now.

Again, it's previously housed across multiple departments.

Now we're creating one continuum of services, creating a uh uh one stop shop for wraparound, and also establishing a singular focus on homelessness.

Prior to this, as we all know, homelessness has lived in the housing and revitalization department, um, sort of split attention between the development activities of the city and the individuals who have the most needs citywide.

And so now we will have one sort of unified strategy and the resources to help individuals all in one place with this singular focus on homelessness.

The budget also represents a 10% increase in general funds for homeless services, which means that we can really start to reframe what our homelessness approach is going to be using the data that we have now and in partnership with our um with our networks here.

Uh the mission again can't overstate this is to simplify services, and the vision is to really end up with not just programs but policies that make lasting change and reduce barriers for residents all across the city.

How we're doing this through the budget.

Next slide.

How we're doing this through the budget is through uh $39 million allocation, uh 18 uh 19 or so million being block grant, emergency solutions, uh ESG dollars being 2.7, um grant funding 230,000, and then general funds at 17 million.

More itemized here.

Um you can sort of see that home repair, homeless services, housing and neighborhood services, and then operations are there along with sister friends.

Again, this is just uh a bringing together of existing pots under one roof.

These aren't net new uh strategies or entities or funding sources, these are all just consolidating funding sources under one new roof and with the strategy to moving forward begin to go after additional grant dollars as we understand what the most prevalent needs of residents are.

Budget highlights.

Next slide, budget highlights are 3.8 uh million for conventional home repair, 9.2 again, representing an increase per the mayor for homeless services, two million dollars down payment assistance, about five million for neighborhood and housing services, and then additional escrow and returning citizen liaison uh functions being planned.

Um here is a rough org chart of what HHFS will look like uh sort of in the future in terms of leadership.

We are still sort of understanding who will be leading these divisions.

Um there are folks who are already leading, for example, home repair, Rico Razo is leading that, has been extremely effective in doing that.

And so to us uh and and you know, in terms of the administration, that is just a one-to-one move as well.

Um, and as we begin to have conversations with stakeholders and you all, we will understand exactly who will be leading up these entities.

Housing stability, for example, has a director under Detroit Housing Services.

So these individual programs have directors.

Who is going to lead the strategy between each vertical?

We are uh going to be having those conversations moving forward.

I'm gonna quickly go through because I know uh as of yesterday were quite a few questions about um this new department, so I want to leave time to make sure that you all can ask those questions.

But what does each division do?

I want to make sure that you all know that this is not just about deploying programs as sort of a temporary fixed and band-aid to what residents are experiencing right now.

This is about using data from those programs to make sure that policies are narrowing the entry point uh into programs, basically.

We want to solve the issues that are current that folks are experiencing that have them migrate towards the programs that we um that we set up.

So, for example, upstream displacement intervention.

How can we make sure that folks don't get displaced in the first place?

This is why we have so many individuals migrating towards the homeless shelter system.

This is why we have Code Blue initiatives where a building is shut down because the uh landlord is not maintaining that building.

So working between BC, working between the health department, working with all of our homeless shelter providers, working with our returning citizens organizations, working with um our eviction sort of pipeline.

Let's make sure that folks don't get displaced in the first place, and to do that, we have to have policies that address the issues that of the folks that we've been um sort of case managing for years now.

Uh case management streamlining.

So once individuals do enter our pipeline, how do we make sure that we can get them stabilized as quickly as possible?

There are policy changes that need to happen uh to do that.

Our homeless services improvement, we have to start coordinating more broadly with our providers to make sure that services improve in the shelter system itself so that when you enter the shelter, you're immediately connected to a case manager program to get you placed into permanent housing from there.

And then land bank service improvement.

So we will be understanding.

We've had a pipeline for years now where we're going door to door to land bank homes that are occupied to understand what the needs are there.

We need to have a robust strategy to make sure that before you buy the home in the first place, we know that you can actually afford to fix the home.

So these are conversations that we have to have between organizations, but this department will lead that.

This is where a lot of the conversations that we have over the course of years will turn into policies to make sure we don't end up repeating the same conversations.

Family services has more to do with sort of household needs, so a needs of returning citizens, Detroit ID program, sister friends, these are sort of the more social determinant programs.

How do you broaden access to resources through programs, uh creating opportunity empowerment hubs, for example?

How do we locate resources directly in neighborhoods so you don't have to come downtown to get a service?

Customer uh service ecosystem build.

So the reason why we do so much case management right now is because we need people to walk individuals through very dis discrete and disparate systems.

If we can get these systems to start talking to each other, we can just move towards a navigation process.

We don't have to walk you to the door of the organization because these organizations are now talking to each other.

When you enter, they'll do a holistic needs assessment.

This is a longer term policy conversation that the city as a convener can lead, but we have to have the in the uh the input of our partners who our community action agency, for example, Wayne Metro, our United Way partners, they have all these resources and service ecosystems.

Right now, they're not currently connected.

So when we connect an individual in, they have to go door to door or organization to organization.

The longer term objective of HHFS is to create this network, this ecosystem, so that you don't need someone to guide you all the way through the process because entities are now talking to each other.

That is a huge objective of HHFS.

It also leads into our universal intake and also 311.

So there is an objective here to create a one-stop shop for all city of Detroit phone numbers as well.

And so this is a strategy that alongside the COO will be led through HHFS.

Um, you should not have to text a or reach out to a department directly to get a need met for a resident.

I mean, I've we've all done this work for years now.

Uh, what if everyone knew exactly where to go for those resources because there's one way to enter into an entire system for the city?

This is what the this is the reality that we would like to implement.

Uh, and the mayor has instructed us to really be focusing on through HHFS.

And the good thing is now that we have a department to do that, attention won't be split between other places, and we can actually get these things done over the next uh year or so.

Home repair will also continue, and we also are implementing a home repair task force because we know there's never going to be enough dollars to address the significant home repair needs in the city.

What that means is we have to be coordinating between the entities that receive home repair dollars to make those dollars stretch.

What if there's a network of home repair partners where if you apply to one, you could apply to multiple and have multiple organizations working at your house doing the things that they're funded to do, whether it's EEA, whether it's a porch, whether it's a roof.

Let's make sure that we can simplify that for residents because now you would have to create four or or complete four or five different applications to make that happen.

The home repair task force is here led by um Heather Zigmentovich to bring these partners together to get funding uh grouped together and bucketed to make this application process and the resource attainment process easier for our Detroit residents.

Uh moving forward into fiscal year 27, there will be and there are home repair programs available.

Um, you see uh the critical home repair is an annual allocation that we can count on.

Uh there's a lead hazard program that ends uh around the end of this year.

Uh there's other programs here, zero percent uh home repairs here as well, um, and seawall repair, accessibility repair, uh C D B G DR repairs as well.

So the city is going to be operating programs, but again, the objective of HHFS is to begin to coordinate with other entities that are also operating and make sure that we can kind of have a one-entry point for residents to make that process much easier to navigate.

Budget notes, uh the NOF work and the neighborhood improvement fund and GDYT.

That funding totals about 7.3 million dollars.

Um, these are again, these is mentioned here because uh these dollars are going to sit within HHFS to be managed, uh, but we don't operate GYT directly.

Uh it's more of a pass-through there.

That includes Detroit Housing Network and microenterprise programs.

What I would like to do is hand it off to Luke to conclude here, because again, what we've been instructed to do is not only operate these daily programs because we know Detroit is right now are in a state of immense need, but we need to be looking upstream and downstream, making policies to ensure that we are reducing the need overall as we move forward.

And so there are some very concrete policy objectives that we have.

This list is not exhaustive, but this is just to preview exactly what HHFS uh we've been uh mandated by the mayor uh to focus on uh as HHFS is established and as we establish our focus points.

Uh what inspires me so much about the mayor's vision and and a large part of why I signed up is that uh the work of of poverty reduction is not just gonna happen uh within this department, but we're gonna work across city government to find and sharpen strategies to cut poverty, improve health, and empower Detroiters to thrive.

Uh so that's gonna be partnerships with you uh already.

Uh we've uh identified possible partnerships uh as you know, ranging from procurement to HR within city government, uh using all of the tools that are disposal uh to move these metrics.

We're also gonna need to partner with uh state government and the federal government, where many resources are, philanthropic uh philanthropy and community organizations.

So we have a set of tools at our disposal, but anytime we can bring more resources into the city of Detroit, that's gonna be a top priority for me.

Uh we're gonna uh focus on jobs, education, and health.

Uh, these are gonna be where our metrics uh are gonna be the things we're going to look to move, and they're gonna be tangible, concrete actions that we can take to achieve these goals.

And there's gonna be one question that I will always ask.

Uh whenever we're looking at a new strategy, is uh how will lower income Detroiters be made better off?

And we're gonna answer that question with anything we do.

I think you can answer it with RX Kids, the program we've already rolled out with 1,200 families and 1.6 million dollars in cash prescriptions through the administration's work on living wage for city employees, uh, and through work that we've done with the state government to increase uh tax filing and bring more refundable tax credits into the city.

Uh when we look at the goals, the metrics that we really want to move.

Uh I would like very, very much more than anything to be a part uh uh with you uh and uh mayor Sheffield's leadership to reduce childhood poverty over the next four years to its 20-year low.

We're gonna have some economic headwinds that are gonna be sort of pushing against us, but I think it's something that we can do, we can achieve together uh with strategies, concrete strategies around jobs, education, and health.

Uh chronic absenteeism in terms of education is one of those metrics that I think uh if we move that we will see uh better outcomes across the board.

Uh this is not something that will only be driven uh by HHFS, obviously.

Uh we have uh incredible uh experts, including Dr.

Hampton that are gonna bring many strategies to the table.

But I think speaks to the notion that uh this administration is gonna look to collaborate on our goals as much as possible.

And when we think about things like chronic absenteeism, housing instability is a primary driver in it.

So it's gonna be something that we are gonna prioritize to.

Uh wage growth absolutely has to be a piece of the uh puzzle, uh both increasing upskilling.

I heard a lot uh from council earlier about um uh apprenticeship and skilled trades, uh different pathways to economic mobility and uh and creating uh higher uh um living wage jobs both at the city of Detroit and across the city.

Uh and then continuing to reduce our unsheltered homeless in the last year.

The city has made great strides in that.

I expect when we get the numbers from 2026 uh we will see that um continue.

Uh we'd like to continue to uh make progress there and to reduce our length of homelessness stay uh by increasing more outflow options so we have more permanent um housing opportunities uh for people who fall into homelessness.

Thank you.

Um and so, in short, the mayor and all of us are extremely excited about what progress HHFS could facilitate in the city of Detroit.

This is where your quality of life initiatives, the the programs that are actually in the living rooms of the residents that we're interacting with.

This is where they'll live.

Um, your door-to-door outreach, um, your services that directly impact people's access to resources.

This is where the strategies are going to be created and refined.

Really looking forward to rethinking how we deploy our homelessness resources, rethinking Office of Immigrant Affairs operations and moving forward on childhood poverty reduction, not just as a buzzword, but as a set of actions and with metrics attached that we can make sure that all Detroiters can see and feel.

And so definitely looking forward to your questions and thank you for the opportunity.

Thank you so much.

Information we've been waiting for as well.

Waiting for this presentation.

We'll start with Member Santiago Romero.

Thank you, Mr.

President, through you.

Good afternoon.

Grateful to hear the thought process around the developments of HHSF, HHFS, and want to share that earlier this month.

I went on a ride along with CHS, one of our partners that does homelessness outreach.

And it was really wonderful.

Got to see what they do.

They know where our residents that are housing insecure are.

So noting that there's still going to be such a huge gap for resources to be able to provide those basic services, transitional housing, which we're working on.

Really, one question that I have with this is it also seems as if they are still working in silos because they know who their constituents are, who who they're working with, their clients, but there are other people in the network that are doing work.

I'm wondering, and I actually think as the government as a city of Detroit, our unique position here is to create more of these platforms to bring everyone together.

So I'm wondering is this part of the plan, and can this be a part of the plan because there seem like that that's an opportunity then?

Can we create the software, the platform where all of our partners are putting all their information or information that we think is is is safe to share, um, so that while they're out there, they can help identify, help collect more information, help provide more supports.

Um, but there still seems to be a lot of silos, and I'm wondering what the plan is to use our unique position to bring everyone together.

Yep.

Um through the chair to Councilmember Santiago Romero.

Um I agree.

So we do have silos.

We do work very closely with community home supports.

We actually fund them to do the work that they're doing.

We've seen uh models, for example, in Philadelphia where all the outreach providers are actually you can actually see them moving across the city on a board.

Exactly.

Right.

So uh there are some best practices that we can implement.

Um there's some tracking tools that we can um sort of use to make sure that everyone is on the same page, for example.

I will say that the process has gotten uh a bit better over the past few years.

There has been money pushed towards outreach, for example, um, and our unsheltered homelessness has actually gone down by quite a bit as a result.

However, even now we are thinking about you know, internal internally figuring out what our data is telling us and then bringing that data to the entire system so that we can begin to all row in the same direction.

Every entity is kind of having its own approach and kind of addressing different problems, but I'm believing that what we can all sort of gather around is the fact that we need outflow from the shelter system.

We can't have the same folks persisting in the beds that we have because beds are limited, and we can never have enough beds if we don't get folks out to permit housing options.

So there is a concept around getting everyone uh together around the same sort of theme, and there's a back-end need to create more permanent housing options, uh, PSH, temporary supportive housing in the meantime, um, our relationship with the Detroit Housing Commission to make sure folks have access to Section 8 and other sort of um public housing, all these things play into an ecosystem that we all have to sort of agree on.

Uh, but the point is to use this launch as a convener of all these resources to say, hey, we have a new day here.

Let's get on the same page about what we are all looking to see, because this is what residents have always been asking for.

They've been saying that it's hard to get access to the shelter system.

So we tried to refine that through one phone number.

But now the services in the shelter systems aren't that great.

So we're talking about a shelter report card to make sure that we all know per shelter what sort of technical assistance they need to increase their services.

Now we have to look at the case management process in these systems to make sure that when you're there, you're not just there, you're getting connected to resources.

The city has to bring resources to the shelters.

So there's many different layers to this homelessness issue, but the the crucial part is collaboration.

And that's exactly how this department will be sort of founded because we're launching it with uh a network-wide conversation around how we should move this uh strategy to a different level than it's been over the past few years.

Um but uh I'll hand it off to Julie to talk about our relationship with CHS and our our our current outreach strategies um in general.

Uh so CHS has been an important provider for us that is, and I I think what you were uh talking about Santiago Councilmember Santiago Romero is what what CHS does is help us to provide housing navigation services for people who are are unhoused.

And so it's incredibly important that they have those relationships with with people and they're regularly meeting with them, they know where they're um where they're at.

Um so that over time uh as relationships develop, we're able to to break down some of those barriers and help get people housed.

Um we are also currently providing regular 24-7 outreach, and we do that through teams that have hours that they work during the day.

Uh they have different uh locations that they they frequent.

Um and then we have evening providers and nighttime providers as well that are doing kind of regular uh regular routes, uh regular uh uh interactions with people, making sure that information is recorded, providing resources on the street.

Um that is uh we also have people doing street medicine and street outreach for um substance use pre disorder prevention and and harm and harm uh harm harm reduction.

Um that's all a part of the the network of services that we're providing.

In addition to all of that, uh for people that might be experiencing an emergency situation, they are able to call the the helpline which is available after hours as well.

That's in addition to the regular work that is happening both throughout the day, throughout the evening and night.

And it's important we found it important to have this network of services as people have um people have employment, they have things that they're they're going to, and so we need to make sure that we're reaching people where they are um throughout throughout the day, not just um in the kind of prime time hours of of each day, but we have that in the evening and night as well.

Through the chair, thank you.

And and and yes, I'm I'm aware I also used to work for alternatives for girls, and we were out there midnight.

Uh so we did the the the night shift.

Um, and uh being with CHS reminded me that there are many people doing this work, and I guess I'm just asking really the convener piece, I think is is it um the we have that unique responsibility or I think role to know who was doing what to support them to make sure that we're not siloed and that we're able to support each other and work together.

Um I I wonder would you say then um that we I mean we we work with AFG already, right?

So do we think that there is I think that there's opportunity here to to build deeper relationships to break down even more silos.

Um and as you mentioned, a map where people are like we don't see that.

Is that where we're going to be going then?

And if that's the case, can this be maybe a report that we get at the end of the year, or can we see then the network of care and the partners and who's doing what?

And not only that, but I think that's we can't do everything, right?

And AFG is very specifically focused on um women who who work, you know, women who work at night who um my residents call them uh uh what do we call them ladies of the night.

Um we we call them because we see them, they are our neighbors, right?

We we know who they are.

Um I think it's just there's an opportunity here for us to be supported in our lanes and know what those lanes are um so that we're not duplicating efforts and such.

So I'll I'll leave that there and going to my next set of questions.

Um and I asked this yesterday um wondering how we're preparing for emergency responses last year.

HRD helped us respond to the Southwest flood.

We were not ready.

We were building that ship as we went, um, and I'm really grateful for that.

But just wondering what has been the process of learning from that experience and where we are now.

I know our office is already working with Member Johnson.

Thank you, Aaron Stanley, for for doing such a great job with our task force regarding um climate resiliency and and and when emergencies happen.

Um so we're trying to plan how to prepare with residents when that happens because we know it's important, but just wondering where that fits in either under HRD or under HHS, HHFS.

Through the chair to Councilmember Santiago Romero.

Uh what I will say is where it's it's been living is HRD, because HRD sort of housed the sort of people centered staff members in the in the city, the folks who are actually addressing uh resident needs on like a person to person basis.

Um it has what I will say it has not been very sustainable uh because those same case managers are charged with uh case managing like a hundred different families.

And so what happens when a when an emergency occurs, then they have to drop their caseload to become available 24-7 to address these needs.

At the same time, there has been an emergency management entity in the city for this entire time that they have training to set up ICS and they know how to sort of manage these incidents.

So the conversations that uh we've been having within the administration is how do we put more of the onus on setting up these emergency responses through our emergency management folks in the city and using HRD or moving forward HHFS to provide more um uh support services and not running the entire operation because there is a way to actually set these operations up.

There are manuals around these things, um and we just have to plug in the different entities.

But HHFS should not be sort of running the emergency operations because we are not the subject matter experts.

We've been the folks that have been available the entire time.

But we've had conversations about shifting that responsibility and then leaning on partners to do their part, but having one entity sort of control uh the operation itself.

Um and so moving forward, I mean again you can't predict when these things happen, but you can have roles and responsibility for every entity that's going to be involved.

And so it's it's a multi-departmental conversation moving forward.

Well, as before, it was maybe one or two, HRD and parks and recs trying to figure it out.

Uh but we're bringing in more partners to have a better approach.

OIA also has to be involved too with the water main break.

I wasn't necessarily here for that, but um there were opportunities to have more language access to have more sort of resident-centered or population-specific approaches to what we were doing, um, to setting up a case management system that sort of had the intake process leading to other processes so there wasn't sort of a disparity between how things were going.

We have a bunch of lessons learned, uh, but that's also the policy part of this department is to understand how to create a manual, get training, and then be prepared for the next incident so we're not making the same mistakes.

Okay, thank you for that.

I I guess as a follow-up to that, uh, is there gonna be any connection to the resiliency hub, or can there be, or what I guess um this is gonna be through the Office of Sustainability, right?

And I guess just a note.

If we're gonna have resiliency hubs, um, you know, these emergencies, it was through um well, it was a pipe that bursted.

Unfortunately, it was just in the coldest in the coldest day of the winter, so it becomes um I don't know, I I I I also blame climate change in this.

So, you know, it's so it goes under sustainability, um, it goes under an environmental disaster for some.

So just keeping that in mind as we're moving forward, um, if we can maybe utilize the resiliency hub, or does that even make sense?

Let's talk about that.

Mr.

President, um, I would just just for clarity, um, have a question regarding um through through you, Mr.

President.

Uh Dr.

Schaefer, you are the chief of health and human services and poverty solutions, correct?

Okay.

Then I know that there was an uh announcement made of our director for the Department of Human U and Homeless Family Services.

Um, is it still gonna be Ms.

Miller or where would Ms.

Miller be?

Is she here?

She's not here.

As of today, Ms.

Miller is still the director of the department.

Uh we're still sort of figuring out how the department is going to be set up.

Um and so uh once we have that complete plan and also talking to partners about exactly what's needed in that space, we will have the full sort of layout.

That's why there weren't many names on the org chart itself.

We're still sort of building it out and understanding who is going to be running what part or what strategy.

And so we will have a more holistic sort of build out as we progress through the EOP process.

We also want to make sure that we are answering your questions and making tweaks as needed based on things that you all are identifying that we may not have thought about before.

Um so all this to me is in draft form, uh, including the folks who are sort of heading up different areas of the of the department.

Through the chair, understood.

Okay.

I I really appreciate this administration putting families first and neighborhoods first.

But I will just tell you right now some of the biggest needs for our immigrants and what they've been asking us.

And I know something that the city has issues around is creating a legal funds for families right now that are being impacted by uh by deportations.

And quite frankly, almost every single day I get a text of someone that's being deported.

It's usually um the breadwinner of the family.

So we're being left with families who cannot meet their basic needs.

They don't have food, they can't pay their bills.

Um, and while I understand the city has a hard time just giving people money when they need it, um I'm wondering if we can do some coordination to find the resources that our families need right now.

Um we have a family services division.

Um that is um I I want to make sure that we are also thinking about immigrant families in this because again um they are being targeted every single day.

And as we think about um chronic absence uh absenteeism in children uh since this federal administration, um the chronic absenteeism in immigrant children has just grown so much.

And immigrants here are just really feeling like we need to do more.

So I asked that as we think about families.

We think about the black and brown immigrant families that we now really feel as if they're not being prioritized and figure out how we do that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Thank you.

Chief Bowser.

Yep, through the chair to Councilmember Santiago Romero.

Uh we are absolutely on the same page about the need to prioritize um our our immigrant population.

Uh, this is why we are moving in a different direction in terms of leadership of that department because we have to have sort of a closer look on exactly what we can do and what we should be doing according to the barriers that we all know exist there.

Partnership is absolutely our objective.

Uh, we will not be creating any program without the input of all the residents that are going to be impacted by that programming.

Every the the OIA office will be sort of dotted line to each initiative, each department in the city.

So you're gonna start seeing that input again in our hiring practices, for example, and our economic development planning and our HHFS service delivery practices and the way that we respond to emergencies.

This individual lives in the same or that office lives in the same space as our poverty alleviation strategy, which is a citywide strategy, and so there will be input across the city.

What I am looking forward to uh seeing is the new director's sort of vision as it aligns with what we've all sort of been talking about over the past few years around making sure that there's equity in this space.

Um, and so you know, I'm really looking forward to having uh sort of some new outcomes um and some new supports in place.

We're absolutely open to helping to find those supports as well.

So you definitely have a partner in the administration.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

It's afternoon now.

Good afternoon.

All right.

Um for the purposes of the of the community, I want them to understand that these are functions that were previously in the um HRD, but now shifting to the new department.

Is that correct?

Uh that is correct.

Okay, all right.

So I just want to focus uh on two areas uh right quick.

Uh first one is outcomes and accountability.

Uh what key performance indicators uh will be used to measure success, that's number one.

How will our outcomes like reduce homelessness or improve family stability be tracked?

And I know you know because your numbers get what reporting mechanism will ensure transparency to stakeholders or council, and what happens if programs do not meet expected outcome.

That's that's the first question.

Through the chair uh to council member uh waters, uh, thank you so much for the question.

Uh this is uh uh a great priority for me, trying to uh figure out uh what data we have and how can we track it.

We will be developing a dashboard around our top priorities of of poverty health uh and human services uh that uh we will be uh using to try to chart regular process.

There's some things that uh come out uh on a fairly regular basis like uh unemployment rates and labor force participation.

There's some things that we can only track annually uh and like uh like poverty.

But uh as you saw in the presentation, we've tried to set some North Star goals for what we want to see in those things, and then uh we'll be uh looking at uh the um quickest cadence as possible uh in terms of being outcomes oriented.

So we really want to be, as I said, looking at that question of whether or not uh the uh lower income Detroiters are benefiting from what I'm doing with the outcomes.

Uh so the reduction in street homelessness, uh, that's an example.

It's a place where the city has made great progress.

I think uh in the last two years we saw uh a notable decrease in uh street homelessness, uh, whereas other cities saw increases, we'd like to increase that, uh reducing the uh number of days in shelter beds so that we're finding more uh outflow opportunities, uh more permanent outflow opportunities.

Uh those are things that we can track uh in HMIS data.

Uh so uh hand is our is uh the coordinates our continuum of care, uh which will be a partner with us on this um convening power for our um nonprofit uh uh service providers that work in the homelessness space.

Um they actually uh we are in a weekly meeting with them uh as we as we get going uh and they're producing some draft uh metrics where we can track exactly a lot of these things in terms of um the uh how many people are in shelter, where they're exiting to uh Chief Bowser would like some of those stats to uh be reported on and cabinet on a weekly basis.

So we're tracking those uh very closely.

Uh Chief Bowser also mentioned the uh shelter report card uh as something that uh we'll be looking at to uh look at quality.

I know we've we've seen some of these challenges.

You know, as I've gotten into it, um I've I also understand that we have a lot of people flowing through the shelters, and so we have been strategizing what added support we can offer them uh to uh improve the physical uh conditions because whenever you have uh hundreds and hundreds of people going through uh it's gonna uh produce wear and tear on the building.

So I think there's some options uh that we can use maybe our our church community, our um our civic community to do uh to help with that quality.

So there'll be a set of metrics specific around homelessness that really sort of targets the outflow options, uh keeps track of the uh the unsheltered uh numbers too.

There's gonna be a set around the quality of the shelters, and really it's gonna be about coming around uh uh our providers uh to improve outcomes uh wherever they might be.

And so that's what uh we we really want to be about bringing those up.

Um if uh there continues to be challenges, you know, that's uh something that we'll have to have a serious conversation about.

But I can say that um all of the providers so far that I've met uh really uh are dedicated to uh addressing these issues, and so I think uh that we can bring this uh use this convening power to come around them uh and improve those outcomes.

Okay, so uh the other category is um risk and contingency planning.

Um what are the biggest financial risk facing this department?

Um is there a contingency or emergency fund built into the budget?

And how will unexpected increases the demand such as economic downturns be handled?

I'll defer to uh CFO.

Uh through the chair to Councilmember Waters.

Uh fortunately, we the um human homeless and family services department has a substantial portion of its budget which runs through a lot of our entitlement grants.

So C D B G, ESG, home or ESG and other types of grants.

So fortunately, there's really a fairly low risk we still see to those kinds of grants.

Those, even though you know Congress seems less friendly, um, they don't seem to be really moving forward with any of the threats that they're making publicly on these kinds of programs.

They're not necessarily growing them, but they're at least leaving them in place.

And so I think we don't have a lot of risk in that area right now.

Um we stay in close contact with uh Michael Klotz, who is our um federal uh team lead, very close with a lot of our Washington agencies, particularly the ones that flow through HRD and HHFS or will flow through HHFS.

And so we're not seeing particularly large risks there.

Um the state of Michigan continues to indicate a strong commitment to these sorts of programs, so our state funding, you know, don't have a lot of concerns there.

As relates to the general fund, I think we all know that that is a place of risk for every department where we rely on the general fund as the economy goes, so may go our major revenues.

Um but because HHFS has a strong base of funding sources, sort of like when I give my financial report, I always talk about having a broad base of revenues.

HHFS has a broad base of financial inflows.

So that's very fortunate that the the general fund component of that is the smaller component.

And so what we would do in the case of a downturn is we would just evaluate what our priorities are and we would probably prioritize HHFS programs because usually in downturns or bad economic conditions, that's when detraters are gonna need help the most.

For sure.

Um thank you for that.

And let me just make uh couple comments.

Um I know that um HUD, of course, is looking to for a new direction as it relates to not even supporting the down payment that they normally give people for rent and so forth, and um they said they want people to become more self-reliant and they're in and out of the shelters right away for the most part, and I don't know what's happening with their their case right now, but that is the direction that they're looking to move into.

And I said to them, I I said, before you put all of that money into shelters, why don't you go in and see what some of them look like?

See if in fact uh people how how people are living when they go inside of those shelters.

Uh we need to make sure that our department, BC, uh, do regular um visits uh to those shelters because sometimes you know, mom says she went there and she tried tried to uh uh find a bed for her and the two children.

They said that they had a chair for her.

So and these are the kinds of things that we need to ensure that people are not just accepting the money, saying that we have the capacity when in fact they do not, and people go there, they're sitting in the parking lot in the cars, or they're inside and they're offered a chair.

So I want you guys to keep those kinds of things in mind, and and I do want to work with you because I hear from a lot of people all the time.

We have a lot we have a lot of work to do.

Your success is our success, and we want to make sure that it happens, and then finally, I just want to say one other thing regarding the whole absenteeism.

I remember um uh Mr.

Bowser, you know, when we created it uh uh the Kamaya Davis Family Resource Center right there on the 12th floor, and um, and then we helped the mom get um furnishings and so forth.

But her next problem was the fact that she could not get her daughter to school.

So a staff member of mine who didn't live too far in the area was busy taking her to school for for several days for a few weeks.

And um, so I wonder if in fact uh that you would just consider putting um if we're who are helping with wraparound services, because the school buses don't go by there.

You know what I'm saying?

So we're gonna need some little mini vans and whatever some vans to go through certain neighborhoods where uh school age children are.

So I wanted to point that out, give you something else to ponder uh as we go through um this whole thing, trying to figure out uh how to help as many people as we can and how to what cut down on truancy absenteeism and so forth.

All right, thank you so much and go blue.

All right.

Let's go with uh Member Johnson.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, good afternoon.

Um to all of you, it's really good to hear the conversation around addressing various challenges that that people face.

Um I love to hear uh that we if we avoid displacing people, if we can figure that part out, we address so much of the problem, right?

Um so I'm happy to hear that.

I would love to see how we work towards that.

Um of the things I did earlier this year um was I asked to be on the board of the continuum of care so I could have a full understanding of what the housing challenges are for people in the city of Detroit.

Um, and so I'm new to the board, um, but looking forward to having a greater understanding, working with the administration and really figuring out how we address this, because sometimes I feel as though federal dollars get utilized for band-aids, and we're not actually solving the problems that we see that exist.

Um so we talked about the quality of shelters.

I did ask for a report of all of the shelters because I said I'm just gonna pop up.

I'm just gonna pop up and and see what they look like, see the condition that they're in, see their capacity, see if they have a certificate of compliance.

Um, because we talk about quality housing around here, and it's important for people who are in shelters for them to have quality housing if it's for one night.

Um and so I think it's important for us to make sure that the resources that we provide or the support that we give is utilized in the best way possible, that it is continuing to provide greater support for all of our residents in the city.

Um now, one of the challenges that we have now is that the federal government is restricting how much of the um see the continuum of care's funding can be utilized for permanently supportive housing.

And as a board member, now we're trying to figure out how we utilize the dollars.

How do we avoid displacing people?

Um it's going to be very difficult.

Uh and so member Waters was talking about the shelters, and I know Dr.

Schaefer, you talked about how many people are serviced within the shelters, and we have to keep that in mind, and and if there are ways for us to provide support or um to really push to make sure the organization is ensuring that the shelters are in a good state um to to be able to house individuals.

Um but I really want to I've always talked about making sure that we have shelters throughout this city.

Because if a family does get displaced and they have children in particular, if we put them in the shelters that exist today, they are likely being moved to a central location in the city, and their children go to school on the east side or on the west side.

So now we have to figure out how to transport their children as member waters talked about.

What are we doing to identify more shelters throughout the city to ensure that if someone needs temporary housing, they can have it still in the neighborhood that they are accustomed to being in, that their children are still able to go to the school without a lot of disruption.

So if they're going to the parks, their friends are there, what have you, how are we ensuring that they can do that with as little disruption as possible?

Um through the chair to council member Johnson.

So this is uh quite a few different layers to this particular inquiry.

Um is I do want to have um Tara Linger talk a little bit about the resources that are available to shelters to make sure that they can actually make improvements to the shelter like physical space.

So there's a grant out, but I want her to talk about, talk about that.

Uh that team, the homelessness team also does on-site monitoring as well.

Uh there's a capacity that uh Terry can speak to uh that ensures that the city is actually inside the shelter to observe what is happening.

And so what I'll do is, you know, when it comes to the shelter report card idea, I want to make very clear that we are not looking to take a punitive sort of measure with our shelter partners.

We just need to be aware of what resources each one needs deployed in order to increase service delivery.

That's really it.

So, how well are you doing these things, and then what are the resources that we can make sure that you have, whether it's TA, whether it's a grant, uh, is it a couple extra staff?

Is it a uh a a different sort of funding allocation to increase service delivery?

So that uh I want to make sure that our homeless director can talk um about that.

Shelter location-wise, um, two things when it comes to the uh homeless or kids experiencing homelessness, McKinney Vento is a program throughout the school system that is used to sort of bridge that gap.

Now, what we do need to understand is how well that's working and how connected kids are into those services uh to address the need.

So that's just kind of one layer.

There's a resource there.

How well is it working and how well is it known?

Is something that we have to think about.

Uh we're also talking about maybe thinking about a way where the shelter system itself is used, and this is just conceptually, but the shelter system is used for chronic homelessness while we have other sites used for more so temporary emergency needs that residents may have.

So, for example, if you miss rent and you're evicted, um you may still have a job and you may not actually need to go to a homeless shelter to actually get the support that you need.

Is there a way that we can create uh uh uh uh portfolio of single family homes where we're providing case management there so that you are not necessarily displaced all the way into the shelter system?

Uh we have to think differently because we have a finite amount of shelter bids, uh, but we have almost an infinite amount of needs.

That also goes back to the fact that we need to reduce the need for shelter in the first place uh by making sure that we are addressing these before the displacement happens.

Um, but to the point around uh the actual conditions of the shelter, Chair, if you could um speak to that.

Um and then um Luke, you may want to speak to this as well.

Good afternoon through the chair.

So in regards to our physical, the physical sites for the emergency shelters, there's uh a couple of things that I would like to mention.

The first is we've been working with our um other city departments, uh built B seed as well as the Detroit Health Department to ensure that each shelter site has at least one visit once a month from a city department.

So that may be a beef seed inspection, that may be a health department inspection, or maybe an HRD monitoring to go out.

Um and so to look at the look at the building, look at the site, also talk about for HRD, talk about the programming as well.

And so every site once a month that is being rolled out starting this year.

Um and so we've already started um we've already started that.

That would be in addition to any complete inspections that occur for residents for any of those three departments, BC, the health department or HRD.

I also want to mention that through HRD, through the CDBG DR funding, there is money for shelter rehab, and with that includes also shelter standards.

So for physical building shelter standards that we want to see in every shelter across across the city of Detroit.

And so that first NOFA already um that first round has already opened and closed, and we expect a second round to um be opening through HRD later later this year.

The third thing I want to mention is that in terms of trying to make funding available for new providers for new shelter sites that exist throughout the city of Detroit equitably.

Um we're having uh quarterly technical assistance sessions to reach out to new providers to help them understand how they can be successful in applying.

That was something that this body asked for um in our last NOFA round, and that we have already held two sessions.

The last session that we had had over a hundred attendees.

And so we'll have a third session on April 28th, and we'll make sure that communication goes to all council members.

So those are some of the things that we're working on right now, ensuring that we have higher quality standards for our emergency shelters and also attempting to make it uh more accessible, our funding more accessible to new providers.

Through through the chair to council member Johnson, um it's uh wonderful to hear that you're on the COC board.

Uh I attended the last meeting uh and um uh was uh inspired to see hundreds of people that were there and uh that the board is grappling with this question about federal funding, which is one of the major headbands that council member waters mentioned.

Um we have there are many different uh I think futures as the as those changes at the federal level still remain in litigation, and I think we're smart to be thinking about many of the different ways that we could adapt and continue to do the very best we can with the resources that we have.

Uh on our side, uh we uh as as Chief Bowser mentioned, we're continuing to try to think innovatively about different outflow options.

So uh we want to reduce the pressure on the on the shelters themselves by having different options, uh whether it be for six months or a year, uh, especially for families with children.

So uh I think as you note uh and Councilmember Waters note uh the uh there's very uh heterogeneous needs of of the uh of Detroiters experiencing homelessness between uh families with children uh and uh adults without children.

Uh and so uh to the extent to which we can finding sort of uh different um options uh for different groups that need have different needs uh will be uh the best possible uh thing.

So we continue to look at different strategies.

Uh Chief Bowser has been working with the um housing commission as well to look at different strategies to find as many outflow options that uh would be not shelters and could um hopefully be more placed in the neighborhoods uh where families are.

Uh we uh I'm uh very very excited about a um a data sharing agreement that we're entering into with uh DPS CD.

Uh this is still moving along, but we're uh very far.

They could get our our homelessness and our shelter system data uh that we have access to connected with the McKinney Vento data.

So the McKinney Vento data is the school homelessness, and that's what, as Chief Bowser mentioned, triggers a lot of transportation support uh for kids.

Uh so one of our top objectives with this data sharing agreement, if we can get it in place, uh which I think we're in very good uh place to move forward with, is to be able to find uh the the children who are in the shelter system who are not um uh identified from McKinney Vento and make sure that they are so that they can get that transportation help, which is a bit more tailored to um to their particular needs.

So that's uh another thing that I'm uh excited about and hoping to, you know, as we go with the the mayor's vision uh having different systems talk to each other.

I think this is one tangible way we can start to achieve your goal.

Excellent, thank you.

Glad to hear of all of the work.

Um Ms.

Lindsener, can you just identify how much funding we have for um improvements to the shelters?

Um I I I can't take that question.

Uh so we have 40 million dollars split between the C BGR, C D BG, DR 2021, as well as the C D B G R C D B G DR 2023 grant.

Um, and so we've again as Ms.

Lindzer stated earlier, we did put out a first round of funding.

Uh we did receive some competitive applications.

We are going to recognize that we some of these shelter some shelters need more support with planning for and executing a construction project.

We are identifying ways that we can we can do that so that we can help more shelters get access to the funds and move them through the the planning, the design, the construction process and management as well.

But it's it's 40 million total.

All right, excellent, thank you.

And Mr.

Bowser, to your point about um just having access to units that um can be provided, can be utilized for families.

I actually know a developer who's willing to do that.

So I will certainly connect him with you so you can have that conversation.

Mr.

Chair, that was one question.

You ready for me to stop?

That was one of it was, it would just follow up to I'm just one colleagues to be mindful we are woefully behind.

Uh we have a two o'clock that was slated for the clerk's office, and then three o'clock for the Department of Elections.

So I understand we want to get as many questions as possible, and this is not directed at one member, this is for all of us because we still have a number of members left that um are seeking to um ask questions of this particular department.

So just want to make it clear, and I will we could do as we move forward, put the clerk's office and the department of elections in the executive session if we would like to do that.

Um and we can continue to have as many, many questions as possible.

But I just want us to be very mindful of the fact that uh there are other departments that are that also have a schedule and want to try to honor that colleagues.

Member Johnson, if you don't mind if we can have further have discussion.

Um discussion on that topic, Mr.

Chair.

I would vote against moving the into executive session without a hearing, the Department of Elections and City Clerk, just based on the pension of the federal government to try to disenfranchise our voters.

I really do want to hear from those departments.

Well, for sure.

I'm I'm just but I I just asked for colleagues to work with with the chair.

Try to move this along as a body.

Again, not directed to one person, directly to all of us.

Member Johnson for Nation.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I will send the rest of my questions via a memo.

Thank you all.

Thank you.

Uh Member Benson.

All right, thank you.

And uh to be supportive of others who have questions.

I want to put my questions into a memo, but I do have some statements I want to make.

And so poverty is a huge challenge within the city of Detroit.

But poverty, based on the numbers, gets a single person to about $7.50 an hour.

I'm the chair of the Wealth Generation Task Force.

Our mission is to move people into the middle class and grow our middle class.

That means we have to get people to $20 an hour to get you to 80% of area median income by definition.

That's a $13 gap.

So what I really want us to think about is that we have to get people beyond just poverty and beyond just being low income into the middle class.

And so there are few services that support Detroit's middle class.

We have about 67,000 households in the city of Detroit that are by definition middle class, and they also have to be served.

And they also have to be served.

One of the challenges is with our middle income and above families, is that that point they have the opportunity to leave.

And in the past, they have departed the city of Detroit in droves.

We have to keep and grow our middle class.

So I want to be very clear.

In my stance in leading the wealth generation task force, we absolutely want people out of poverty, but I want people out of poverty beyond low income, beyond hanging on by their fingernails.

I want them into middle income and middle class.

And a 100% AMI in the city of Detroit, in excuse me, in the Detroit MSA, which takes into account our suburbs, is $95,000 per household, four-person household.

Now that may sound like a lot, but it's not.

A $95,000 AMI, four-person household, meaning two people head that household, that is $24 per hour.

The minimum wage in the city of Detroit is now $22 per hour.

If you have two bus drivers, entry level in that household, you are now 100% of AMI.

And I would defy you to find anybody to say they are living high on the hog with two $25 per hour earners in the city of Detroit with two children.

They are not living high on the hog.

They are getting by and making some critical decisions on where they put their resources.

Based on the NERSA areas within the city of Detroit, you can have unlimited income.

To being a NERSA area, that means you are by definition in a very challenged area.

And so I don't want to lose sight of that.

Continue to strongly advocate for our 0% interest loan program.

I see that it's at $500,000 of support with a three million dollar budget or excess or balance now.

So I'm hoping that we're not looking to remove the ability for our middle income families to participate in the growth of Detroit, which further alienates and even encourages maybe the departure to our other areas, other suburbs.

I want to keep those families here in the city of Detroit.

The City of Detroit lost nine of its middle income census tracks.

We had 20, we now have 11 in the last census.

We have to keep in mind that other people, when they get to that level and they're not rich, have choices to depart the city of Detroit.

I want to make sure that they stay here and we continue to support them.

So I'm going to continue to advocate for our 0% interest loan program.

And this was a this is a motion I made yesterday.

Don't need to make it today, but that was put into the closing resolution to support our 0% interest loan program.

Our families have to have access to capital.

And a 0% interest doesn't mean that it's it's it's free money, but it has to be repaid.

But it does, but you're not paying 10, 20, 8% back to the bank.

You're getting that money, you're paying back what you paid in.

And it's cheaper because the time value of money means that we're actually paying less than what we took out.

Just want to refresh that.

Mandate participation in our life and legacy planning.

We do not want to create more heirs properties based on the city investing in people's homes.

If you are not protecting your home with an estate, an estate plan, a Lady Bird deed, we are begging for problems and people to have heirs property.

If we're going to invest in your property, I just ask that you get your paperwork in order and make sure that that property can then follow your heirs or somebody of your choice.

I'd rather not see any property that we invest in as a city go into probate, which then means we may have one of another, we may add one to a 5,000 list of homes in the city of Detroit that are heirs property, meaning that is quarter of a billion dollars of lost equity within the city of Detroit into our families.

We, the Life and Legacy Plan, I want to thank Mr.

Razo, HRD, and the staff of the Life and Legacy Planning who have gotten over 220 Detroit households in less than a year completed estate plans.

That's over $12,000 of value for those families.

Excuse me, I think it's $70,000 for those families because each estate plan is about $3,400, we're finding out.

And each home that's protected is $51,000 of equity that's protected.

That's over 11 million dollars that that department has saved in equity.

And that investment is less than $2 million.

I think it's 1.2 from the city of Detroit.

That is a that is what is that an eight, 12-fold return on our investment to for those families in the city of Detroit protecting equity.

We have to continue to support our middle income families.

We have to work to get people not just out of poverty into low income status.

We have to get them into a status where they can think, not be paycheck to paycheck, and lose the issues around being low income, having stress when it comes to lack of resources.

I just wanted to make that statement and ensure that we keep our eyes there as well.

We have to support our families who out of below poverty, but we have to as a city also encourage mixed income development.

We have to encourage our middle class families who get to that level to stay here and make Detroit a space where middle income families want to live prosper and raise their families.

Just wanted to make that clear.

And I share the concern of my colleague when it comes to our immigrant community.

Just had my meeting with the immigrant task force this past week, and they reconfirm the third district has the highest population of immigrants in the city of Detroit.

We have our Hmong community, we have our West Indian community, we have our Bengali community, we have our Arabic speaking community, typically Yemen.

And we need to make sure that they feel comfortable and safe.

We have a long history in Detroit of having families move in, immigrate, and then move out to our suburbs for a quality of life.

They are about order over chaos, and I support that.

And so I'll put into the closing resolution the conversation, not sure this is done already about having a an account to support our families when it comes to legal services around immigration.

That's a huge issue.

They've done it in other places.

Don't think that would be a general fund opportunity, but I do think that would be an opportunity in other with philanthropic dollars.

So I support that.

All right.

Discussion.

There's a motion on the floor, colleagues, with discussion.

Member Santiago Romero.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Through you to Member Benson.

That exact motion wasn't made.

I didn't note that that's an ask as well as basic uh uh resources for basic needs.

Um that is happening right now.

We are working uh with the administration um and the Office of Immigrant Affairs too to come up with that.

Quite frankly, I think we should put money from a general fund into this.

Um I think that's a discussion for us to have because there are other municipalities that do that.

Um I think it's about being brave and and and doing that work, and if not working really, really hard to get other partners that have the resources to to create that legal funds.

Um, but to your point to make sure that it lives, um, I think it should it can be a closing resolution motion, and then we continue those conversations.

Um and hopefully at one point um add money from general fund to to that legal funds.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Oh, and if I can join you, Mr.

Member Benson, thank you.

There's a motion on the floor, colleagues.

Any objections?

See none that action shall be taken.

Mr.

Corley, noting that member Santiago Romero is looking to join Member Benson on that motion.

All right, thank you.

Uh member Callaway.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, and good afternoon, everyone again.

Um I've heard a lot, and Mr.

Um Chief of Staff Bowser, you said reduce the need for shelters.

Um, and I would strike reduced and say remove the need for shelters.

Um, that was an amazing statement.

I know we are working toward that toward that end, but we shouldn't have a need for shelters.

Because we know that we have a large vacant housing stock in the city.

We can just start with my district, lots of vacant houses, and it would be so wonderful if we can connect families to vacant houses.

If we could really get intentional about connecting families with vacant houses, whatever we have to do to make those vacant houses available to these homeless families, so no one else will have to live or die in a vehicle.

No one should have to live or die, take their last breath in a vehicle.

When we have all these homes across this city that are vacant, we don't have to build another house.

We don't have to build another apartment building.

I have 21 in district two that are half of them are vacant.

Historic.

Beautiful.

You can't rebuild these kind of apartment buildings.

What we're building today, and this is my statement, I'll ask my question in a minute.

What we're building now are Lagos kind of apartment buildings.

They're like cookie cutter, they're square in shape.

But what you see across the city prior to the last decade, a lot of thought went into building apartments and homes.

We're not doing that now.

We're not as thoughtful.

It's expediency and profit right now.

So I like what you said, but I would just strike the reduce and just add remove.

We got to think about removing the need for shelters, not reduce.

Remove.

And I think we can get there if we would just be a somewhat more intentional.

We're getting there though.

So I was looking at this map here.

And lots of dots for the down payment assistance program, DPA.

The pages aren't numbered.

So I'll just show you that.

So DPA loans closed to date is 794.

Can you please provide, not today, but soon, hopefully in the next day or so, or over the weekend or by Monday, a breakdown by district.

I see lots of red dots in one and two districts.

Not so much in the districts down here.

I think that would be five and six in terms of those who are qualifying for and receiving those DPAs, those down payment assistance.

So I want to know what the breakdown is by district and by zip cult in terms of who is qualifying for these payment assistance.

And through the chair to whoever can answer that.

Through the chair to Councilmember Callaway.

I think we have a majority of that information.

I'll hand it off to uh to uh Chelsea Dublin.

Okay.

Thank you.

Um thank you so much for the question, Councilmember Kelly through the chair.

Uh we have a we have that information broken down, and so I can get that over to you by end of day today.

Okay, thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

That was my first request.

And then um if if I can this is through the chair to Mr.

Um Rico Razo.

Last year, City Council allocated funding for the lead-based paint encapsulation program.

Can you please tell us how it's been impactful or effective?

And is there are there any funds left over?

And do we need to put more funding in executive session to support the continuation of this program because I'm hearing amazing things about the program through the chair to Mr.

Rico Razo?

Through the chair to Councilmember uh Callaway, I I think I have some amazing updates to provide to you.

Uh and I appreciate your um support on with these funds uh for this current fiscal year.

So I know it took a couple fiscal years for us to get to this point, but uh through a contract with ETC Environmental and a contact with our fiduciary partner, Alan C.

Young, uh we've been able to have over 400 Detroit resident landlords who own five or less rental units go through renovate repair and paint training programs, uh which are held at the Samaritan Center on the east side.

Um, and we will probably get to 450 before the end of this fiscal year.

So we have one more training the first week of uh May.

Out of that number, those all of those landlords now have the opportunity to uh receive an incentive from the city if they get their rental unit to a certificate of compliance up to three units.

And so where we're at with that is um we've had our first disbursement go out about three weeks ago.

I think we had about 12 units in that uh disbursement.

In total, we've had uh 33 um units approved, and we have another 57 that are in the pipeline for approval and disbursement of an incentive.

So right now we have about uh 90 total units that are gonna end up being uh provided an incentive for the landlord's work in getting that unit to compliance.

And then um we have another, I I want to say it's about 67 applications in that have been submitted that are under review.

So we we are likely to get very close to our goal, which we set out to have roughly about 150 uh rental units become compliant with the city of Detroit for the first time.

These are rentals that have never been on the radar of building and safety, and so that's where we're headed.

Uh, we had 2.2 million dollars allocated.

Uh we project that by the end of this fiscal year we'll probably spend about 1.6 million of that.

So we'll have uh roughly a half million or more uh remaining out of that 2.2 million.

But I think the number that is is very surprising is when I talked to ETC environmental, and we've had a wait list since we launched this program.

I in last week I said what number is our wait list at 680 landlords are currently on that wait list.

Um so we we can continue adding classes and filling them up every month uh if these dollars do continue into fiscal year 27.

Um so again, thank you for your support, and and it has been a successful program.

I probably receive uh no less than 10 calls a week from landlords who are asking about what are the next steps, uh, when am I gonna get my incentive?

Uh where you know, so it's it's very exciting and and uh well received.

Thank you.

Okay.

Through the cheer to yourself, Mr.

Razel.

No, thank you.

Thank you to you and your team for making this happen.

That was just a vision of ours, my my staff and myself, and you brought it to life, and I appreciate you so much.

And um I'm looking forward to all of those landlords finally receiving a certificate of occupation or compliance because obviously they don't have it.

Right.

All right, so that's the goal is to make sure every single one of our landlords, whether they they own one property or 20 properties, that they have a six certificate of compliance for every single properties.

That's the least we can do by our tenants who are our residents.

And then um, you said you have 500 million dollars left over from this last funding from last year.

Through the chair to council member Callaway, I wish I had 500 million dollars.

No, I said five, no, I'm not sure.

We wouldn't be sitting here we had that 500,000.

500 that yeah, we'll have a little bit more than half a million dollars remaining out of out of the pot for this current fiscal year.

Okay, we don't want you to lose that.

So I'm going to make them um if I may, um Mr.

Chair.

Yes, ma'am.

I make a motion to move that over to um executive session so you don't lose that.

I know it's from last year, but I don't want it to be um taken for another purpose.

I don't want those funds to be redirected or re-earmarked for anything else other than what they were um um supposed to go toward, which is this program.

Then uh Mr.

Chair, that's my first motion that we not lose that $500,000 and still go into what we've been working on, which this lead-based encapsulation program.

All right, colleagues, there's a motion on the floor.

Any objections?

See none that action shall be taken.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

And since we know that this program has been very, very successful and we still have more people calling every single day.

I'm going to make a motion to put at least a million dollars into um the executive session and closing resolution so we can continue the good work that we're doing to make sure we support our landlords, ultimately protecting and serving our tenants.

That's my motion, Mr.

Chair.

There's a motion on the floor, colleagues.

Any objections?

See none, that action shall be taken.

Thank you so much, Mr.

Chair.

And I have already um submitted my questions, and I'm looking forward to getting um to getting those answers.

And lastly, um the age group of 18 to 24.

Um really concerned about that group.

I'm a former educator and education administrator, retiree, and I know the um the does the problems um and the issues that face our families.

Um every child deserves a permanent address.

And a lot of times they can't even enroll in school if they don't have an address.

They can't I don't think they can give a shelter address because that's not really a permanent address.

Some maybe they use it, but I don't remember them being able to use an address to a shelter.

So um I would like to put into uh um executive session, not executive session, but closing resolution, just um the age group 18 to 24.

We have a large population of homeless right in that age group, and they're couch surfing.

They bounce from couch to couch, home to home.

They don't have a stable home.

They can't really afford to live on their own because they're not making enough money at all.

At all.

So I'm hoping that we can put that into I don't know the executive session or closing resolution, but that's the age group.

We really have to pay uh really have to focus on 18 to 24.

So I'll just I'll flesh out the language later, but I want to put um and I'll look at the dollar amount if it if it even requires a dollar amount, but I really like some more in-depth discussions about that particular age group.

So I'm gonna put um Mr.

Chair, my motion is to put that whole age group and homelessness and services um and job opportunities 18 to 24.

In executive session and closing resolution, I'll flush out the language later.

That's not a shot on the floor, colleagues.

Any objections?

Say none, then action shall be taken.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, and I'll um I've had already forwarded my questions.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, um, for all of you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Chair.

See that we've been joined by member McCampbell.

Um like for you to uh move forward with your questions if you have any.

I do.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Um apologies for uh missing part of your presentation.

Uh I do have a question around one around homelessness, especially youth homelessness and the conversation about um we know the disproportionately uh amount, a disproportionate amount of homeless youth are LGBTQ are identified as LGBTQ.

So I'm wondering what is the city doing um in efforts of uh outreach to homeless youth and also organizations that are um LGBTQ organizations that are specialized in that work because I I believe that brings a different set of needs and um and just want to hear uh work around that.

Through the chair, uh to councilmember McCampbell.

Uh so we've been charged to have sort of population specific approaches to the work that we're doing.

Uh we do have partners in this space now, and so I'll hand it off to Tara uh Linsner to talk about that scope of work.

Good afternoon through the chair.

So, in regards to our youth 18 to 24, I completely agree that we need to make sure that we are serving all youth regardless of uh sexual orientation, gender identity.

Um so Detroit, the Detroit Homelessness System was actually the recipient of a special type of HUD grant called the um the Youth Homeless Homelessness Demonstration Project.

That grant funding was awarded in 2021, and part of that required that they form a youth action board that actually decided how that funding would be utilized.

And so what resulted um as as that youth action board made determinations is that they wanted to see housing for young people 18 to 24.

They also wanted to see crisis mental health services for young people that were experiencing a mental health crisis related to their housing instability.

Um, and then a specialized uh team through our coordinated entry system CAM that when youth entered into our homelessness system, they were actually able to go out into our mainstream homelessness system, go out, find them, do a specialized youth assessment, and then connect them to youth servicing agencies.

The agencies that receive those awards were also agencies that serve the LGBTQ population as well.

So Ruth Ellis was a recipient of a program there, the Detroit Phoenix Center as well.

And so it is important that when we're thinking about serving youth, that we're really um making sure that these funds are available to our agencies that do it the best and are able to meet all of youth's needs.

Uh so that is um that's one project as well.

And then the city also does support um our uh nonprofit partners through emergency shelter, Covenant House in particular, um, that um provides youth specific emergency shelter services for folks.

Thank you for that.

Um and glad to hear that you are working with those partners and just would love to uh see that continue and also just a deeper dive into also what we know may lead to um folks that are leading to homelessness.

And I think for the LGBTQ community is a lot of that is come from um discrimination and folks uh and uh folks just not um being there to support those young folks.

So we'd love to see more continued work and be a partner in that.

And my second question is you mentioned around uh mental health, just wondering if you can touch on how the aspect of addressing and treating mental health crisis and and folks being in um experiencing trauma, how this uh how the department will fit that into around homelessness, but overall um with your initiatives.

Uh through the chair to council member McCampbell.

So there is one sort of process refinement that we're in the process of uh sort of thinking about, and that is before you enter the shelter system, you go to one centralized location to be assessed for the needs that you have prior to entering the larger system.

One of those assessments should very well be a mental um behavioral health assessment to understand if you need to go into the larger system or if you need to go into a specialized program of some sort.

Uh we are looking to really bolster that initiative and make sure that uh that happens with every individual that enters what's called a drop-in site prior to being sent out to the larger system.

There's also partnerships that we can form where there are mobile units available to be able to provide services to shelters, uh, either in the larger system or in the drop-in site.

Um and I think in the longer term, there's opportunities to have dedicated staff inside of shelter systems that have that background so that we can address needs as they come.

That's going to take quite a few changes in terms of funding in terms of strategies, but we really have to start right now with assessing everyone who comes through our single entry point.

And the single entry point is a relatively new sort of concept.

Uh, but do you want to allow um Tara as well to answer the mental health uh piece through the chair?

We have um been working with Trade Wayne Integrated Health Network as well as making sure that our city programs have the appropriate uh staff and personnel to respond to mental health needs.

Um and so that has that that work has been really focused on the co-response.

So having um the co-response team that has uh the police department and the mental health um uh specialists that go out together.

Um we've been really working on connecting our emergency shelters, particularly our drop-in centers because they have such a high volume of folks coming into those sites to connecting them to those resources.

So we actually have a team of folks from uh D Wynn who are going on site to our drop-in centers uh a few times a week to work with folks that are displaying um symptoms that maybe they need um some behavioral health uh services.

Um and so we also are working to make sure that our street outreach teams are aware of our um D1's mobile crisis response so that when somebody is in a mental health crisis, they can call that mobile crisis response team to come out and do assessments and then determine if that person needs more intensive care, um such as hospitalization at that time, but that's being determined by mental health clinicians.

Um in addition, I just want to say too that um we're this is an area that I think is going to continue to grow and strengthen over the next year, and so I'm really excited about that because we want to make sure that people are getting the right type of care that they need.

Um and emergency shelter systems can be very stressful, even if you are not in a mental health crisis, right?

And so we really um are looking forward to continuing to expand that work.

Thank you for that, and I'm excited to hear that yeah, it definitely has to continue to grow.

Um I have a question, uh just a follow-up on that.

Do we feel that on the initial touch point, whether it's in that single point drops in, as you mentioned to you for as an ongoing um operations, do we have adequate capacity there or is there a need for more resources there?

Uh through the chair.

So right now we are really with with having behavioral health services inside the shelter systems, we're just really beginning.

I think we're looking at data matching.

So we've actually um just reached out to the state of Michigan through the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to better understand how many people in our homelessness system are outside of care or connected to care.

Um and that is gonna be, I think, really telling to see what that gap is that we currently have, and I think that will help educate what we need, what additional resources that we need and what those resources should look like.

Thank you.

And I I'll have a motion on just a second.

I would also say um, as I mentioned before in these hearings, I I believe that as we see like a gap in the initial um assessment and folks getting the uh the uh acute care that they need, but that gap in that continual um behavior health care um as well.

And I made we had this conversation, I made a motion before that as we are thinking about this.

I would it would be good to see uh a connection with workforce development to make sure that we are getting behavioral health specialists to work and live in the city of Detroit because we know that that is a crucial need.

Um but I do have a motion here, uh Mr.

Chair, a motion to uh add to the closing resolution that the council just uh that we get quarterly reports on the mental health capacity and if there are any gaps in um what's needed in our um when it comes to the homelessness system.

All right, there's a motion on the floor, colleagues.

Any objections?

Seeing none, that action shall be taken.

Thank you all.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

I'll forego my questions during the budget hearing and place them in the writing uh and give you an opportunity to have closing remarks.

Unless it colleagues, any additional motions on the floor, motions.

All right, closing remarks.

Definitely appreciate uh the opportunity to kind of walk through this.

Um I have never kind of been through the process of creating a new department in the city.

Um and so this has been um quite exciting actually, again, because this is this is not sort of a point-in-time decision that was made.

This is something that through 12 years uh on city council listening to the needs of residents.

No, no, I'm sorry, I'm looking behind you, the Mr.

Um 12 years of city council listening to the needs of residents is very clear that folks want to direct um input to uh the programs and the resources that they need all at once instead of having to walk through multiple different intake processes and departments.

So this is the start of that strategy, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how we can make sure that residents have exactly what it what it is that they need before they even need it moving forward.

So thank you.

All right, thank you.

Before we wrap up, Mr.

Whitaker.

Mr.

President, before they leave the table, um the EOP that's out there is funded through the budget is presented by the mayor, correct?

Uh through the chair to Mr.

Whitaker, yes, that is correct.

So it's going to be necessary for the council to vote really in a positive way in order to not restructure the whole mayor's budget in light of this new department.

When you say in a positive way, describe that.

In other words, you really need to try to find a way to vote it up.

Otherwise, you're going to have a difficult time because the budget is structured with this department being funded.

And the legal basis for funding the department is based on the approval of the EOP.

But the EOP sounds like the way that this department is being constructed is taking some funding from one department, another department, and then creating also functions as well.

But they don't have the they don't have a legal basis to do that without the EOP.

The EOP gives them the foundation because there's no basis in the charter for it.

So you're so the EOP may change, but if we're talking about this particular new department, so there may be support for this department, but other changes that may want to be made.

So for instance, I've wanted to change I I'm looking to change the name of Department of Homeland Security and alter it.

That wouldn't have any bearance whatsoever upon any financial challenge or issue.

So I'm not understanding any objection to any of the EOP as opposed to an entire wiping out of a department that's being proposed.

I guess what I'm saying, Mr.

President, is that the EOP allows this department to be stood up and funded.

And if you don't vote for the EOP to do that, then there's a problem with trying to fund it with this budget as it's currently constructed.

Correct.

But we're talking narrowly focused, narrowly tailored on these particular departments, not the entire correct.

Yes, so the EOP is a singular document.

And the document can only be amended by the administration.

And so amendments to the to the EOP, in my estimation, should be done before April April 7th.

And so we got your memo, we will put it in a resolution, but we're asking the administration to take serious consideration given given their desire to fund this department to give serious consideration to any amendment that that is offered by the body so that it can be incorporated in the EOP before April 7th, so that the EOP and the budget align.

Colleagues, any further on that particular item member Santiago Romero.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

So just all this will have to be done next week, is what I'm hearing.

Get all this done before next week because we vote on this on the seventh.

I believe that is the deadline for changes as well, but it needs to be done before the seventh.

So are you suggesting council submit our recommendations by the third?

I mean, we are really tight eye in on time here for this whole process.

Um and just want to be clear next steps then.

So I I'll just say the request was that members who had any requested changes that they submit them by today.

Oh, okay.

That was the request so that we could move forward and not be caught in this quandary.

So that was the request that went out to various offices, Mr.

Whitaker.

Yes, uh if you send your request, we will put it in a resolution so that it's all you know, they can react to a singular document.

And then the amendment we're asking the administration to take you know, hopefully a favorable look at your suggestions so that there's not a conflict and can and the matter can be voted up on April the 7th.

Gotcha.

Um, Mr.

President, thank you.

I guess thank you, Mr.

President.

I am trying to see that ask of us to submit it in my mind it was the seventh, which is why I'm asking for clarity.

So if it has to be done sooner, we're prepared, we can do that.

But I just wanted to make sure what my timeline was.

So now I know.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Uh well, before we let you leave, got Mr.

Corley in the back.

Mr.

Corley.

Hey, Mr.

President.

So somewhat related to that is my understanding that the administration wants to stand up the new department this year.

And that would require a budget amendment.

Um, but I understand the budget amendment would not come by April 7th, but just to alert you that they want the department to start actually functioning in the in the current fiscal year.

And to do that, of course, they would have to present to you a budget amendment.

And maybe Mr.

Johnson might have more to say about it.

Thank you.

Mr.

Johnson.

Uh thank you, Mr.

President.

Yes, uh, Mr.

Corley is correct.

This new department once the EOP becomes effective on April 7th, with you know, with with amendments or without amendments, however that goes.

Um once it becomes effective April 7th, the department legally exists.

So once it legally exists, we're gonna want to start the process of getting everything set up.

Um so yes, the OCFO will be bringing a budget amendment and an authorizing resolution subsequent to the budget process that will allow the um OCFO to move the relevant uh funds across the needed appropriations.

So essentially what we would be doing in 26 is just a mirror of what's in the 27 budget.

We'd essentially be doing those account shifts now instead of July 1st so that the department can get stood up and begin its organizing process.

Okay.

Any additional colleagues?

All right, thank you.

Mr.

President.

Uh before we go any further, if there's anyone from the public who would like to speak, please raise your hand now.

If there's anyone from the public who would like to speak, please raise your hand now, both in person and online, going once, going twice, going three times.

Collection of public comments have now concluded.

Member Santiago Romero.

Thank you, Mr.

Presidents.

Um, just um a flag for me, knowing that there are amendments coming before us.

How many more are coming before us and we're in budget now?

Can that be discussed now or you know, I'm just I'm trying to plan, and if there's amendments in the future, how are we going to know how to best plan right now?

Uh through the chair to Councilmember Santiago Romero.

At this time, uh I would expect two budget amendments to occur or two resolutions to occur uh between now and the end of the fiscal year.

One is gonna be the one we just discussed, the one that sort of I'm gonna call it the authorizing resolution that allows um uh my team in the office of budget and um the office of the department of financial services to begin the process of shifting resources around within the budget to establish a new department, the new department 30.

Um I would say at the end of the fiscal year, I will also have the usual the the standard year, what I call the year close resolution that allows us to close out the fiscal year.

Um it's the one we do every year, so that just allows the Office of Budget and the Office of the Chief Financial Officer to make the necessary adjustments in order to properly close out the year so that we don't have deficits and things like that.

So those are the two main budget amendments slash authorizing resolutions.

I expect between now and the end of the year.

Do not expect any that would involve appropriating new resources or anything like that.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Thank you.

All right, thank you so much.

All right, so colleagues, we are uh at the point where we have to make some real uh challenging decisions.

Uh one dealing with the remaining uh budget hearings of the day, but also we have uh a truncated system this time uh missing uh so good Friday, that's a challenge for us, but then also Tuesday becomes basically hi, my name is, and then we're uh off to the uh state of the city.

So we don't have much time to talk about it on that or dis deliberate, discuss uh and have uh much in terms of executive session on that day.

So we're looking to uh I made a proposal with talking to Mr.

Whitaker today that we would uh place all of the uh budget hearings on Monday into executive session, uh and that would allow us to begin our executive session uh process earlier.

Now that does not affect at all the public hearing that's taking place on Monday at 5 p.m.

But would look to start the budget hearings.

Um I would say 10, but I want to allow the uh oversight agencies because they're really looking to uh move forward with proportional funding and they want to uh provide us with the presentation.

So it won't be a complete, you know, uh all of the agencies having a full discussion or or full budget hearings, but we'll allow them to um pitch before us to be fair, uh an opportunity for us to uh consider uh the proportional funding that we have discussed in the previous year.

So that is uh what I would plan to do, request to do.

Wanted to just put that on the floor.

Um so we may start uh executive session at 11 o'clock uh to allow for again the uh uh oversight agencies an opportunity to uh provide their presentation on a narrow focus of um proportional funding.

So want to put that on the floor.

Any any comments, colleagues?

Any recommendations, any suggestions?

So can you just go through the the timeline for Monday then?

How would we look to do this?

Yep, so Monday we still have PHS taking place at 9 a.m.

We then after uh PHS wraps up, uh preferably at you know at 10 a.m.

begin an opportunity for uh the uh oversight agencies to uh provide their presentation on uh their request for proportional funding, give us an opportunity to ask any questions at that point, and I would say 11 o'clock.

We would begin uh our executive session that gives us an opportunity to gain at least some time that we were losing discussion with further discussion when they go to the floor with further discussion, uh member Santiago Romero.

Thank you, Mr.

President, and uh I figured you were thinking, Member Benson.

I have um just for clarity, Mr.

President, are you suggesting that all of the remaining oversight agencies truncate their time to an hour?

I'm going to then assume there's no questions that we just hear from them because I think a large portion of our time is is council asking questions and making statements.

Um would that be the what we what we do?

Correct.

That that is that that would be my desire to allow us to jump into executive session because we have up quite a bit of things to uh to discuss.

All right, thank you, uh Mr.

Whitaker.

I have to call you member Whitaker.

I don't want to be um the Board of Review is also included, and they're not an old oversight agency.

So I are you we just take their take their put place their budget into executive session as well, but only the oversight agencies for uh purposes of allowing them to present proportional funding to us.

Okay, uh Mr.

Corley.

And Mr.

President, we'll have a um second session spreadsheet delivered to you, um emailed to you by five o'clock tonight.

Okay, and we would like for council members as much as possible again to provide any numbers, you know, to items that you put into executive session.

Um we would include those in the spreadsheet for Tuesday.

Um you can start the members can start please, you know, working on your language.

There's a lot of you know, closing resolution items also that needs to be fleshed out.

So if you can start on that as well, um I have another quick suggestion Mr.

President, in terms of align for more time.

Um next week, you know, I suggest that we continue to have the morning um committees, but but perhaps council can suspend the budget finance and audit committee next week and the neighborhood and community services committee next week.

If there's no contracts, obviously that they need to take up.

If there's no contracts, I know in and neighborhoods, there's a lot of sometimes special events that you know council needs to take up, but if there's none of those pending before you next week, if we suspend it budget finances audit, neighborhood committee services, that would also give more time um for executive session because we have a lot, you know, as you all know to go through yet.

Yeah.

So I know we have the chair of BFA here who's here, and I don't want to make make that decision without clearly having uh input from the chair uh and the committee.

Uh Mr.

Chair, what one are your thoughts?

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I would be fine with that as long as I don't think we would have any um yeah, I'm fine with that.

Because I think the other thing, the most of what we've been seeing lately is the NEZ certificates and those can wait.

Yeah, and we can even tell the administration that that's the case, and because they're the ones who refer the items to us, and they want this budget done as well.

Uh if they're smart.

Uh Mr.

Whitaker.

Yes, we'll prepare a resolution that allows you to vote on that on Tuesday.

Okay, the suspension.

Well, I know we don't have the chair of NCS here currently, uh, so want to make sure we have the conversation with him as well, but uh hopefully that would be the uh case as well.

So please prepare it.

Um we'll have that discussion.

Um discussion with further discussion, uh, member Benson.

That vote get closed out on that motion, Mr.

Chair.

No.

No, I will that was what I was gonna ask.

So did we need a motion for that one?

I thought we did, yep.

So there is there a motion on the floor, colleagues?

Motion to suspend the afternoon hearings for next week.

Committees?

Com the afternoon committees for next week.

Because it would just be for next week, right?

Yep.

So I don't think we said all of them.

Things like BFA as well as NCS.

Okay.

Yeah.

So a motion to suspend uh budget finance audit and uh neighborhood community services for next week.

All right.

Any objection, colleagues?

Discussion with discussion, uh first member Callaway.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Can we add additional um committee meeting suspensions?

Um as internal operations standing committee um chair.

I also concur that it can be suspended.

Okay.

Okay.

We gaining time.

Look at that.

I like that.

That's a lot better than the other alternative that was coming.

Um I still think that 9 a.m.

is still appropriate though.

Well, well we'll the question is for the other committees, I guess that start at 10.

Um we still would want that 10 o'clock or at least that one hour clip, which will allow us to have you know full opportunity for executive session.

Otherwise, we may not gain as much time as we want.

Right.

The discussion, Mr.

Chair.

Can we close up that vote and then we have the still just kind of just the conversation regarding start time?

All right.

Colleagues, is there's a motion on the is there a motion?

I don't think we actually put a motion.

All right, there's a motion on the floor to suspend also and place in resolution forms to suspend uh internal operations standing committee for next week as well.

Discussion.

Um with discussion, member Santiago Rama.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

There are two interviews in I.O.

this Wednesday, and those are I believe one of those is for planning.

Um and then we also have um the tow truck commission interview as well.

Um so we would like for those to happen.

And I and I was asking about start time to see if it's gonna make a difference if we're gonna be here at nine.

That'll add more time.

If we're not, then I think there's city business that needs to get done.

Discussion?

With further discussion, my office will reschedule those two interviews.

My motion stands.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh so with further discussion, are there any uh timeline issues regarding those uh uh interviews and those appointments?

I think we need just clearly errone that first before we close that item out.

Mr.

Whitaker or uh member Callaway, are you familiar with any time issues?

Because I know that the towing commission has not been able to meet.

I don't know if there's a deadline that they have to uh meet.

Um and that would prolong the opportunity for them.

No, I don't I don't know what that is is it statutorily is what I'm saying.

I don't know.

I guess we could defer they still won't be seated by if I might they still won't be seated if we were to interview them.

They will still have to go to formal session to even vote on it.

So that's a whole nother week.

So they're just the so I don't know if they don't have a a quorum or not or won't have one, but the interview is not gonna impact uh because you still got to bring it back to formal session with the recommendation.

What I'm saying is there may be a two-week timeline as opposed to a one leak week timeline.

So I'm not sure.

That's why it's always good for us to know what that timeline, if there is one, there may not be one.

Okay, uh Mr.

Whitaker or Mr.

Uh King.

Uh Mr.

Chair, as a procedural matter, you have two motions that are open at this time.

Perhaps you take the first motion to suspend the the Thursday committees and amend it and add the motion from um council member Callaway to add the Wednesday committee on there.

So I thought we already closed out the PM.

We didn't close that one out.

I apologize.

My apologies, everyone.

So there's a motion on the floor to suspend uh the um BFA BFNA as well as NCS uh committees uh for next week.

Any objections?

See none, then action shall be taken.

Okay.

Now I think it's relevant to to now begin the rest of the conversation about IOS.

Okay.

Um Mr.

Chair.

Uh yes, ma'am.

Thank you.

As as they figure out the timeline and everything, I I'm just saying for myself, my team worked really hard to get the scheduled, and scheduling is actually a really hard thing to do.

Um people have a lot of things, like we have our priorities here.

That's the only reason why I bring it up.

Um, and another week is another week, it's another week of of things being behind.

That is all.

Thank you.

Okay.

So Mr.

King, Mr.

Whitaker, do you know if there's any time constraints at all?

Or any deadline or I I don't know of any.

And if if it is, we'll we'll raise it on Tuesday before you vote.

Okay.

As the chair of the committee, I requ um I would reschedule those interviews until the following Wednesday, sir.

It's not of an urgent nature.

We just heard from they don't know.

They just said they don't know that to go back.

But if we can find out, but I am still it is still my motion that we um suspend internal operations for Wednesday.

Period.

So we can conclude what we're working on right now, which is the budget.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

With further discussion, uh, Member Benson, followed by Mr.

Whitaker.

Well, my discussion is going to be to also motion to susp to suspend planning and economic development so that we wipe out all the committees next week.

Sans so let's stay with this.

I'm just gonna get the discussion.

I messed up last year.

I got you.

That's just a discussion on that one.

And so I'm looking so I that was my discussion just for context.

So no, my discussion will come later.

I'll make a motion later.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Whitaker.

Yeah, then Mr.

Whitaker.

I saw your hand, don't yes, sir.

We can we can we can draft several resolutions and you can take up I I if if it becomes necessary to have these interviews go forward and you want to move it to nine o'clock, we will prepare a resolution for that as well, and you can have an alternative.

That's what I wanted to say.

You can move the resolution that's appropriate given the state of need for an interview.

And we will vote on it on Tuesday, correct?

Right.

Because you gotta vote on it anyway.

So colleagues, can we get two motions?

Well, one motion to allow for a resolution to be drafted to allow us to move this conversation forward, and we can close this one out that would suspend IOS.

That's one motion and one resolution, and then there's another that would allow for it to begin at 9 a.m.

to allow for LPD to find out if there is in fact some uh time challenge, or also to allow us to have conversations offline.

Member Johnson.

Discussion, Mr.

Chair, um do through you to LPD.

Are our standing committees standing committee meetings that happen in the morning still at 9 a.m.

next week?

Based on the calendar that was created.

So yes, um, through the president, to member Johnson.

Yes, that you they would still occur unless council agrees to suspend IOS.

But beyond that, yes, they are to start at nine or five.

I'm just trying to make sure that we we still have them for one hour for for next week.

Yeah.

Okay, thank you.

So I wasn't aware of that, so again, my apologies.

So it's already at 9 a.m.

Uh so I'll take that one off the table at least.

Mr.

Chair.

Yes, ma'am.

Uh thank you.

So we will still have the planet development committee meeting on Thursday at 9 a.m.

for one hour.

Okay.

All right, Mr.

Discussion.

Uh, with further discussion, Member Benson.

Mr.

Chair, I I suggest that we eliminate standing committee meetings next week to gain the time.

We lose Tuesday afternoon.

We lose all of Friday, and we have a clock which is ticking to complete this process.

And we are now ensuring that we don't hear from a number of departments based on the consolidated time frame.

I just strongly suggest we all lean in and eliminate those standing committees for one week.

I understand it causes some trepidation, and there are people whose calendars will be impacted in negative way, but to continue to get this budget approved, I think we need to make some sacrifices this year.

That's what I'm suggesting.

Discussion?

Mr.

Chair.

So with discussion, and then want to see if we can get some motions on the floor so we can have some finale.

Uh, member Johnson.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

So is the proposal that we come in to continue to deliberate for executive session at nine as opposed to 10?

I have not heard anyone say that.

I'm not in support of that.

Is what I me personally prefer.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I'm just one member.

But I prefer that we start our our executive sessions at 10 to allow for the committees to begin at nine.

Those that will not and I have I have gotten word from a pro temp's team that uh once they communicated to him he's not in support of uh suspending uh committee.

He's not here to vote.

So I thought when I was out of town, is how I felt about that.

Uh so I make a motion to suspend all standing committees uh next week.

All right, there's a motion on the floor to suspend all standing committees next week.

Are there any objections?

Objection member Johnson objection, member Santiago Romero.

Objection Tate, objection McCamp.

Okay.

All right, y'all.

Madam Clerk, Madam Clerk.

That so that motion fails.

That motion fails.

Colleagues, is there another mo with the discussion further discussion?

Yeah, I I just want to suggest then that members not talk so much uh when when it's time when these these groups come before us.

I mean, they talk a lot, so I mean we gotta figure it out some kind of way.

If you want to still have the committees, stop talking so much.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair uh Member McCampbell.

Um, in the spirit of since the chair of NCS um is not supportive.

I would make a motion to reconsider that vote on the motion to suspend BFNA and NCS.

All right, there's a motion to reconsider the vote on the suspension of BFNA as well as NCS next week.

Is there any objection?

Objection.

Objection.

See objection.

Vote carries.

That that motion shall be approved.

Is there additional motions on the floor, colleagues?

Point of information, Mr.

Chair.

Member Benson.

What is our current calendar look like with these flurry emotions?

Oh, we're we're back.

Everything's back coming.

Okay.

Everything's back in play.

I had to do that.

Same just as it was last week, just as it appears on our calendar.

And Mr.

Chair, I'll make a motion that we hear all of our departments on Monday, then.

If we are not prepared to make any concessions as a body, then why not allow each of the departments to make their presentation without colleagues making comments?

That way we can at least hear from all the departments, and then we can at least get those faster, maybe half an hour for each one.

But if we're not going to make any concessions, then let's just continue on with the uh calendar as is.

Is there a motion on the floor?

I I yeah, motion.

There's a motion, motion on the floor, colleagues with discussion, member McCampbell.

Uh is this just upon information?

We voted to reconsider the motion I make.

So we do we we need to re-vote on that, right?

Or yeah.

So the the new way it that Dr.

Powers indicated is that once we do that, that now is the reconsideration.

Oh, there isn't another motion now?

No, it's not you.

So Mr.

Chair.

No, this is on me.

It's been a long day, y'all.

I'm trying to guide us without discussion yet.

Uh there is a motion on the floor because there was a motion to reconsider.

Right.

We did vote to reconsider.

Uh now the motion is uh on the floor.

There's a motion on the floor to reconsider.

What's that motion?

Uh, member.

So the motion originally was to suspend BFNA and NCS, but I would like to amend that motion to just suspend BFNA.

All right, there's a motion on the floor to suspend BFNA, BFA for next week.

Any objections?

Any discussion?

Objection.

To suspend yeah, objection.

Discussion too.

Uh with discussion, member Walls.

I'm loving this.

But um through you, Mr.

President.

Yes, ma'am.

LPD.

How many votes do we have?

Excuse me, Mr.

President.

Uh this parliamentary.

Has the vote came has the vote been complete?

No, sir.

I didn't discuss the is still you're still voting.

Still in discussion.

In discussion.

Excuse me.

So we can't discuss after the reconsideration.

Because member McCampbell.

We had two, we had two council members who objected.

So it was still in the process of the vote.

Objected to what?

Just so I'll understand.

When um council member McCampbell stated that we would just suspend uh BFNA.

Council member Callaway and Councilmember Benson both objected.

So that was the vote starting.

Ah.

And then Councilmember Waters said discussion.

So you were still in the middle of a vote.

Technically.

Correct.

So are there any additional objections?

Go do what you do.

Yeah.

Do what I do.

I'm doing what I'm doing.

I'll chair.

Okay.

I said yeah.

Okay.

That there's an is that your objection?

Yeah.

Madam Clerk.

I would need to do this again because that was very confusing.

I'm sorry.

There's a motion on the floor.

For the reconsideration of the vote that would suspend BFA as well as NCS.

I thought we did that already.

Okay.

So this is a new motion, but that's this is the new motion now, right?

Not to suspend.

No, no.

Just BFA.

Mr.

King?

Correct.

Correct, Mr.

Chair.

Okay.

So the motion on the floor now for clarity.

I'm gonna get there.

Let me just get the motion out because this is part of what's throw me off.

So right now, what's on the table?

That's on the floor is a motion to suspend BFA only next week.

Any discussion?

Discussion.

With discussion.

Member Waters.

Did okay.

Let me clarify something.

Did we not suspend BFA and um IOS?

That was the reconsideration that that was approved.

So now you don't he that he doesn't want to suspend BFNA?

No, does not want to suspend NCS based on what the chair said that did not want to suspend NCS.

Oh so took NCS off the table, and now BFA is remains on the table now.

Okay, to suspend it for next week.

Correct.

Yeah.

So here's my question through you, Mr.

President, to the LPD.

At what point do we need five votes?

I mean, since I mean you you know you only have so many people here.

The quorum one, two, three, four.

Mr.

President.

Yes.

Mr.

With five, you need you need a quorum in order to have a meeting.

And during a meeting, if you unless there is a a special um a special vote that sort of takes away a right, or there's a a charter requirement that a certain amount or statutory amount that you have to achieve.

A simple majority of five would be that so if you had five members here, three could could would be a sus would be a positive vote.

Okay.

So further clarification, you we have more than five here, and we didn't get five votes.

So you you need you got seven here, so four, four, it one more than a then a tie would be sufficient for this vote to carry.

So you four four votes will win the vote in this in this instance.

Okay.

I I just want to clarify, thank you.

Further discussion, colleagues.

I was just gonna say, Mr.

Chair, that that vote would would pass so we did we I don't believe that we actually voted on it though.

No, we had discussion.

Yeah, we I think we were still in discussion.

No, no, I'm I'm with you, madam clerk.

I'm with you.

All right, so the the motion to get on the floor is to suspend BFA for next week.

Any objections?

Objection objection called Jackson Councilman Scott Benson.

All right, so Madam Clerk.

Vote pass.

All right, that motion shall be approved.

Discussion with discussion members.

So I want to make sure that I'm clear, Mr.

Chair.

The advocacy was to streamline operations next week by removing standing committees as a body.

We removed one standing committee.

Is it am I is that accurate?

BFA.

So that's one.

That's one standing committee's been eliminated for next week.

Is that accurate?

So we've gained one hour for next week's deliberations.

Is that accurate?

Not necessarily because you got to keep in mind that the committees that started early.

Well, no, that's the PM.

So yes.

Yes, correct.

I just want to I wanted to clarify that we gained one hour for next week.

That's very important to gain that out.

We gained more than that because Mr.

Chair, I have the floor right now, please.

But I want to make it clear, there was offers to gain additional time, and those were rejected.

So if we're going to work together as a body, I strongly hope that we will also take into consideration the advocacy of the chairs, who have also indicated they are more than happy to support by removing committees.

And that was rejected today.

Just want to make sure we're clear.

Discussion.

So with with with further discussion, part of the chat part of the reason why member McCampbell did withdraw his motion is because the chair of NCS communicated that he did not want to move the committee.

So if that's the case, it works always, both ways, if you will.

And for those who support those who don't, making sure that everyone is treated fairly.

Didn't we move Mr.

President?

Before we before we go forward, colleagues.

So we we've cleared the table of motions, right?

So before we deal with that, we have to also discuss the fact that we still have department uh budget hearings today.

Okay.

So we had at 2 a.m.

2 p.m.

excuse me, city clerk, 3 p.m.

Elections department.

Before we talk about next week, how do you all want to handle today?

Because we have not had a break.

We've had folks who are uh out in the committee of the whole who have been here all morning with us as well, and thank you all for your patience.

Um how do you all want to handle today?

My thought was that we would wrap up by three and then have a break and come back.

The clerk indicated that she has a three, was that 3 30?

3 30 appointment.

Okay.

Well, but they still have uh elections department, but still at three.

So they even if someone had to leave it early.

We still had a scheduled three o'clock election commission, election department uh budget hearing.

So colleagues, how do you want to handle today?

Now I had thrown out earlier that we would put these items into executive session, both the city clerk as well as elections department.

Uh noting again that the clerk uh personally indicated that she would not be available post-30 today.

Is there a motion to place the city clerk's budget into executive session?

Motion.

All right, there's a motion to place the city clerk's budget into executive session.

Are there any objections?

Hearing none, that action shall be taken.

All right, so we are at three o'clock and we do not have the department of elections here, and that's what time they are supposed to start.

So I don't know if they're in the hallway.

How do you all want to handle Department of Elections?

I know it was mentioned, and I very much agree that this is a very important election, at least to hear from the department on how they are securing our election process, even if we don't have a full uh budget discussion where we're having QA, it'll at least allow for that portion to take place.

Colleagues, are you open to that option to allow for the Department of Elections to provide their presentation?

We withhold questions, and then continue this conversation, the family business afterwards about what we do next week.

Okay, yes, all right.

So do we have the elections department available?

Mr.

Chair, and I'm gonna go to public comment as well.

Yeah, thank you.

We have a number of cards here.

All right, so we have nine cards in my hand, and we have seven online.

We're gonna start with, and I'm not going to be able to return back to folks, so please be here.

Be ready.

Okay, Jadante Smith.

Going once, going twice, going three times.

Unfortunately, we have to move on.

If you would like to provide your comments to the clerk's office, it will be placed on the public record.

Mr.

James Jacob.

Mr.

James Jacob going once.

Going twice.

Mr.

Jacob.

Oh, I apologize.

James Jacob here.

Angel Carter.

Going once.

Going twice.

Going three times, Angel Carter.

Unfortunately, we have to move on if you'd like to provide your p comments to the clerk's office that we place on the public record.

Jennifer Van Pablo.

You'll be our next speaker following James.

John Kittleson.

All right.

Those are our first three speakers.

That's noted.

We have one minute for public comment during budget hearings.

We will have full comments for the public hearing for the budget on March 30th at 5 p.m.

We'll start with Mr.

I know it said Jacob here, but James.

Brother James, the floor is yours.

This is what I gotta say.

So I've been I've been home with I was homeless.

Well, I currently am homeless.

I've been I've been homeless for about four years now.

In the process of being in the in the middle of me being homeless, my little uh my twin, my identical twin brother got cool in front of me.

Uh that man right there, that one right there.

Through everything, helped me help my help me change my whole mindset, help me get my a job, everything.

He I when I first got to the program, I used to sleep in the dark.

I could sleep perfectly.

I used to not sleep in the dark.

I can sleep perfectly fine in the dark.

He didn't change my whole mindset.

Completely somewhere else.

I don't even know where it was at.

But uh Detroit Power Creek Detroit Party, Detroit Community hour, which is the reason why I am where I'm at today.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you, sir.

Next speaker, Jennifer Van Pablo.

Hello, Council members.

So I took off of work today to be here.

Um a lot of stuff I will send in emails.

But a lot of things that I've heard today from people that were sitting right there, was a lot of BS.

I don't know if they know what goes on in the city with the homeless people.

But individuals like organizations, grassroots, 501c3, such as ours and others, they are out there on the ground, going door to door, talking to residents, doing line care, making improvements, things as such, but we're not getting grants or funded, or even looked at or the organizations or grassroots organizations being looked at, or um just knowing who they are within the city.

They are out there and nothing is being done.

So I would like the city members to come out to Detroit Power, Detroit community outreach, and look at what we do.

And I also want to say this young man right here, since the veterans, since we opened up our veterans' housing, and he's been working with the veterans, he has made a huge turnaround.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

If you can release those seats to allow Doug Douglas Adams take the empty seat, followed by Marvin.

Mr.

Kittleson.

Hi, my name is John Kittleson.

I'm a military resident at Detroit Community Outreach.

I also like to speak very highly of the facility.

Um I was homeless.

They took me in when I had nothing, but no promise of how I could pay, and they took care of me.

Uh meanwhile, while I was there, I was assaulted coming home from the store one night just prior to Christmas, and uh I was pistol whipped and hospitalized.

And uh Detroit Community Outreach uh took care of me.

You know, they made sure I made all my appointments.

Uh they got me new glasses, uh, they got my benefits turned back on, and there's nothing I could say bad about Detroit community outreach other than that they've helped me and they've helped everybody I've seen come through those doors.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, uh Douglas Adams.

Uh everyone.

Uh Douglas Adams, thank you for having me.

Um I chat GB Tis Chat G B T this one, by the way.

I I made sure I took notes today.

Um so I just want to get right into it.

Um, first of all, I was listening very closely to the arguments and some of the issues that were made today.

Um, firstly, I want to say we are Brightmore.

We uh I basically I hear opportunity.

Um we have a team of veterans um that's on standby that's already ready to go.

Um we already cleaning the community, we're already using our own products, we already using our own equipment and our own money.

Um we need contract, we need funding, we need some help.

Um I say that you um in efforts to close the building.

You know, that's the opposite of um, you know, stable housing and fighting for homelessness.

Um, you know, you have uh unhappy residents, unhappy veterans, and you'll be basically uh, you know, basically punishing someone who's providing a purpose who's serving the purpose in the community.

Um, and then also you be breaking up a lot of families, um creating hardship and Chrysler.

Um they also have nowhere to go.

So he's doing the opposite of what y'all uh so thank you.

I appreciate you, sir.

Thank you.

Taking an empty seat will be Masha Musha, excuse me.

Next speaker is Douglas.

No, that was Douglas.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Um President James Tank.

Um I would first like to um apologize to all the council members of anybody that have came in here and represented me or um Detroit Power Detroit that have disrespect y'all.

I apologize to all of you.

And that would never happen again.

My mission is to is to help people that God sent me to help.

That's all I do.

I don't do no different.

I own six um transition housing, which is shelters.

I decided to open up one in Brooklyn, New York.

I opened up one, and for a lot of them because Detroit gives me so much animosity.

So I tuck the business and I started helping veterans in other and other states.

What he was trying to say is that we have a lot of landscaping um equipment to where the veterans, there's over 40 of them that have started their own landscaping company in district seven.

Um cutting grass, um, doing the sewers, making sure that the water can go down, just things that they're doing to help the community.

Thank you.

If if I'm one second, hold on one second, please.

Hold on.

Your time is gonna be coming.

Our final speaker in person is Mr.

Ruben James Crowley Jr.

All right.

If it's okay with this.

The floor is yours, sir.

If it's okay with this August body, I would like to give my time.

I can't do that.

No, sir.

Well, to continue on with what he's saying.

Not only do we have um landscapers, we have agriculturalists, and uh we'll be uh this second year, we'll be working with teaching people who was previously homeless to uh grow their own food.

Now, the uh well, I heard earlier today, it's interesting that it appears that there's a lot of people that have a lot to say about Detroit that's sitting in this uh paid body that don't even live in Detroit.

I'm thinking that's very unfair.

If you come out and see Detroit power, see what we do out there.

Then you may think that you don't need all those people.

All that money you're spending outside Detroit can be put inside Detroit and to take us from not just the thing of giving them place to lay their head, but making them productive citizens in our society.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Reuben James Crowley Jr.

Now you are y'all cheated in, but you just heard a bunch of people talk about a gentleman who's doing great things here in Detroit.

Great.

I met him January 1st, 2024 with one of my friends' friends.

But just now, in the room, right there outside of this committee of the whole room, Daniel Baxter.

Um, I don't know what his position is on the city clerk's office, department of elections, whatever it is.

He they busted.

Dennis Winfrey is busted cheating in elections, but I believe decades.

But I can prove 2020, 2021 and 2022.

I gave the information to Donald Trump.

Now I want EPU to save that video of what took place in that room because I ain't nobody's pump.

And I didn't do nothing, and the man walked up on me like he was gonna do something.

It's all you.

All right, we shall now go to our online callers.

Our first, who's how many callers do we have, and who we have first, please?

Good afternoon, Council President.

We currently have seven callers online.

First caller will be William M.

Davis.

Mr.

William M.

Davis, the floor is yours.

You have one minute, general public comment.

Uh good afternoon.

Can I be her?

Yes, sir.

Okay, I think both of the departments we that's heard from could have greater transparency.

I think both should be using uh more up-to-date dashboards.

I I think that each city department should be able to tell us how many city residents and how many people to live outside the city and what their racial composition is.

I think we, you know, if the police department can do it, and the police department is 75% non-resident, and 85% uh and then 85% of the command officers live outside the city.

We should know where our dollars are going.

We should have greater transparency, and we should be able to see where our money is going and where it's helping.

As officers relates to veterans, that they should be doing more to make sure veterans are getting 100% of their eligibility quite frequently.

A number of veterans in the city do not get 100% of what's possibly available to them.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is Betty A.

Varner.

Very dark time.

Caller, the floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment for people and everything.

Good afternoon to all within the sound of my voice.

I'm Betty A.

Barner, the president of the Soda Els World Black Association.

Want to start by saying thank you to Honorable Neri Waters for your support.

I am just puzzled that no one from the administration in that meeting room or at that table could answer uh councilmember water's question in regards to that man use hearing.

That just really puzzles me.

My understanding that is the first process.

You fill out that application, and you must pay a $1,500 fee to submit your application to uh present your project to the BC department.

That is just ridiculous that no one could answer that question, and I'm hoping in the near future someone will.

And we're looking for support for the neighborhood quarters.

Thank you for this time.

I am really disgusted.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is going to be Foster.

All right, Foster, the floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Caller, are you there?

All right, I do know that there are some there you go.

Hello, sir.

All right, just very briefly.

Um last year was a 200 million dollar deal that went to housing, right?

Well, vendors came down this year and asked for additional 30 million dollars for our quote beds.

Last year we had children that died in a parking complexes.

Last year I watched this whole administration and council body praise the mayor, but yet come out this year and talk about all the ideas that they had.

Was it that the mayor did not acknowledge your ideas or push your agenda?

And then lastly, that this director got promoted to chief and then say that the administration is not trying to be punitive, but yet do not take any accountability.

And so just secondly, with St.

Luke was known in the Bible as a well-educated Gentile physician that traveled his ministry with St.

Paul.

He was known for mercy and salvation.

Quote, Saint of the Physicians and Artists.

I'm putting the burden on Mr.

Luke here to hold up and live up to his name here.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Council President, our next caller is going to be iPhone.

All right, iPhone, the floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

I want to encourage people to go to the No Kings protest tomorrow.

Uh they're gonna be all over Detroit, but I think Roosevelt Park and maybe uh Grand Circus Park for sure.

And I want to just say that we need approval voting.

Uh we don't need Baxter, who is uh paid more than the clerk and uh he's a contractual where's the head of the department or if the uh deputy director of the department for elections.

She needs to be recalled.

We need two locks, double locks, alarms where they keep the absentee ballot.

They need to have closed circuit, they need to have TV cameras in there where we can monitor our ballots, and they many places have that, and we don't we need state laws to limit the powers to the corporation for the dark money not to come in and destroy our election.

We need honest people, we need to recall the clerk.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is Jacqueline.

Caller, the floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Caller, are you there?

I do know.

Yes, ma'am.

The floor is yours.

Okay.

Um Reno on Tacoma between Reno and Grashit.

There are um eight demolition holes that are unfilled.

Mr.

McGoo said in December um what December the 31st last year that they were the contaminated dirt was removed and uh let and it they have been filled I have pictures where I know for a fact I went over there and took the pictures there are eight um demolition holes that they have water in it.

Now if we're caring about children it's getting ready to be warm now and they do they are not even secured and I do believe this is in district four and I'm just tired of my people my people have to live through um conditions like that.

Don't they deserve better today I heard it sounded like we lived in an idyllic cut uh utopia thank you bye thank you next caller please our next caller is owner Baba caller the floor is yours you have one minute general public comment good afternoon and through the chair may I be heard yes has been a long day uh yes I agree with um uh Mr Mr.

Williams I I agree with uh Cindy Dara the city clerk should be recalled and I agree with the last caller you all make it seem like it's some kind of utopia uh mr mcdaniels from seven please um we we're making silos out of this city she said she didn't want silos now we want to we want we want to silo uh uh immigrants we want to silo LGBT um this this society is supposed to be open to all people and we're all supposed to be treated the same it doesn't matter I have different problems than maybe an LGTP uh person has but I still have a problem and when we silo these problems and act as if uh these people deserve more than others it it it it it makes for bad government uh you guys argue about the silliest things you waste more time than than you are productive next caller please council president this will be our last call caller uh Christine saw noting that two callers raised their hand after public comment was collected all right caller the floor is yours you have one minute general public comment thank you council president can I be heard yes ma'am thank you I'm Christine Sovié serve as a co-chair for the Detroit immigration task force in the task force advocated to create the Office of Immigrant Affairs in 2015 but in its 11 years the office has never had a strategic plan four years ago this honorable body allocated funding for the office to gather input from immigrant residents and create a plan and a direction for the office that plan has not been completed the office is finally moving forward but with the move to HHFS we must ensure that HRD staff who were working on it can continue to do so now more than ever we need a strong OAA that really knows the concerns of immigrant Detroiters and is working to address those needs.

Lastly I heard the office focus on job placement to be clear that work is near impossible without the support of legal services as so many of our immigrant neighbors are losing immigration status.

So I urge you to maintain funding for the office and thank you council president that now concludes our online public comment all right that takes us to the end of our public comments colleagues before we go forward just asking for a motion um for uh closing uh I'm sorry for uh executive session a discussion regarding um Southfield yard uh rent of uh maintenance uh around the pumps at the Southfield yard motion there's a motion on the floor any objections seeing none that action shall be taken also would like to uh place into executive session uh metrics for CVI groups motion there's a motion on the floor seeing objections that action shall be taken okay colleagues so we got right now uh bf a has suspended uh for next week uh we have also indicated that we're going to allow for the all of the budget hearings that we have uh scheduled for Monday we are going to allow uh we're gonna put all of those into executive session but then allow for the um oversight agencies an opportunity to present before this body on proportional funding uh after PHS takes place uh that is what we have on the floor that's what we have done thus far uh mr witaker they will all begin at 10 o'clock correct all began when you say all they all they're all presenting uh at 10 o'clock so they could proceed in and session 10 o'clock well again is a yes they'll be together right they'll be together we'll allow them to come before us and explain uh their uh need

They will all begin at 10 o'clock.

Correct?

All begin when you say all.

They all they are all presenting at 10 o'clock, so they could proceed in and session.

Well, again, it's a yes, they'll be together.

Right.

They'll be together.

We'll allow them to come before us and explain uh their uh need, uh request for proportional funding, and we're gonna stay solely on that space.

No whole presentation.

We are asking them to prevent present or provide their presentations to us.

But uh Monday will, as it relates to the oversight agencies will be uh tailored narrowly to proportional funding.

Yes, sir.

Uh and then we would begin our executive session at 11 a.m.

That is what we have thus far uh agreed to.

Mr.

Chair, also to add the city clerk's budget hearing to executive session.

Correct for today.

Uh we have done that as well.

Thank you, madam clerk.

We do have still the department of elections, and apparently there was a uh altercation that took place out in the hallway.

Um and the department of elections has uh elected uh not to uh return back to the committee today.

Uh so colleague, is there a motion to put the Department of Elections budget into executive session?

Any objections?

See none, that action shall be taken.

All right, colleagues, are there any further motions regarding next week?

Uh member uh pro town.

Oh, yes, I would just like to say in advance of what happened.

I would like to make a motion.

I don't know if this is the Department of Legislative City Clerk's office, but I'd like to make a motion to an executive session for a discussion to assign an officer to the city clerk.

Uh there's a motion to assign an officer for executive protection.

Yes, for example.

Thank you so much, Ms.

Let me reframe the president.

Thank you for that.

Uh I would like to assign an officer for executive protection for the city clerk.

There's a motion on the floor, colleagues.

Any objection?

See none, that action shall be taken.

And then Mr.

Mr.

Chair, if if I may, very quickly while we still had the floor.

Will we be able to do everything that we need to do within the time lot that we have, or do will we have to, or or do we see or foresee an instance where we would have to expand this to other days, like the weekend?

So that that's what we have been doing.

I just want to say I'm willing to do that.

So that's the job.

But I just want to know if that's the case.

I just want to say I'm for doing whatever it takes to get this done.

I literally just left my cousin's funeral.

So we can change plans to get this done.

This is the job, and I want to do that.

I just want to make that clear.

So thank you, Mr.

President.

Pro Tim, there was a motion that was on the floor uh that did uh suspend BFA as well as NCS.

Yeah, but I said I just give it a question.

Give me one second, give me one second.

We did have a motion on the floor that uh suspended BFA as well as NCS.

Um and then we and that was approved.

Oh we were then notified that uh your office uh indicated that you were not open to that.

Why do you know?

So then we reconsidered, and now it's just BFA.

But if you are open again to uh suspending NCS for next week, that is a motion that uh would definitely be entertained.

Uh pro tem you.

Yeah, it was just a notification.

I just I didn't know about it.

We want to be nobody as we should, I'm the chair.

I should be notified by my committee.

But I will like to so you shout out to my staff who who are the greatest.

I would like to make a motion to suspend neighborhood community service standing committee for next week, Thursday.

Session.

All right, there's a motion on the floor to suspend NCS for next week with discussion, Member Santiago Romero.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

I this is where I'm trying to figure out what we are trying to create.

And if we suspend to Member Benson's points, if we're trying to find time, then suspending all of the committees next week is an opportunity to do so, but will we be here at 9 a.m.

to have discussion or to move things up?

So right now there's only discussion on canceling BFA and neighborhood community services.

Um if those are the only ones that we're gonna cancel, okay.

But I'm just trying to figure out if we're gonna if we're trying to come up with more time.

Do we want to come in at nine?

If not, it sounds like we're only going to cancel the afternoon ones.

Um and if we are going to come in on Saturday, I'm assuming it would have to be this week or have to be tomorrow or or on the fourth.

Um and there are four people not here right now.

So we just want to make sure that we have a quorum on that day if we decide to come on the weekend.

Thank you.

And and just know that uh again uh committees were relegated to uh an hour uh next week.

So at this moment we have PHS at 9 and it should conclude at 10, and then we have PED that starts at oh I'm sorry, and we also had IOS and PED all at 9 next week.

All of those are slated for 9 a.m.

next week.

Uh again, uh noting that with the PM committees being uh suspended, that gives us uh essentially from 10 until whatever time we decide to wrap up for that day.

Um so I don't know for me personally, I would prefer for 10 o'clock start as opposed to nine to allow for uh the aM committees to uh um to to begin and complete their work within that hour that was already designated.

Uh that would be my and just me alone.

Through the chair uh recommendation.

You're not alone in that.

I I support that.

I just want to get clarity.

Um so next week we will still have PHS IOS P D at 9 a.m.

10 a.m.

start for for budget hearing and executive session, and then we will also use the afternoon here uh committee time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um any further colleagues, member Johnson.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I'd like to uh make a motion um to add into executive session to work with the health department, BC and Wayne County on an air monitor and facility dashboard.

So member Johnson, before we make that motion, it looks like I may have made a misstep.

Uh Mr.

President, no no no misstep.

President Pro Tim's motion is still on the table.

That's that's my misstep because I should have closed that loop.

Thank you so much for covering for me.

But there's a motion on the floor uh to suspend neighborhood and community services standing committee for uh next week.

Are there any objections?

See none, then action shall be taken.

Thank you, madam clerk, thank you, Mr.

Parliamentarian.

Uh member Johnson, you want to uh move uh that uh motion again, please.

Um a motion to add into executive session for the health department, BC and Wayne County to work on an air monitoring and facility dashboard.

There's a motion on the floor, colleagues.

With discussion, member Santiago Romero.

I can join you on that.

Thank you.

Discussion.

Um this oh no, wait, you used you said a board, right?

Not the actual technology.

I was getting ready to say the technology, artificial intelligence um connected or no.

I want to support it anyway.

I just want to just know.

So there's a possibility.

So essentially we're just trying to make sure that all of the air monitors that are throughout the city, regardless of where they are or who put them there, that we are able to collect the data to understand air quality uh and to be able to disseminate that information to residents.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um member McCampbell.

I would like to join on that as well, Mr.

Chair.

All right, colleagues.

There's a motion on the floor.

Any objections?

See none, then action shall be taken.

Mr.

Corley, noting that uh member Santiago Romero as well as member McCampbell would like to join Member Johnson on that particular item.

Colleagues, any further motions?

All right.

Is there a motion to adjourn?

Oh, before we do that, Mr.

Corley.

Mr.

President, I want to truly thank the chairs of BFNA and neighborhoods to suspend your uh committee meetings next week.

That's gonna help us get through this, and we're gonna do it.

We're gonna get through.

And also to put into executive session with the caveat that we don't have an hour to hear from the uh departments on Monday.

That's frees up time as well.

So thank you so much.

Really appreciate it.

Thank you, Mr.

Cor, uh Mr.

Whittaker.

Sorry.

It's never too late to send us language.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

Discussion.

Uh with further discussion, uh member uh pro Tim Young.

Yeah, I was hoping that we would stay on the weekend because I want us on those quarry cakes, Mr.

Corley.

No.

Thank you.

All right.

Colleagues, is there a motion to adjourn?

Motion.

See no objections that action shall be taken.

This meeting is adjourned.